Commissioned by the Albany Symphony 
Completed April 28, 2021
Premiered June 11, 2021 by David Alan Miller and the Albany Symphony's Dogs of Desire

Newness was on my mind in late February 2021 when David Alan Miller asked me to write a piece for the Albany Symphony’s ‘Dogs of Desire.’ I had recently graduated from school, spring was around the corner, and slowly but surely, the world seemed to be inching toward some semblance of normalcy. It had been a long, dark winter, and there was a hesitant hope in the air even around me where I lived: some of Baltimore’s more enthusiastic cherry blossoms had begun to prematurely flower. 

I did not want to write a simple ‘spring has sprung!’ piece, however - the harsh realities of the last year would have made such an approach disingenuous for myself. Instead, I was drawn toward the beauteous ambiguities of Tang dynasty poet Bai Juyi’s work. His poetry was filled with natural imagery of the seasons that he shaped into dark yet lyrical ruminations on life, death, and rebirth. 
	
		Fall - ‘...The wind that burns to ash then restores.
			The air fills with embers
			And you go with them.’ 
						- excerpted from his poem, ‘草 (Grass)’

		Winter - ‘Bloom, unbloomed - snow soon thaws (by the dawn)
			midnight snow shrouds the night...’ 
						- excerpted from his poem, ‘花非花 (Flower, no flower)’

		Spring - ‘The gate illumined by
			The sun brings the sweet taste of spring.’
						- excerpted from his poem, ‘春眠 (Spring sleep)’ 

Relatively few of Bai’s poems seemed to concern the summer, and so The Gate Illumined is shaped around his preferred seasons. The music begins tentatively, opening with a brief flurry of motion that is quickly suspended. The gesture repeats, slowly unfolding into running scales and drifting harmonies as two singers trade phrases back and forth. The two are initially opposed - one sings of desolation, the other restoration. Gradually, the music begins to shed its equivocation as its pulse solidifies into running motion. A gathering sense of optimism swells through the ensemble as the singers find agreement. Ultimately, the piece ends the way it began, culminating in the opening gesture.

Large Ensemble

The Gate Illumined, for two sopranos and sinfonietta

THE CLUB'S DOORS ARE OPENED. YOU'RE ON THE LIST!
I made 4 remixes here: Selena Q - Baila Esta Cumbia, Doja Cat ft SZA - Kiss Me More, Cardi B - Up and my tribute to Cristina La Veneno, Pet Shop Boys - Always On My Mind.

This mix set is meant for fun, the title is meant for you to laugh and start listening to it in a good mood!

No commercial purposes intended.

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Solo Bassoon: Alban Wesly
live recording, Strasbourg 2014
info: http://lizalimcomposer.wordpress.com/2012/04/26/axis-mundi/

Liza Lim: Axis Mundi (2012-14)for solo bassoon

Acousmatic work reduced to stereo format. Originally premiered at "Event Horizon," Arizona State Marston Theater, March 19th, 2018. Voices by JP Lempke and Jeremiah Sweeney.

this is not a drill [right arrow + picture of cucumber]

The title of the poem, 26 by Rachel Eliza Griffiths, refers to the lives lost in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14, 2012. Among them were twenty children between the age of six and seven years old, as well as six adult staff members. This musical setting was written considering the continuing epidemic of violence in America, reflecting on the 346 mass shootings of 2017, and 340 occurring in 2018 according to the Gun Violence Archive.

"The imagery and language of the gun in the American memory must be buried. There is so much more to hold up, more to praise. This elegy is for all of us, because we all need to remember how to live in ways that reassert our humanity. This is one of the most literal poems I've ever written and it is like, as so much is in the times we live, an unanswerable flare, a cry for change."
—Rachel Eliza Griffiths

Premiere recording by Lawrence University's Cantala under the direction of Dr. Phillip Swan in May of 2019. Performed at the Lawrence Memorial Chapel in Appleton, WI

26 [Treble Choir]

I was asked to arrange the traditional Irish folksong The Parting Glass for an in memoriam video. Performed, mixed, and mastered by me

The Parting Glass (arrangement for voice and cello)

This piece is based off of the gate-keeping and invalidation that has historically occurred in the academy. When Conrad Tao and I first began talking about this idea, it became clear that we were both lucky in that we made it into academic music and have had relatively progressive experiences and environments. However, we still hold beliefs and support movements that are against the institution. Despite constantly creating hip-hop in the contemporary world, the genre still is invalidated in front of me every day. This cognitive dissonance is what I explored when writing the piece.

26 [Treble Choir]

David Fisher

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