Don Quixote Concerto (2021), Memories of a knight errant for a pianist, his assistant and a chamber orchestra

Performed by SWR Sinphonieorchester conducted by Pablo Rus Broseta
Piano: Christoph Grund - Assistant and percussion: Jochen Schorer
Recorded live at ECLAT Festival in Stuttgart on February 6th, 2021

Don Quixote Concerto (2021), Memories of a knight errant

Five Gestures of Moonlight 〈月色的五種姿態〉: for pipa, prepared zheng, percussion, and electronics (2024)

《微光集》的靈感源自於「黑暗中隱隱發光的某個角落」，發掘樂器聲響之中微小卻富有光澤的音色，並使用雙簧管、小提琴、鋼琴三種樂器來展現不同聲音姿態融合而成的「微光」。我嘗試以「照片集」的概念來設計，在全曲多個短篇段落之中，演奏者可自行安排演奏順序，如同隨機拾起一張張照片。每個段落皆會凸顯某一個樂器或主題，但段落之間的聲音素材仍相互呼應， 將相似的聲音素材，在每個段落中以不同的面向與比例出現或變奏，使每個段落同時具有「相似性」與「獨立性」，希望達到多個段落能任意排列組織，卻保有其音樂張力與方向性，成為一種多變且可被另行組織的樂曲形式。

這是一首必須簡單，聽起來卻充滿細節的作品。在單純中表達變化，往往會需要更多心力與細節。
 - 本曲寫給「想要初次嘗試當代音樂的演奏者」

Album of Gleaming Reflections〈微光集〉: for oboe, violin, and piano (2024)

Performed by members of Ensemble Intercontemporain
Odile Auboin, viola
Emmanuelle Ophèle, bass flute
Eric-Maria Couturier, cello
Alain Billard, contrabass clarinet
Recorded live at Philharmonie Essen on October 25th, 2015

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We met as Sparks — Diverging Flints
Sent various — scattered ways —
We parted as the Central Flint
Were cloven with an Adze —
Subsisting on the Light We bore
Before We felt the Dark —
A Flint unto this Day — perhaps —
But for that single Spark.

Emily Dickinson

We Met As Sparks (2015) for bass flute, contrabass clarinet, viola and cello

Don Quixote Concerto (2021), Memories of the squire Sancho Panza, for a pianist, his assistant and a large orchestra


Performed by SWR Sinphonieorchester conducted by Brad Lubman
Piano: Christoph Grund - Assistant and percussion: Jochen Schorer
Recorded live at ECLAT Festival in Stuttgart on February 2nd, 2024

Don Quixote Concerto (2021), Memories of the squire Sancho Panza

The idea of the work derives from the reflections of moonlight. By applying electronic techniques, I devised several sound gestures to depict the changing luster of moon, particularly the process of fluctuation, fusion, floating, and fading. Moreover, the pitches of electronic sounds are organized with several clusters and spectrums. By highlighting specific partials of certain spectrum, the timbre of music keeps transforming, reflecting kaleidoscopic colors throughout the piece.

Reflections, the Kaleidoscopic Luster of Moonlight〈返響, 渲染之月色光澤〉: electroacoustic music (2024-25)

〈星辰的十一個迴響〉- 為預置二十一弦箏與互動式電聲 - 完成於2023年7月，但最初的創作構想起始於2019-20年，時值我留學初返台灣之際，當時初識之音樂學者暨古箏演奏家楊宜樺，在多次討論後決定嘗試寫作一首有創造性與研究性質的古箏作品。創作靈感源自於George Crumb室內樂作品 Eleven Echoes of the Autumn 開場的鋼琴內部泛音聲響，我在George Crumb逝世的2022年開始著手寫作這首作品，以作為對於這位作曲家的紀念。

本曲名為十一個星辰的共鳴（光暈的折射、回聲的共振）對應Crumb作品中對於秋天的十一個回聲。對我而言，Crumb作品中的回聲（echoes）塑造了他音樂的空間感，但我卻希望能夠以聲響（包含回聲）散盡且逐漸融入環境中的迴響（resonances）作為全曲的焦點。換言之，Crumb著重的是聲音的姿態（timbral gestures）在空間中的延展，而我希望以聲音散開後的織度（textures）與氛圍（atmosphere），作為本作品實質的主題。


Eleven Resonances of Galaxies〈星辰的十一個迴響〉: for prepared zheng and electronics (2022-23)

The title of the work, "Fusing, Refusing, Diffusing," reveals the central idea I intend to express in the music. I choose the three words with the same root "fuse" to represent three phases of the timbral orchestration I'd like to explore: to fuse varieties of timbre by finding their similarities, to refuse the unity of the sounds by emphasizing the uniqueness of every single instrument, and to diffuse the hybrid or independent timbre to expand the texture, the idea, and the tension.

The idea is related not only to my research interest in the manipulation of the timbre, but also to the current situation of my country. In March 2014, many students and citizens in Taiwan occupied the parliament to protest against an illegal under-the-table approval of the trade treaty with China and prevent the government from destroying the democracy and selling Taiwan to China, which intends to aggress upon Taiwan economically and politically. Therefore, I try to transform the political issues into music to express the intention to refuse the gradual fusion and the diffusion of the refusal as a tribute to the brave protesters in Taiwan.

Fusing, Refusing, Diffusing: for 9 Instruments (2015)

Shimmering in the Air is written for haegeum player Soo Yeon Lyuh and violist Ellen Ruth Rose. As the title indicates, this piece, by using plenty of air noise and harmonics from the instruments as well as the resonator and amplification from the electronics, aims at shaping a kind of atmosphere filled with light but bright timbres, metaphors of sparkling, shimmering fragments of lights scattering in the air, just like some fragments of memories flashing upon us yet quickly fading out and eventually forgotten in our life.

Shimmering in the Air: for haegeum, viola, and electronics (2018)

Lily Chen, born in Taiwan, is a composer exploring sonic and theatrical potentials in both acoustic and electronic music. Her music shapes evocative atmospheres that point towards subtle poetic commentary on her observations about literary, emotional, or social aspects of the contemporary situation. She received her Ph.D. in music composition from the University of California at Berkeley, where she studied with Ken Ueno, Edmund Campion, Franck Bedrossian, and Cindy Cox. She also received her master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Taipei National University of the Arts in Taiwan, under the instruction of Chung-Kun Hung. She is currently an Assistant Professor of composition at Taipei National University of the Arts. For more information, please visit – http://chenlily.com

Fusing, Refusing, Diffusing: for 9 Instruments (2015)

Lily Chen

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