Cynthia Zaven is an award winning composer, pianist and artist based in Beirut.

Her projects combine a variety of media including video, photography, performance and the use of archive material to explore the relationship between sound, memory and identity through interwoven narratives.

Her works have been internationally exhibited in museums and biennales. They include Untuned Piano Concerto With Delhi Traffic Orchestra (2006), Morse Code Composition (2012), and Perpetuum Mobile, a 12 channel sound installation that was exhibited within the epic temple of Bacchus, in the World Heritage site of Baalbeck, and nominated for the Prix Ars Electronica Award 2017.

Since 1993, Zaven has created sound design for theater, live performance, dance and conceptual art projects, as well as music for films and documentaries.

The works have been screened at festivals and institutions worldwide including the international film festivals at Cannes, Locarno, Toronto, Sao Paolo, as well as IDFA, the Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival, the Bern Kunstmuseum, the Walker Art Center, the Institute of Contemporary Art in London and Oxford's Museum of Modern Art.

Zaven has collaborated with musicians and vocalists such as the Neue Vocalsolisten, the Ensemble Modern and the Danapris String Quartet. In 2015, Eurasians Unity, the ensemble she took part of was awarded the Ruth prize at the Rudolstadt Music Festival in Germany. In 2023, she received the award for Best Music at the Lebanese Movie awards.

Her music has been published by the Berlin based label, Staalplaat.

She is currently professor of classical piano at the Higher National Conservatory of Music in Beirut.