An Exciting Month for Lei Liang

by Ted Gordon on Feb. 19, 2013, 4:22 p.m.

You've probably seen Lei Liang's name crop up on this blog before; as one of our first composers, Lei now has over twenty-five works available through PSNY! And that doesn't include his works published by Schott Music, such as Yuan, for saxophone quartet, or VERGE, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic. Lei is a prolific composer, and we're proud to make his work available for any interested performers. (And judging by your response, interested performers abound!)

Up in Boston, the Callithumpian Consort has just commissioned Lei to write a new piece for ensemble -- Bamboo Lights -- and in addition to the premiere on February 21st, Callithumpian will offer a program they call an "Open FOR'm": "equal parts teach-in, demonstration, free-form discussion, open rehearsal, Q and A session, pre-concert lecture, and post-concert reception." The FOR'm takes place on February 20th at the Isabella Stewart Gardener museum, and Lei's works will include Brush Stroke (2004), Aural Hypothesis (2010), Bamboo Lights (2013), and Parts for a Floating Space (2002). 

We applaud the Callithumpian Consort for their innovative programming (which, this season, includes works by John Cage, Earle Brown, and Alvin Lucier) and their thorough collaboration with Lei, whose music uniquely bridges lyrical figuration with strikingly original performance techniques for ensemble, organized with the masterful energy of a composer pushing the limits of contemporary composition. In much of Liang's music, haunting, etherial motifs emerge out of the wilderness of the real, the noisy, non-traditional soundings of instruments pushed to their limits, often performed on instruments whose timbres reflect an emergent embodiment of the human voice. We've edited together excertps of several of Lei's works, including some of those to be performed this week; take some time to listen to these on good speakers or headphones! 

And wind players, take note: we've just made Lei's Lake for two flutes or clarinet and flute, available on PSNY. 

For more on Lei's compositional process, check out an interview he did with WQXR during his residency at the American Academy in Rome in 2012: 

We congratulate Lei and the Callithumpian Consort for this exciting program! 

Seda Röder Plays Lei Liang & Ken Ueno at UC Davis

by Ted Gordon on Nov. 15, 2012, noon

West Coasters, it's your lucky day: Turkish pianist Seda Röder is performing an evening concert of works inspired by John Cage (who else?) on Friday, November 16th at UC Davis' Mondavi Center! The program includes Lei Liang's "Piano, Piano" and Ken Ueno's "Volcano", both of which Röder premiered at the Goethe-Institut Boston in April, alongside works by Cage, Morton Feldman, and Röder herself. 

"Piano, Piano" (slowly, gently, softly in Italian) was written during Liang's residency at the American Academy in Rome (where our composers Robert Beaser, Andrew Norman, and Anthony Cheung have also all been fellows). It is scored for an improvising pianist, and consists of two sets of sheet music: one printed, and one to be projected as a transparency. The work was written specifically for Röder as a part of her "Tales From the Silent Lands..." project.

For a taste of Liang's writing for solo piano, check out this video of Joanna Chao performing a movement from his 2007 work, "My Windows", available on PSNY:

Röder interviewed Liang about "Piano, Piano", and the video can be seen below:

We hope you all can be able to attend! Stay tuned for more upcoming news and interviews in the weeks ahead! 

New Works for Summer

by Ted Gordon on June 26, 2012, 3:08 p.m.

Ah, summer. The classical music season is over, mostly, and we're looking forward to festival performances-- often places where programmers take more chances and choose some more adventurous pieces to play. We've been slowly (and surely) building up our roster here at Project Schott New York, now with over 160 works by 40+ composers. 

Have you checked out Keeril Makan's page recently? We now have 14 works up, including five solo works and nine for ensembles! Keeril's "Resonance Alloy" was just performed in San Diego by David Shively; here he is performing it in 2011: 

 Other new works include his string quartet, "The Noise Between Thoughts," "Voice Within Voice" for baritone saxophone, and "Target" for soprano/mezzo-soprano and ensemble. Check 'em out!

Speaking of saxophone, Richard Carrick's "Harmonixity" for saxophone quartet is also now available:

We also now have a staggering 22 works available from Lei Liang, including "Piano, Piano" for improvising pianist, and "Ascension", for brass quintet and percussion..

Well, I hope that's enough to chew on for now! Stay tuned for an amazing announcement, coming up tomorrow....