Lei Liang

Close your eyes (for mixed ensemble, 2020) is a phrase my then 5-year-old son Albert once said, before he handed me a surprise present. I also think of it as an invitation to experiencing a world illuminated by sounds.

Close your eyes explores the idea of “the living score” in which the notation serves as a reference for a possible interpretation and a point of departure. After the notation is internalized through rehearsals and group discussions, the piece is to be performed at least twice, once from the score, and once from memory. The latter explores the possibility of making the score “alive” by altering some parameters of the written version.

Close your eyes was commissioned by the North Carolina NewMusic Initiative, East Carolina University whose Symphonic Wind Ensemble and Vocalists, under the direction of William Staub, gave its world premiere on October 23, 2021 in Greenville, North Carolina.

– Lei Liang