For the second weekend in a row I’ve had the great fortune of hearing my solo violin work, immaus, performed at a regional conference of the College Music Society. Last week it was Lina Bahn in Denver, and this week I heard Kia-Hui Tan in Fargo at the Great Lakes Regional Chapter Conference of the College Music Society. I first met Kia-Hui, a member of the faculty at Ohio State University, at the CMS International Conference in Seoul in 2011, and we have run into each other a few times recently. In October she gave a fantastic solo recital at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, where I teach; later that month we were both at the CMS National Conference in Cambridge, MA. So I was thrilled to finally hear put her bow to the strings (plus some left hand pizz) in the service of my work.
Kia-Hui’s performance was excellent. Her interpretation was relatively more rhythmically strict than Lina’s intensely frenzied approach last week but equally exciting and dramatic. Kia-Hui’s adherence to evenness of rhythm and tempo allowed the work’s final section to stand out even more because of it’s long, slow build (slow burn?) to the work’s explosive climax. immaus remains my most performed work, and it is a joy to have so many wonderful violinists discover this work and for me to rediscover it through their unique performances.
Today I had the pleasure of hearing Lina Bahn perform my solo violin work, immaus, as part of the Rocky Mountain Regional Conference of the College Music Society in Denver. Lina is a member of the faculty at the University of Colorado at Boulder and Executive Director of the VERGE ensemble in Washington, D.C. I first met her when she gave a spellbinding performance of immaus at June in Buffalo in 2009. With that performance still fresh in my ear and memory, I was again reminded of what a thrill it is to hear one’s work come alive in the hands of an amazing performer.