Bofan's new piece for stereo electroacoustics, 2013.
Premiered in the New Electroacoustic Concert at the David Josefowitz Recital Hall, Royal Academy of Music, London, 1st July 2013.

Beclouded

For solo Viola and Piano, features two very talented Performers ---- Zhenwei Shi and Minnie Ho. Recorded in the concert room, Royal Academy of Music, London, 30 April 2014.

Side Effect I

For Stereo Electronics: features a collection of Chinese Folk Songs recorded from the most remote rural areas in China, by the Shanghai Audio & Visual Production Cooperation.

Permeation II (2014)

If I Could Write Words -- for Soprano and Three Instruments

Text: Three Poems by Spike Milligan (1918 - 2002)

1. Omen of Emptiness

The clock has turned enough,
to reach a planet.
Life is endless night.
I hear wings beating in the dark of my room.
A giant raven is waiting,
for me to fall asleep.

2. A Silly Poem

Said Hamlet to Ophelia,
I'll draw a sketch of thee.
What kind of pencil shall I use?
2B or not 2B?

3. If I Could Write Words

If I could write words,
like leaves on an autumn forest floor.
What a bonfire my letters would make.

If I could speak words of water,
you would drown when I said:
'I love you.'


Live recording was made in 6th August 2014, Old Cinema, Milna, Croatia.

Featured Performers:
Clarinet: Thanakarn Henry Schofield
Guitar: Zeynep Toraman
Soprano: Mavis MacNeil
Cello: Stamos Martin

If I Could Write Words (2014) ---- Premiere in Croatia

If I Could Write Words -- for Soprano and Three Instruments

Text: Three Poems by Spike Milligan (1918 - 2002)

1. Omen of Emptiness

The clock has turned enough,
to reach a planet.
Life is endless night.
I hear wings beating in the dark of my room.
A giant raven is waiting,
for me to fall asleep.

2. A Silly Poem

Said Hamlet to Ophelia,
I'll draw a sketch of thee.
What kind of pencil shall I use?
2B or not 2B?

3. If I Could Write Words

If I could write words,
like leaves on an autumn forest floor.
What a bonfire my letters would make.

If I could speak words of water,
you would drown when I said:
'I love you.'


Live recording was made in 21 November 2014, Royal Academy of Music, London, UK.

Featured Performers:
Clarinet: Thanakarn Henry Schofield
Guitar: Merlin Miller
Soprano: Charlotte (Lottie) Bowden
Cello: Jingzhuo Zhang

If I Could Write Words (2014, London)

A room that is much brighter - for 8 piece chamber choir

Text: Bofan Ma

My phone rings, 
oh,
a picture.

Flowers.
Candles.
A portrait.
Hang on -

This smile.

My phone rings,
oh,
a message.

"Sure she'd understand."

I can no longer overlook the park nearby through the window.
The trees are tall enough to block the view.
There was a much brighter room in my memory,
where I can see the shining sun.
The park.
Hang on -

And this smile.

--------------------

Live recording from a workshop session with the fabulous @manchestersingers, Royal Northern College of Music, 1 Feb 2016.

A room that is much brighter (2015)

Written for the 2016 RNCM Chamber Music Festival - Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words Project.

Lunchtime Concert, Studio Theatre, Royal Northern College of Music, 06/03/2016

Featuring:
Vandepeer Quartet - Ana Vandepeer (Vl. I)
                                    Rebecca Perry (Vl. II)
                                    Rebecca Stephenson (Vla.)
                                    Eleanor Boney (Vc.)




The Inverted Ripples (2016)

Composed for the Music Theatre Wales & RNCM & MMU Collaborative Project - 'Make an Aria' - an aria that depicts the most crucial moment in an 'imaginary' opera.

Live recording from the 'Make an Aria' public masterclass in the Carole Nash Recital Room, Royal Northern College of Music, 14 October 2016.

Libretto: Mark Pajak
Music: Bofan Ma
Baritone: Gwion Thomas
Piano: Ian Shaw

'Context':

Aaron went to his local dairy store to get some milk. Everything went as usual, just another ordinary day of this midland small village, where Aaron has been building all his life in since he graduated from the university. All of a sudden, a car arrived with a few people from the Border Force. They broke in and arrested the shop owner, whom was claimed to be ‘under illegal immigrant status’. Aaron witnessed the whole process as the incident happened, being completely in shock, he ran to the corner to calm down, where he made some radical realisations which would later lead to his involvement in a bigger tragedy.

Libretto:

I came in for milk. 
Just a pint of cream. 
Then the police... 
The border force...

The seller. His face was milk.  
He was breathing
words, a whisper
as they escorted him passed;

his head wilted
on his chest. My dream 
blur of adrenaline
as I witnessed... him.

His soft words, silk 
torn on his lip’s seam. 
My dream
blur of adrenaline
as I witnessed... him.

What language?
Not English.... Lithuanian?

He was always quiet.
But he wasn’t. Didn’t seem 
foreign. This town is too small 
for foreign. For them.

I’m not a prejudice.
I’m open. Always have been. 
But his face was milk
white. White. Not foreign.

My stomach tilts.
How many of them go unseen? 
I mean. I’m open.
Don’t mind them.

So why do I feel ill? 
He’s a human being. 
But not local and this 
is my local corner shop.

That sneaky bastard!
Human. But a different breed. 
If his lot go unseen, how can we
know them? Control them?

There’d be a spill.
Our streets teeming
like bad milk with salmonella, 
E. coli, Listeria, Lithuanian,

Bulgarian, Russian, Polish, 
Romanian, Hungarian, Slovakian, 
Croatian, Greek, Estonian.
A white country
unpasteurised.... But I’m open. 
Don’t mind them.

My mind needs to still. 
These thoughts are unclean. 
Or is it right? Isn’t it better 
to know them by sight?

The Milk Man - Aaron's Aria (2016)

Live performance as part of 2017 RNCM 'In Focus: Anders Hillborg Festival', 25 January 2017, RNCM Concert Hall.

Featuring conductor Diogo Costa and RNCM New Ensemble.

...to the dissociated (2016)

About, Around, and Across (2016-17)

Written in collaboration with the American/Armenian artist Vahe Berberian, and the London-based Ensemble X.y. This performance features Joseph Havlat (conductor), Alyson Frazier (alto flute), Christine Buras (voice), Gwen Reed (double bass),  Joao Lima (guitar), Bofan Ma & Ben Lunn (electronics), which took place on 9 July 2016, in the Armenian Centre for Contemporary Experimental Art (NPAK), Yerevan, Armenia.

***The recording here is extracted from a live video documentary; therefore may be of a less ideal audio quality.

Maybe It Might Be... (2016)

I'm from China, currently based in the UK. I make some music, and occasionally curate some gigs.

For more info and recent projects:

Bofan

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