Bio

Qiujiang Levi Lu/卢秋江 (they/them) is a NYC-based performance artist, experimental musician, composer, and educator.

Their work transforms the body into a sonic object through interactions with movements and audio technology, exploring identity, sound, and space. Lu designs customized feedback systems with cyborg-like body augmentations inspired by Objectophilia/animism. These include special microphones, speakers placed within bodily orifices, and an augmented amplified laptop.

As a collaborative musician/improviser, Lu makes up half of the Chinese-American experimental electronic act Warp Duo with fellow improviser and violinist Scott Li, which fuses deeply emotional and melodic music with maximalist sound design. Lu has also performed extensively across the country with artists such as Ka Baird, Zoh Amba, Dennis Sullivan, Shannon Yu, Laura Cocks, Dana Jessen, Drew Wesely, Manuel Perez III, Adam Kantz, Julian Pujols Quall, Camilo Ángeles, etc.

As a composer, Lu writes instructed improvisation pieces for acoustic and electronic performers and improvisers. Lu’s commissioned works often take a meta, unorthodox approach to music technology, exploring human-machine relationships, audio-visual interactivity, mind-body connection, and the phenomenology of musical performance. Previous and on-going commissions have included TAK Ensemble, Dice Trio, Popebama, Luke Helker, and Ensemble Decipher.

Lu is the second prize winner of The International Electronic Music Competition 2023. Their works have been performed and featured at international festivals, conferences, and venues such as ISSUE Project Room, High Zero Festival, MATA Festival, IRCAM Forum, The Poetry Project, E-Flux, DiMenna Center for Classical Music, Jazz Showcase, SEAMUS conference, Elastic Arts, Spencer Museum of Art, NIME conference, the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, Oberlin MMG, Rhizome DC, and NowNet Arts conference. Lu has also been an artist-in-residence at ISSUE Project Room, Reforesters Laboratory, Harvestworks(TIP Program), and Elektronmusikstudion Stockholm SE.

Lu currently works as a lecturer in the Department of Music at the University of Pennsylvania, teaching Musical Interfaces and Robotics, and Music Production. Lu also works at the university as an audio engineer, with previous experience recording and mixing at An Die Musik LIVE.

They hold a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from Stony Brook University and a Master of Music in Computer Music from Peabody Conservatory, where they studied under Dr. Sam Pluta.