Tuesday Night New Music: Zhong, Dixon, Lanning, Bettany, Hayden, Shimshoni, Li, Wong, Wei, & Chan

Shiwen Zhong | Lasting Love for Violoncello (2021)

Program note

When we are going through different roads or life, sometimes we will always meet someone or something that we really love, and absolutely we hope that we are able to get these things. However, maybe you cannot possess these beautiful things in many cases, but you will keep the passion and inclusive attitude, because it is just about "lasting love." During the development of music, the tonal layouts and control are obscure in general, but at the end of every section, it will fall down the comparatively stable keys, presaging the hope of beauty.                                
– Shiwen Zhong

Minoo Dixon | Bull that is Red (2021)

The drink that gives you wings....                      
– Minoo Dixon

Mathew Lanning | 5 AM in the Pinewoods (2021)

Program note

Mary Oliver's surreal, otherworldly poem “5 AM in the Pinewoods” is a masterpiece in poetic simplicity mixed with descriptive brilliance. An unnamed individual experiences an early morning scene in a forest, whereupon a deer gently grazes through the trees, the narrator likening the simple experience to a pure, dreamlike state of calm and serenity. This piece captures that scene and surrealism through the use of simple, rugged bitonality that moves along like the cool breeze that flows through the trees. The recitative-style of vocality lends itself to the speech patterns of the poem, which draws more on a series of interconnected thoughts rather than a formulaic poetic voice. 
– Mathew Lanning

Stellan Connelly Bettany | Vancouver Sulk (2021)

Program note

I wrote this piece during my period of extended quarantine in Vancouver. It is a response to the contrast between the claustrophobic loneliness I felt in my house and the colossal, cold, expansive grandeur of the mountains outside my window. The faster waltz sections symbolize the hours of irritating self-reflection, and the broad harmony of the slower sections represents the open space of the windy mountain peaks.                                                                                                        
– Stellan Connelly Bettany

Cameron Hayden | Wine-Dark Sea (2021)

Program note

Inspired by Homer’s vivid description of the Mediterranean Sea in the Odyssey, this piece contrasts the disturbing knowledge that the sea monsters of Greek myth are lurking right below the surface with the sublime and dream-like beauty that can be seen on the horizon. This piece was originally written for the 2021 NAfME (National Association for Music Education) Student Composers Competition in April. Since then, it has undergone substantial change to become the piece presented before you today.                –Cameron Hayden

Tamir Shimshoni | Samsara (2021)

Program note

Samsara is a concept common to many religions of South Asian origin, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, describing the cycle of birth, death, reincarnation and rebirth. In Buddhism in particular, this concept describes a never-ending cycle of earthly life, with its various hardships and suffering, which can only be escaped through the attainment of enlightenment (nirvana). This composition illustrates the path of the human soul as it wanders through various life cycles, suffering through trials and tribulations, but ever determined to ascend to a purer, more content state of existence, where all thoughts and desires melt away, leaving only bliss. While the piece does not boast any direct musical inspiration from the traditions of India or the surrounding area, it is inspired by its general attitude to time organization and treatment of material. It is a piece more concerned with dwelling in a quasi-meditative state within a certain sound world than the transition into the next one. While sharp-eared (and sharp-eyed) listeners might detect a very basic structural principle which guides this composition, structure was not a principal concern in the writing of it. For what is musical structure, but its own small kind of Samsara, from which the musical soul yearns to escape to a state of pure sound?    
– Tamir Shimshoni

Yunqi Li | 逐梦—乘风破浪 (pursuing the dream) (2021)

无尽的光 Endless light
引领着前方 Leads the future
守住我的辉煌。Fighting for the honor

Program note

This piece was composed in 2021; I got the inspiration from the Olympics. During the time I watched the competitions, I was moved by the mettle of the athletes. As far as I am concerned, they are all worthy of respect, whatever the results are. This piece has three movements and is focused on the game of ping-pong game in the Olympics. In this piece, I simulate the entire process of a ping-pong game and the feelings between the players based on their different situations. Meanwhile, I also added some rap to imitate the spiritual world of the players. As for the ending, the piece closes with footsteps which indicates that the sportsman’s spirit lasts forever.       
– Yunqi Li

Aaron Wong | Purple Oxalis (2021)

An-Ni Wei | Soundscape Taiwan (2021)

Train Trip @ Mt. Ali
Daydream @ Taitung
Farewell @ Malungayangay Beach, Hualien
Southbound Night Bus @ Taipei

Program note

At the end of 2020, before moving to the US for my master’s degree, I took a road trip, solo traveling around Taiwan by bike for 12 days to get to know my home country from a different perspective. On the road, I collected sounds that are unique and familiar to Taiwanese people: the sound of the waves from the east coast of Taiwan, the small talks which were spoken in Taiwanese dialect, the sounds of public transportation, and so on. To remember life during the time of the pandemic and the daily life that we lived in, I composed this series of works to remember every moment in a musical way.                                                                                          
– An-Ni Wei

Kei Wing Chan | That Far, So Close

Program note

That Far, So Close is a work composed for voice and live electronics. The idea is to create different interactions between timbre and structure through the human voice and computer programs written in MaxMSP.
        In the summer of 1820, we may live on both sides of the Pacific Ocean.
                As a friend, we cannot meet.
        In the autumn of 1920, we may have different skin colors and the same gender.                            
               As a lover, we cannot be together.
        In the winter of 2020, we may be separated by glass window.
                As a family, we cannot embrace.
        In a certain spring, whether we are strangers or friends, lovers or family members,
                we will meet again under a lamp.
– Kei Wing Chan