Hippocrates Cheng
Affiliated Faculty at Asian and Asian American Studies; Assistant Professor of Music Theory and Composition
Department of Asian and Asian American Studies; Music
Background
Hippocrates Cheng 鄭靖楠 is an assistant professor of music theory and composition in the Binghamton University Music Department. He is a composer, theorist, ethnomusicologist and multi-instrumentalist from Hong Kong. In 2024, he completed his Doctor of Music Composition with a minor in ethnomusicology at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. His composition teachers included professors Don Freund, Eugene O'Brien, David Dzubay and Aaron Travers.
As an award-winning composer, Cheng writes contemporary classical music, new music for Asian instruments, jazz and music for interdisciplinary productions. As a multi-instrumentalist, he performs overtone singing, piano and viola while also practicing qin, dan bau and phin pia.
He draws on music theory, composition, ethnomusicology and sound studies in his research of both traditional and contemporary East Asian music. This intersectional approach is exemplified by his research on the music of the Hong Kong composer Doming Lam, the player piano and piano rolls in early jazz history, and braille music notation. His papers were selected by conferences hosted by AMIS, IAML, ICTMD, ISJAC, APME, AMS, the CUNY Graduate Center, the University at Buffalo, the University of Southern California, the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, Humboldt University, University College Dublin, the University of Malaya and the Korean Performing Arts Institute of Chicago.
Cheng began his musical journey by learning to play piano, violin and clarinet in choir and ensembles. He pursued his Bachelor of Music in composition at the Hong Kong Baptist University under the guidance of Christopher Coleman and Christopher Keyes. In 2018, with the support of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund, he completed his master's degree in Music Composition at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA) with distinction. His composition teachers included professors Clarence Mak and Florence Cheung.
Before joining Binghamton University, he taught as an associate instructor in music theory at IU and as adjunct faculty at IU Northwest. As a guest lecturer, he gave lectures, talks, masterclasses and workshops at Butler University (USA), Ball State University (USA), University of Indianapolis (USA), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (USA), Shanghai Conservatory of Music (China), Peking University (China), Lingnan University (Hong Kong), Senzoku College of Music (Japan), Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts (Japan), Mahidol University (Thailand), Chiang Mai Rajabhat University (Thailand), Naresuan University (Thailand) and Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University (Thailand).
In June 2024, his chamber opera on anti-Asian hate, All of US, was premiered as the winning work commissioned by the Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel, Indiana. In the summer of 2024, he was selected for an exchange program funded by Indiana University (IU) and the Free University of Berlin (FUB). During his residency in Berlin, he conducted research and created new works.
He is currently working on a creative research project titled "East Asian Music in the Contemporary World."
Education
DM in composition, Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University
MM, The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts
BA (Honors) in music, Hong Kong Baptist University
Research Interests
Music of Doming Lam (Father of Hong Kong New Music)
Traditional and Contemporary East Asian Music
Piano Rolls and Player Piano in early Jazz history
Braille Music Notation
Anti-Asian Hate and Asian Diaspora
Contemporary Operas
Awards
New Works Project winner 2024, the Center for the Performing Arts, USA
Arts Impact Fellowship 2022, West Kowloon Cultural District, HK
Irving and Leno Lo Scholarship, Indiana University, USA
Won-Joon Yoon Scholarship, Indiana University, USA
Kids Compose Award, Indiana University, USA
Grant for Emerging Artists, Hong Kong Arts Development Council, HK
Young Music Makers Award, Radio Television Hong Kong, HK
Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund Scholarship, HK