Yiran Zhao is a conductor, composer, pianist, and vocalist. She is the winner of The 2024 American Prize in Composition (choral music, college/university, shorter works). She is a Music Theory and Conducting courses instructor at Eastman School of Music. She was the assistant conductor of Civic Orchestra of New Haven, Greater New Haven Community Chorus, faculty member at ECA (ACES), post-graduate teaching fellow at Yale Music in Schools Initiative, and organist at First Baptist Church in New Haven. She actively sings with professional vocal ensembles including Apollo’s Fire, VAE Cincinnati, and Yale Choral Artists. She was a soprano with VOCES8 US Scholars 2023–24. A published composer, Yiran actively receives commissions and her works have been frequently performed at Yale, Westminster Choir College, University of Southern California, etc.

Yiran holds a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from the Yale School of Music (Robert Shaw Prize) and Institute of Sacred Music (Margot Fassler Prize), and a Bachelor of Music in Piano and Theory & Composition from Westminster Choir College, summa cum laude.