Our Faculty

Background

Hippocrates Cheng 鄭靖楠 is an assistant professor of music theory in the Binghamton University Music Department. He is a composer, theorist, ethnomusicologist and multi-instrumentalist from Hong Kong. 

In 2024, he completed his doctorate of music composition with a minor in ethnomusicology at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music. He is now working on his PhD in music theory with a minor in jazz studies at the same school. His composition teachers include 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.

As a researcher through an intersectional lens drawing on music composition, music theory, ethnomusicology and sound studies, he researches traditional East Asian and Southeast Asian music, particularly the music of China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Thailand. 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, CUNY Graduate Center, University at Buffalo, University of Southern California, University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, Humboldt University, University College Dublin, University of Malaya and Korean Performing Arts Institute of Chicago.

Cheng started his musical journey by learning piano, violin and clarinet in choir and ensembles. Cheng pursued his Bachelor of Music in composition at 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 Cheung Pui Shan.

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, master classes 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. Now, he is working on his book chapter on Doming Lam and writing new compositions.

Education

• DM in composition, Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University
• MMus, The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts
• B.A. (Hons) in music, Hong Kong Baptist University

Research Interests

• Music of Doming Lam (father of Hong Kong New Music)
• East Asian and Southeast Asian music
• Piano rolls and player piano in early jazz
• Braille music notation
• Anti-Asian hate and Asian diaspora
• Contemporary chamber opera

Awards

• New Works Project winner 2024, the Center for the Performing Arts, USA
• Arts Impact Fellowship 2022, West Kowloon Cultural District, HK
• Irving & 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