Full Bio

Tsz Long (Fish) Yu is a Toronto-based composer, music technologist, and media artist originally from Hong Kong. His artistic practice revolves around the fusion of music, technology, and storytelling, integrating electroacoustic sound, live electronics, video, and immersive spatial audio. Yu is particularly interested in how different media—whether acoustic instruments, electronic processing, visual elements, or lighting—can interact to create deeply expressive and multidimensional artistic experiences. His works explore the intersection of music and technology, blurring the boundaries between composition, sound design, and media art to craft immersive and narrative-driven performances.

Yu’s compositions have been performed and broadcast internationally, featured on platforms such as Radio Television Hong Kong Radio 4, Lithuanian National Radio, and the International Computer Music Conference. His music often incorporates real-world sounds, electronic manipulation, and multimedia elements to expand traditional performance practices. His piece Please Don’t Open for Trombone and Electronics was nominated for the 67th International Rostrum of Composers (IRC) and recognized as a Recommended Work in the Composers Under 30 category. His electroacoustic work Torrent for flute and electronics—one of his most frequently performed pieces—was awarded third prize at the Isidora Žebeljan International Festival and has been featured at the International Computer Music Conference 2023. His large-scale multimedia work The God of Cookery, blending Cantonese and Mandarin speech with percussion, electronics, and video, won the prestigious Karen Kieser Prize.

As a media artist and producer, Yu extends his creative practice beyond composition, actively working in sound design, live electronics, and audiovisual production. He is the Media Director for the RCM New Music Ensemble and an A/V Engineer for Continuum Contemporary Music, roles that allow him to explore the fusion of music and media in a concert setting. His collaborative projects have included engineering and producing surround sound and Dolby Atmos recordings, such as Sounds of Cities, an immersive album featuring works by composers worldwide, and Mystery of Clock, a French-Canadian interdisciplinary project led by Aiyun Huang and Mark Fewer. His passion for integrating technology into performance has also led him to create site-specific works and interactive installations that challenge the conventional concert experience.

Yu’s multimedia works have been featured in major festivals and programs, including Continuum’s HATCH program, which toured his composition Travelling Diary across Ontario in 2024. His recent piece Cave for solo tam-tam and six-channel live electronics was selected for the International Computer Music Conference 2024 in Seoul. As a 2024–25 Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra Composer Fellow, he continues to explore new possibilities for integrating electronic soundscapes into orchestral and chamber settings.

Yu was selected for MAKEWAY 2025, an empowerment program by New Music Concerts Toronto, where he composed a new work for Erhu and electronics titled “Home”. This piece embodies his artistic vision of fusing acoustic and electronic elements, Eastern and Western traditions and reinterpreting the erhu’s sonic possibilities through live signal processing. In the same year, his multimedia piece “Home” was commissioned by Violinist Arlan Veriens, fusing violin playing, electronics, storytelling, lighting, and old CRT TVs and visuals into a single composition. “Home led him to win the CASH Best Young Composer’s Serious Composition in 2025, as well as the Ann H. Atkinson Prize in Composition 2024–25. His latest work, “Festival Eve”, a Double Concerto composed for Two Percussionists and Wind Ensemble featuring his long-term partner KöNG Duo, was commissioned by the University of Toronto Wind Ensemble. And “Festival Eve”, led him won a new commission work commissioned by the Chinese University of Hong Kong Chung Chi Wind Orchestra, which will be premiered on the 2026 November 1.

At the heart of Yu’s artistic vision is a drive to create music that bridges cultures, technologies, and disciplines. His works frequently incorporate elements of his Hong Kong heritage, blending Eastern and Western musical traditions with contemporary digital techniques. Whether through immersive electroacoustic performances, experimental chamber music, or multimedia productions, Yu seeks to challenge the ways audiences engage with sound, space, and storytelling.

Yu holds a Bachelor of Music (First-Class Honours) in Composition & Electronic Music from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and a Master of Music in Music Technology & Digital Media from the University of Toronto, where he studied on a full scholarship. He is currently pursuing his Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition at the University of Toronto, studying with Prof. Kotoka Suzuki, where he continues to push the boundaries of contemporary music and media art.

Full CV