Laura Benjing Fan (范本靖, they/them) is a Chinese-American musician based in Queens, New York. Their background in Western and Chinese traditions has heavily influenced their musical expression, resulting in emotional, atmospheric, motif-driven music. Through New York non-profit Music From China, led by Susan Cheng and Wang Guowei, they have been surrounded by traditional Chinese music for their whole life. In 2008, they began playing liuqin (柳琴) and zhongruan (中阮) in the Music From China Youth Orchestra while studying viola at school. Laura has since performed in Beijing, Taipei, the Museum of Modern Art, Middlebury College, Rider University, Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, and more.
As time passed, their interest in composition, production, and storytelling grew. Their curiosity led them to Berklee College of Music, where they graduated summa cum laude as a double major in Film Scoring and Contemporary Writing and Production, with a specialized minor in Writing for Television and New Media. They also participated in the First Year Abroad program at Berklee Valencia in Spain.
In the summer of 2021, Laura participated in Mpath Music's mentorship program, where they learned the ins and outs of a music library such as: metadata, briefs, royalties, social media, descriptions and tag lines, and client outreach. During the summer of 2022, they interned for electronic record label and music production house, Droid Mafia, and is now on their roster of composers. From the summer of 2022 through March of 2023, they were part of the first cohort of the Ghetto Film School's Emerging Composers Program, where they were mentored by Konsonant Music's Gil Talmi and Andrew Gross.
Laura's unique life experiences have made them value representation and diversity, and they pride themselves on their versatile skill set and ability to collaborate with like-minded artists. Their most recent project is webseries Freak & Donna, which is a late-in-life coming of age story following two 30-year-old nonbinary best friends who still live in the small town they grew up in. Bonded as best friends for life, our story follows oddballs Freak and Donna as they navigate their early 30s and try to figure out what it means to "grow up"
Another recent project was a commission from the Cape Symphony and The Moth. In a first-time collaboration between the orchestra and The Moth, Fan was tasked with composing a live orchestral score for a live storytelling of Wang Ping's "The Book War." The award-winning poet's story is a retelling of how she and her friends formed a secret book club while growing up during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The commission was premiered during the Cape Symphony's program "Storytellers," which closed their 2022-2023 season on May 13th and 14th.
Their other credits include the original scores for UNICEF's Hidden Heroes feature on Gladys Vera, animated short Not So Alone, and animated short Between Doors. Their most recent work is as a participant of the 2022 Women's Weekend Film Challenge, where they scored psychological thriller short, Have You Heard?, directed by Lindsey Ryan. They also are an emerging mixing and mastering engineer, having mastered Jaxx Michele's debut EP, Fruition, and mixed the second track of the EP, "Get Wit It".