Month: April 2019

The conclusion of The Keyboard in the 21st Century means I finally had some time to finish my new Albany Symphony commission.  Part of this year’s American Music Festival, “Sing Out, New York!”, celebrating the city’s role in civil rights movements, I wanted to create an energetic, optimistic work that pays tribute to the role music has played in helping to unite people for positive change.  My work, Unite in Song, seeks to illustrate this sense of joining together for a common purpose through a singable (and hummable) tune.   

As set out in the commission, the work is scored for oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, percussion, and a string quintet—an ensemble that I will admit to needing some time to wrap my head around (not quite a chamber orchestra, yet too big for chamber music).  Coming in at about three and a half minutes (The maximum length permitted was five.), I see this as a series of moments and ideas that will likely grow into a longer (ca. 7-8 minutes) and larger (full orchestra) work.  I’m so looking forward to working with Christopher Theofanidis, our mentor composer for the “Orchestrating in the 21st Century” workshops and masterclasses, and the ASO’s Music Director, David Alan Miller, a champion of contemporary orchestral music. 

After months of preparation, thousands of e-mails, and numerous rehearsals, our two-day international composition conference, The Keyboard in the 21st Century, concluded with great success.  It featured all 7 HKBU faculty composers, a dozen guest composers, and 13 musicians in a series of 5 concerts, 2 lectures, and a roundtable discussion.  I was especially pleased with the diversity of styles that were represented, including acoustic, electro-acoustic, and intermedia works for piano, harpsichord, and synthesizer.  It was wonderful to hear the music of our Featured Guest Composer, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, from Eastman (I last saw Carlos in Maccagno, Italy while teaching at the soundSCAPE Festival in 2016–where will we meet next?), as well as HKBU’s own Dr. Kennedy Wong Distinguished Visiting Composer, George Tsontakis.  Another highlight for me was the Hong Kong premiere of my recent piano work, Inner Truth, by Linda Yim.  I hope this is the first of many such successful conferences bringing together composers and performers at HKBU in future years.

Of course, an effort like this requires countless people working behind the scenes to make it happen.  I would like to thank Johnny Poon, Chair of Music, and Grace Chan, my point person for all matters large and small in the Music office, for their tireless support.