bio (355 words)
Unapologetically embracing the electric nostalgia of a younger generation, Sebastian Zhang (b. 2003) is a composer-percussionist and asalato/kashaka player joyfully exploring the sounds of everyday objects. His music crafts eclectic timbral soundscapes alongside glittering math-rock grooves and acoustic imitations of wailing electronic distortion.
Recent projects include an ongoing commission for GRAMMY-award winning quartet Third Coast Percussion and works for percussionist Marco Schirripa and saxophonist Nick May. Highlights include performances by organizations including Sandbox Percussion, the Living Earth Show, the University of Michigan, Matchstick Percussion, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and Blacktop Percussion.
His compositions have been performed internationally and in over twenty-four U.S. states, with performances at events such as the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC), the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival (SICMF), the Round Top Festival Institute, the International Double Reed Society Conference (IDRS), the National Conference on Percussion Pedagogy (NCPP), the Sō Percussion Summer Institute (SōSI), and the Great Plains International Marimba Competition (GPIMC).
A burgeoning voice in the modern percussion repertoire, nine of his works appear on the Texas UIL Prescribed Music List (PML), the repertoire list for K-12 schools in the state of Texas. Other repertoire lists containing his works include the Missouri MSHSAA PML and the Florida FBA Music List.
Sebastian is an avid performer of the asalato/kashaka. In 2024, Sebastian became the first asalatist from outside Asia to attain top 8 in competition at the ASALATO NIGHT Freestyle Battle. Further achievements include top 4 in the 2025 ASALATRIBE World Asalato Online Battle, and live shows with his band woodwork as one of the only gigging asalatists in North America.
Sebastian completed a BM in Music Studies from the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin, studying under Ivan Trevino, Omar Thomas, Yevgeniy Sharlat, and Thomas Burritt. Independent studies include asalato performance under PANMAN. Sebastian is currently pursuing an MM in Music Composition at the Yale School of Music under the instruction of Aaron Jay Kernis.
In his free time, Sebastian likes to imagine.
for press/media
Sebastian’s last name, Zhang, is pronounced "jauhng". His last name is the English transliteration of the Mandarin Chinese character 张 (zhāng).