Meilina Tsui (b. 1993) is a Kazakhstan-born, Hong Kong-American composer and pianist based in Orlando, Florida. She is the first Chinese classical composer of Dungan descent whose music has been gaining international recognition. Tsui’s works explore her mixed heritage and uniquely intertwine elements of East Asian, Central Asian, and Western cultures.  

Tsui’s recent highlight in her compositional career has been her opera, The Big Swim, commissioned by Houston Grand Opera in partnership with Asia Society Texas Center, which was listed as one of the “Top 10 operas to see in the world during Spring/Winter 2024” by OPERAWIRE. The opera premiered with sold-out performances in February 2024 at the Asia Society in Houston, and marked the beginning of an annual tradition that will illuminate Lunar New Year celebrations in Houston for years to come, with re-run shows in 2025 and 2026. 

In 2023, Tsui was selected for a Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation Orchestral Commission, an initiative of the League of American Orchestras in partnership with American Composers Orchestra that will lead to performances by a consortium of five different US orchestras in the 2024-2025 season. In the same year, she was selected for the New Works Collective by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, for which she wrote a new chamber opera, Family-Style, that premiered to a great acclaim in February 2025. 

Aside from composing, Tsui has worked as a producer and presenter at Radio Television Hong Kong, where she presented works by living classical contemporary composers. She also served a two-year term on the Youth Square Management Advisory Committee, where she advocated for youth artistic development under the appointment of the Hong Kong Home Affairs Bureau. 

Tsui holds music degrees from University of Michigan (DMA in Composition), King’s College London (MMus in Composition), and Chinese University of Hong Kong (BA in Music). Her mentors and composition teachers include Professors Michael Daugherty, Bright Sheng, Gabriela Lena Frank, Christopher Theofanidis, Stephen Hartke, Lo Kingman, Silvina Milstein, and Wendy Wan-Ki Lee.