RECORDINGS:
LISTENING for BLOSSOMS
composed by: LEI LIANG
"My first
encounter with Lei Liang's music was at a performance of
his "Verge" at a New York Philharmonic Contact Series
Concert in which I took part. I felt then that I wanted
to tap into the Chinese poetic tradition as a
counterbalance to "Yamamba"
and thought Lei's aesthetic
approach would be a fitting addition to our emerging
repertoire. "Listening for Blossoms" seemed to grow
naturally out of our many and fruitful discussions,
conducted entirely by email, on the subject of cicadas,
poetry and music. The result speaks beautifully and
eloquently for itself."
Bill Blossom
Composer:
Lei Liang
(b.1972) is a Chinese-born
American composer whose orchestral, chamber and stage works
have been performed throughout the world. Winner of the 2011
Rome Prize, Lei Liang is the recipient of a Guggenheim
Fellowship and an Aaron Copland Award. He was commissioned
by the New York Philharmonic and Alan Gilbert for the
inaugural concert of the CONTACT! new music series. Other
commissions and performances come from the Taipei Chinese
Orchestra, the Heidelberger Philharmonisches Orchester, pipa
virtuoso Wu Man, the Fromm Music Foundation, Meet the
Composer, Chamber Music America, Mary Flagler Cary
Charitable Trust, the Manhattan Sinfonietta, the Arditti
Quartet, Shanghai Quartet, the Meridian Arts Ensemble, San
Francisco Contemporary Music Players, New York New Music
Ensemble and Boston Musica Viva. Lei Liang’s select music is
published by Schott Music Corporation, and recorded on
Telarc, Mode, New World, Innova, GM, Einstein and Naxos
(forthcoming) Records. As a scholar, he is active in the
research and preservation of traditional Asian music.
Lei Liang studied composition with Sir Harrison
Birtwistle, Robert Cogan, Chaya Czernowin, and Mario
Davidovsky, and received degrees from the New England
Conservatory of Music (BM and MM) and Harvard University
(PhD). A Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, he
held fellowships from Harvard Society of Fellows and the
Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships. He taught in China as a
Distinguished Visiting Professor at Shaanxi Normal
University College of Arts in Xi’an; served as Honorary
Professor of Composition and Sound Design at Wuhan
Conservatory of Music and as Visiting Assistant Professor of
Music at Middlebury College. He currently serves as
Associate Professor of Music at the University of
California, San Diego.