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The award for most outstanding score is one of the most prestigious honors a young music composer can receive, and she says, BW is "where it all started."
L-R: President of the BMI Foundation and BMI Executive Director of Classical Deirdre Chadwick, Director of Finance and Administration of the BMI Foundation Susan Bywaters, 2025 Winner and recipient of the Ellen Taaffe Zwilich Award Daixuan Ai and Director of Classical Chris McCormick at the 73rd Annual BMI Composer Awards. (Photo by Brian Berson for BMI)
Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Performing Arts alumna Daixuan Ai '20 has been awarded the Ellen Taaffe Zwilich Prize for the most outstanding score at the 2025 BMI Composer Awards.
The competition, which has been running since 1951, has honored over 600 composers, many of whom have gone on to win the Pulitzer Prize in Music. Ai's piece, "Silent Theater," was chosen from over 650 applications.
"Winning this prize is a tremendous honor," Ai said. "But to me, this prize is about more than just my individual achievement — it's about the communities I've written this work for and to whom I've dedicated my music."
Ai has explored themes of identity, violence, healing and social justice all throughout her works, and "Silent Theater" was no exception.
"Throughout history, art and artists have told stories that speak to our shared humanity and have given voice to the voiceless," Ai said. "I don't see this prize as solely a recognition of my creativity and compositional craft, but also as an acknowledgment of the people my music is meant to serve."
Ai composed "Silent Theater" in response to a traumatic crime that took place in Bloomington, Indiana, in 2023 that "deeply affected" both her and the Bloomington community.
"Creating this piece became my way of processing and giving voice to those feelings through music," Ai said.
The title "Silent Theater" carries a double meaning, as it nods to the Beijing Opera genre that she used for inspiration but also reflects the piece's theatrical arc.
"By the end, the stage transforms into a 'silent theater,' as all performers exit following an outcry of anguish and plea for help," Ai said.
Composing "Silent Theater" was difficult, Ai said, as she felt self-doubt and discomfort while she was creating the work, and she was nervous to see how people would react to the harsh and violent sounds in the piece.
"First, the subject matter was traumatic and heavy — writing a piece about it felt like tearing open a wound again and again in order to reach its core," Ai said. "Second, I had been taught to write 'beautiful' and 'pleasant' music, but I knew this piece wasn't going to be easy to listen to. It was about pain and suffering; it was meant to make listeners uncomfortable."
Ai credits Baldwin Wallace for "where it all started" for her as a composer, citing Dr. Clint Needham, professor of music composition, and Dr. Sungeun Kim, program coordinator, music performance: instrumental (keyboard) and professor of keyboard, as those who encouraged her as an artist.
"I came to the BW Conservatory with the dream of becoming a concert pianist. Then Dr. Clint Needham saw something in me as a composer and encouraged me — again and again — to write my own music and tell my own stories through it," Ai said.
Needham, a past recipient of the competition's top award, attended the BMI ceremony alongside Ai, saying it was a "profound honor" to be her guest and mentor.
"I'm tremendously grateful for the education, opportunities, and care I received at BW," Ai said.
