Rainy Night of Flowers (2014)
for Solo Violin
Award: Selected Work of the Score Call from “Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame: Tzu-En Lee, violin” (2015)
World Premiere:
March 8, 2015
Composer’s Voice Concert – Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame: Tzu-En Lee, violin
Jan Hus Presbyterian Church, New York, NY
Lee: Rainy Night of Flowers for Solo Violin
Tzu-En Lee, violin
Duration: 1 minute
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I will go to New York City tomorrow and attend a concert at 1pm on March 8. It is a composer’s voice concert featuring the program “Fifteen Minutes of Fame” performed by violinist Tzu-En Lee. “Fifteen Minutes of Fame” is a score call that composers should write a piece no longer than one minute for the particular theme, and Vox Novus, the organization holding this event, chooses fifteen composers’ pieces to combine as a set of the program. Tzu-En Lee requests a theme of Taiwanese folk songs for a one-minute solo violin piece. Luckily, my one-minute violin piece written specifically or this event, Rainy Night of Flowers, was selected to be included in the program, and will be premiered at Jan Hus Church in New York City, 1pm on March 8. Admission Free!
By the way, my Ballade for violin and percussion will be performed in Yu-Chun Kuo’s DMA percussion lecture recital at CCM, University of Cincinnanti, 8:30pm on March 24. I am looking forward to this two events of mine in March.
I will set off to Japan tomorrow (October 31) for participating in the 32nd Asian Composers League Festival and Conference (ACL Festival). The first part of the 32nd ACL Festival will take place in Yokohama from November 1st to 4th, and the second part will take place in Tokyo from November 5th to 7th. My piece, Unbearable Pain and Watery Eyes for violin, percussion and piano, will be performed in the Sakura Hall of Shibuya Cultural Center Owada in the second chamber music concert of ACL Festival at 2pm on November 5th. It will be the second performance of this piece; in the meantime, it will be a Japan debut of my piece. I am very much looking forward to it.
By the way, my On the Island for high voice and piano will be performed in Academia Sinica (Taipei, Taiwan) at 2pm on November 1. Admission Free! If you have free time, please support me for these two events no matter you are in Tokyo or Taipei. Thank you!
I received an email from Dr. James Ogburn, project manager of Thailand International Composition Festival 2012 (TICF) and also Chair of composition and theory at the Mahidol University College of Music, last Friday. He did lots of effort putting videos of every premiere piece in TICF on YouTube, including my piece. Thank James! By watching these videos it made me recall those days staying in Bangkok and in TICF. It was a wonderful experience to me. Although some problems occurred in rehearsing my piece, I still figured out the Thai musicians did their good job learning such a difficult piece in a very short time.
The video is a live premiere performance of my piece, Unbearable Pain and Watery Eyes for violin, percussion and piano, at the music auditorium (MACM Hall) of the Mahidol University on July 14, 2012. This piece is in memory of my beloved father. During the performance, I cannot help that my eyes became watery. After the performance, the musicians forgot to invite me to be on stage for showing I am the composer of this piece. But I really do not care for this. Somehow it seems that I saw my father bowing on the stage for me. I love my father forever!
For more information of this piece, please click this link: Unbearable Pain and Watery Eyes.
Today I have received a DVD sent by Sayun and Yu-Hao’s mom. The DVD is the live performance of Taiwanese Aboriginal Concert, which took place at Miaoli International Culture and Tourism Bureau Concert Hall (Taiwan) on July 8, 2012. Sayun asked me to compose a new piece for her and Yu-Hao to perform in this concert. Ballade (2012) for violin and percussion is the piece for this particular occasion. I regret that I was not available to attend the premiere performance because I traveled to Bangkok, Thailand for participating the Eighth Thailand International Composition Festival on that day. However, it is my pleasure to know that Sayun and Yu-Hao really did a great job for this piece by watching the DVD. I have posted the sound track of Ballade in this website, please click this link “Ballade” for listening the music and reading the performance notes.
今天我收到幼欣跟祐豪的媽媽寄來的DVD，這DVD是2012年7月8日在台灣苗栗縣國際文化觀光局演藝廳，台灣原住民族音樂饗宴音樂會的現場演出。幼欣問我能否幫她跟祐豪譜寫一個新的曲子在這場音樂會演出，因此我寫了這首為小提琴跟打擊的二重奏《敘事曲》。因為演出當天我在泰國曼谷參加第八屆泰國國際作曲音樂節，我很遺憾無法聽見這首曲子的世界首演，不過看了DVD之後，我很開心知道幼欣跟祐豪的演出相當成功。我已經把這首曲子首演的實況錄音放到這個網站，請點擊這個連結聆聽首演的錄音跟閱讀此曲的樂曲解說：《敘事曲》。
Tomorrow (July 8) I will fly to Bangkok, Thailand for participating the Eighth Thailand International Composition Festival (TICF). My piece, Unbearable Pain and Watery Eyes (2012) for violin, percussion and piano, was selected as one of twelve finalists in the TICF Composition Competition, and will be premiered at the music auditorium (MACM Hall) of Mahidol University on July 14 (10am). I was invited to participate the TICF from July 9 to 14 to attend all the concerts and lectures, and get the feedback of my piece in the Masterclass. I am looking forward to my trip to Bangkok.
By the way, I will travel to Bangkok from July 8 to 18. In these days I will have two pieces performing in Taiwan. Ballade (2012) for violin and percussion will be premiered tomorrow night (7pm, July 8) at the Miaoli International Culture and Tourism Bureau Concert Hall by violinist Yu-Hao Chang and percussionist Sayun Chang. Cave Railroad (2011) for solo alto saxophone will have Taiwan premiered performance at the YAMAHA Artists Service Center (Taipei) by saxophonist Po-Fang Chang on July 17. Although I am not able to attend these two concerts, I believe the performances will be fantastic. Please visit the “Performances” page to get more information of concerts.
Ballade (2012)
for Vioin and Percussion
Instrumentation of Percussion:
Marimba (5-Oct), 4 Wood Blocks, 4 Bongos, Conga, Snare Drum, Tambourine, Bamboo Wind Chime, Glass Wind Chime, Kalimba
World Premiere:
July 8, 2012
Taiwanese Aboriginal Concert
Miaoli International Culture and Tourism Bureau Concert Hall, Miaoli, Taiwan
Yu-Hao Chang, violin; Sayun Chang, percussion
Duration: 10 minutes
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