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World Premieres of Verge Quartet and The Moon is Following Us by Lei Liang

Apr. 01, 2015

World Premieres of <em>Verge Quartet</em> and <em>The Moon is Following Us</em> by Lei Liang

Two new works by Lei Liang receive world premieres this month in Washington DC and Virginia. From April 8-10, the College of William and Mary hosts Liang as composer-in-residence. The residency concludes with a recital on April 10 by pianist Ying Zheng featuring the world premiere of The Moon is Following Us, for solo piano, at Ewell Recital Hall in Williamsburg, VA. Of the work, Liang writes:

The Moon is Following Us is based on a folksong that is personally meaningful to me, for I learned it when I was growing up in Beijing, China. The song sings of the high mountains in Qinghai province. In this rendition, the folk song is reinterpreted through a variety of means. With the aid of technology, one can “enter” the interior of the song. A voice becomes a multitude of voices, heard at diffused distances. A melody becomes a landscape, and the composer a traveler traversing through its inner terrain.

On April 30, the Shanghai Quartet debuts Liang’s Verge Quartet at the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery. Commissioned by the quartet on the occasion of their 30th anniversary, the work is an arrangement of Liang’s Verge, originally composed for 18 solo strings. Both versions explore the dialectic relationship between the convergence and divergence of musical voices found in the traditional heterophonic music of Mongolia. The work is also infused with gestures and symbols that anticipate the birth of Liang’s son.

For more information on Lei Liang, visit schott-music.com.

Details on the performances can be found at asia.si.edu and wm.edu.

Lei Liang
Verge Quartet (2013)
for string quartet
11’

The Moon is Following Us (2015)
for solo piano
12’

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