May (Tianyue) Gao is a film composer and pianist specializing in narrative-driven orchestral and hybrid scoring. She writes emotionally precise, story-centered music that supports character psychology and dramatic structure.

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Trained in classical piano for over 14 years and educated in Film Scoring at Berklee College of Music, she has composed original scores across orchestral, hybrid, and cross-genre styles for drama, thriller, and art films. Her scoring credits include Butter Bliss, whose hybrid score supported the film’s emotional arc and contributed to its win at the Short Film Competition at the Fukuoka International Film Festival, along with projects including Where the Soul Fades, The Wave of Body, Soft, Fade to Black, and Rotten Tongue.

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Across her scoring projects, she works closely with directors from early spotting through final delivery, shaping thematic identity, emotional pacing, and sonic palette to match narrative intent. Her experience spans hybrid orchestral scoring, minimalist drama scoring, jazz-influenced language, and atmospheric horror textures, with particular strength in emotionally restrained writing and inner-world character perspective. She regularly builds detailed thematic frameworks, layered hybrid textures, and performance-ready orchestral materials, and is experienced in adapting cues quickly under revision cycles while maintaining musical coherence

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Her work has been recognized through international competitions and industry selections. She placed Top 12 in the Indie Film Music Contest and Top 20 worldwide in the Red Bull Scoring Challenge. She was selected by Berklee College of Music as one of six featured composers to record original work at The Power Station, where her piece Drifting in Mistwas produced in a professional studio recording session.

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She has also worked as an assistant composer to Penka Kouneva, supporting professional scoring and production workflows.

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Based in New York, she focuses on emotionally grounded scoring that integrates closely with narrative pacing, texture, and cinematic space.