Premiere performance of TRIP/TIC by the Worthington Chamber Orchestra, Antoine Clark, director.

Program Notes: Program notes


Who are we? Our identity consists of not only our experiences, but also the history of our parents and their parents. The events of their lives shaped their view, and as they raise their children, their history gets woven into life’s lessons handed down from generation to generation. My story spans three countries and dual cultures that have impacted my life before I even existed. World War II impacted my grandparents’ lives, transported them to a new country which affected my parents’ childhood. My parents’ desire to explore and grow brought them to the United States. And now I was raised in Iowa City, Iowa, in an abundance of cultural history and new discoveries. Among one of my earliest memories is a Chinese folk song, Kangding Love Song. 

TRIP / TIC is about journeys and influences. What does it mean to be Asian American? Is there a dominant culture? Is Chinese inspired music or “Copland-esque” music more “authentic” when talking about my identity? Or am I immersed in both, so that a new synthesis occurs?

TRIP/TIC

Passions deals with the intermingling of influences in my life as an Asian American: the folk tunes that have surrounded me since my childhood and the western-based education of classical music and twentieth-century techniques. For Passions, I composed music idiomatic for the er-hu (Chinese fiddle) and the sheng (Chinese aerophone) and combined attributes for violin lines. As a contrast, the music for the piano alternates between various pentatonic tapestries and neo- romantic, neo-tonal influences.

Passions

Ching-chu Hu

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