Selected Compositions
01
The Astonishing Light of Your Own Being
For String Orchestra
​
The title, The Astonishing Light of Your Own Being, is a line from collected works of a Persian poet named Hafiz (1315-1390), who is regarded as the pinnacle of Persian literature. I encountered this quote – “I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness the astonishing light of your own being.” – when I was visiting the Shakespeare and Company bookstore. The bookstore was crowded with tourists and it seems, at first glance, a lack of attraction for me to stay. Yet when I came down the staircase and was about to leave, I glanced at this quote painted in white letters against the narrow red staircase. Even with hundreds of years’ distance, these simple words struck me instantly, without a second to spare.
​
This string orchestra piece is written for all the Peabody musicians, especially the string players during this challenging time. I hope my composition could show you when you are lonely or in darkness the astonishing light of your own being as well.
02
Nihil Sub Sole Novum
For Solo Cello
Pirouetting in Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Nihil Sub Sole Novum is a musical metaphor of its Latin meaning, “nothing new under the sun.” Though the history constantly repeats itself, it is my sincere wish that the lustrous glow in human nature will keep our faith in humanity.
​
Special thanks to Dr. Chris Gross for generously sharing his knowledge of the cello extended techniques, his inspirations from the natural world, and his passion to make contemporary music reach to a broader audience.
_Dutch_philosopher_also_known_.jpeg)
03
Through The Lens
For fl, vln, vc & pno
Through the Lens is inspired by a Dutch philosopher, Baruch Spinoza, who lived a simple life as an optical lens grinder. When writing the piece, I was imagining a brave young man polishing the lens under the moonlight. Though confined in a dusty chamber, the young man found his own belief, bright and clear.
04
ACHERON
For for Orchestra
The title, Acheron, refers to one of the five rivers of the underworld in ancient Greek mythology, on which Charon ferries souls. The piece reflects my wish that everyone will be accompanied by their loved ones when they take their journey through mists, clouds, lights, and even shadows before they arrive in Acheron. After all, there is no real going back once the journey has started, and it is the loved ones who give us strength on our way to Acheron.
05
Whale Fall
for Cello and Live Processing
A whale fall is a natural phenomenon of a cetacean’s carcass that has fallen into the abyssal zone (i.e. deeper than 1,000 m, or 3,300 ft) on the ocean floor.!It can build a complex localized ecosystem that supports sustenance to deep-sea organisms for several decades, and it was first observed in the late 1970s.
​
This piece is based on the three stages of Whale Fall:
-
Mobile scavengers stage
-
The enrichment-opportunist stage
-
Sulfophilic stage (Reef Stage)
​
Over the course of this composition Whale Fall, the texture of the piece becomes rich first as the mobile scavengers get all that delicious, rancid flesh off the bone. The melodic material fragments into pieces corresponding to the bones and surrounding sediments that have been contaminated with organic matter from the carcass and colonized by different animals. The final section ends with sparse materials and limited live signal processing, portraying the skeleton of a whale finally turning into a reef and becoming a part of the seafloor landscape permanently.
The entire process of whale fall to me sounds like a huge feast and celebration for the poor environment in the deep ocean. I was intrigued by the juxtaposition of death and celebration involved in the whale fall, thus I wrote this piece.