Yuxuan Liu（Keene Leo）

Yuxuan Liu is an award-winning screen and concert composer and sound artist from China, currently based in Los Angeles. His work spans film, television, video games, live performance, and contemporary concert music, and is defined by a deep commitment to immersive storytelling, emotional authenticity, and richly detailed sonic worlds. Drawing from both Eastern and Western musical traditions, Yuxuan’s work seeks to create music that does not simply accompany images, but actively shapes how stories are felt, remembered, and experienced.

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· Member of The Los Angeles Chapter of the National Association of Composers, USA(NACUSA-LA)

· Member of Society of Composers and Lyricists(SCL)

· Member of Grammy U

· Member of Chinese Musicians Association, Electronic Music Association of China (EMAC)​​​

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At the core of Yuxuan’s creative identity is what he calls Experiential Composition — a philosophy in which music is written from inside the narrative rather than applied from the outside. Rather than beginning with melodies or technical frameworks, he first enters the emotional and psychological landscape of a project, absorbing the characters, pacing, and atmosphere until the story becomes something he experiences rather than analyzes. This process allows his music to emerge organically from the world of the film, functioning as both an internal emotional voice and an extension of the cinematic environment.​​

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Yuxuan started learning piano at the age of 8. He was admitted to the Composition Department of Sichuan Conservatory of Music with the fourth place in Sichuan Province, China. During his undergraduate studies, he majored in both the Composition Department and the Music Engineering Department. And he was the Scholarship Recipient. He has been listed in school news many times with his excellent grades. During his graduate studies at LACM, he studied Composing for Visual Media and was the recipient of the Admission Scholarship and the President's Scholarship. Yuxuan's learning experience allowed him to be exposed to all forms of music in the world at an early age, which had a profound impact on his musical aesthetics and creation.

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Yuxuan’s work has gained significant international recognition across both film and concert stages. His score for the short film Poems of Forgotten Love (dir. Poshi) received the Best Original Score award at the Los Angeles Film Awards (LAFA) and contributed to the film’s win for Best Drama Short at the 2025 Hollywood Just4Shorts Competition. The film was also officially nominated at the Septimius Awards in Amsterdam, often referred to as the “Dutch Oscars.”

In the concert world, his orchestral piece Sigh for Spring’s Farewell had its world premiere at the “A Night in Hollywood” concert in Manila, performed by the Manila Symphony Orchestra and conducted live by the composer himself. His instrumental work The Light and Shadows on the Kora Path was also selected for the 2025 Aranya Theater Festival, one of China’s leading contemporary theater and arts platforms.

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His compositions have been honored with numerous international awards, including First Prize in the World’s Best Musicians Competition, the Vivaldi International Composition Competition, and the Opus Artis Paris Competition, as well as top honors from Russia’s “Composers” International Competition, the Danny Awards, and the Best Classical Musicians Awards. These recognitions reflect not only technical excellence, but a distinctive voice that bridges cinematic storytelling with modern concert expression.

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Yuxuan continues to explore sound as a medium for shaping memory, space, and emotional meaning. Whether writing for orchestra, solo instruments, or hybrid sound worlds, his goal is to create music that lives inside a story rather than merely surrounding it. Through this approach, he aims to build a body of work that resonates across cultures and time — music that leaves a lasting emotional and imaginative imprint on the audience long after the final note has faded.

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