Born in southwestern China in 1952, he was sent to the countryside for four years during the Cultural Revolution, where he was a farm worker. He then taught himself the violin and became a violinist and violist with the Beijing Opera Orchestra. He graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing in 1983, and in 1989 was invited by Columbia University to be a visiting scholar, supported by a grant from the Cultural Council. Following his work at Columbia, he settled in New York City.
Xiao-song Qu has received commissions from the Holland Festival, the Swedish Folkopera, the Kunsten Festival of Arts, the Hibiki Hall Festival (Japan), the Hong Kong Instrumental Orchestra, Musica Viva in Boston and the Nieuw Ensemble (Holland). His works range from pieces for solo guitar (for Kazuhito Yamashita) through compositions for percussion ensembles and mixed chamber ensembles to orchestral works and operas. His chamber opera The Test (2004) was commissioned by the Munich Biennale and the Contemporary Opera Berlin and staged in both cities in May 2004. Life on a String was co-commissioned by the Kunsten Festival in Brussels, the Festival d’Automne in Paris and the Marstall in Munich. All three have performed the work in 1998 and 1999; further performances took place in Amsterdam, Lisbon and Edinburgh. Qu’s earlier operas, Oedipus and The Death of Oedipus, were premiered to acclaim in 1993 and 1994 respectively, in Stockholm and Amsterdam.