Ya-Hui Cheng, associate professor of music theory at the University of South Florida, specializes in popular music, folk traditions, interculturalism, and opera. She is the author of Puccini’s Women: Structuring the Role of the Feminine in Puccini’s Operas and The Evolution of Chinese Popular Music: Modernization and Globalization, 1927 to the Present. The latter received the Certificate of Merit Award for best historical research in recorded country, folk, world, or roots music from the Association for Recorded Sound Collections. She is currently working on a book project tentatively titled: Modern Chinese Folk Music: Identities, Memories and Intimacy, which was supported by a Fulbright Senior Scholar Award to conduct research fieldwork in Taiwan, 2025-2026.
