Tu Gu is a composer and cellist whose work centers on music for film, games, and other media. Trained first as a classical cellist, he approaches scoring from inside the orchestra, attuned to how music feels to play. He is drawn to exploring soundscapes, with a deep fascination for instruments and the sounds they produce. His recent projects span film, animation, and interactive media, including Devourer, a horror short by Goodman Murphy-Smith premiered in 2025; Stop Hitting Your Sister, a stop-motion animation short by Rika Nakayama produced in collaboration with Film Independent and Laika and scheduled for 2027; and a game project slated for release the same year. He is the winner of the 2027 Jon Vickers Film Scoring Award. Alongside his composing, he works as an orchestrator and copyist, preparing scores and parts for recording sessions and live performance.

Tu began his musical training in China at age 11 and completed high school at Interlochen Arts Academy. He earned a Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he also studied composition with Dr. Keith Fitch, and continued graduate cello study at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music before turning fully to composition. He is currently completing a Master of Music in Music Scoring for Visual Media at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, expected in 2027.

Devourer

Director: Goodman Murphy-Smith  |  Music: Tu Gu

A nameless teenager wanders an unfamiliar house infested by a past it cannot forget. Deep in its endless hallways, a door hides many eyes. Devourer is a sleepwalk through a contemporary teenage experience, lost in a landscape of violent videos, alienation, and technology rotting in the shadow of the Information Age. Contains implied violence against a child and brief flashing lights. (6 min)