Text by Hermann Hesse

Recorded by the Eastman Chorale on 16 April, 2014, in the Ray Wright Room of the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York.

Conductor: Mark Helms


Im Nebel

Seltsam, im Nebel zu wandern!
Einsam ist jeder Busch und Stein,
Kein Baum sieht den andern,
Jeder ist allein.

Voll von Freunden war mir die Welt
Als noch mein Leben licht war;
Nun, da der Nebel fällt,
Ist keiner mehr sichtbar.

Wahrlich, keiner ist weise,
Der nicht das Dunkel kennt,
Das unentrinnbar und leise
Von allen ihn trennt.

Seltsam, im Nebel zu wandern!
Leben ist Einsamsein.
Kein Mensch kennt den andern,
Jeder ist allein.


In the Mists

Wondrous to wander through mists!
Parted are bush and stone,
None to the other exists:
Each stands alone.

Many my friends came calling
then, when I lived in the light;
Now that the fogs are falling,
None is in sight.

Truly, only the sages
Fathom the darkness to fall,
Which, as silent as cages,
Separates all.

Strange to walk in the mists!
Life has to solitude grown.
None for the other exists:
Each is alone.

(translated by Walter A. Aue)

Im Nebel

Cello: Pedro Sánchez


"Elegy" is a piece for solo cello, and was composed as a tribute to the Bukit Brown Cemetery in Singapore, as well to the deceased resting in Bukit Brown.

In 2012, the Singapore Government announced that a significant portion of the graves in the cemetery would be exhumed to make way for the construction of a four-lane road, and that the entire cemetery would eventually be demolished within forty years’ time for further urban redevelopment.  This move has sparked a public outcry in Singapore, prompting heritage enthusiasts, historians, environmentalists and other members of the public to speak out against the government’s urban redevelopment plan.

The Bukit Brown Cemetery is one of the largest cemeteries in Singapore, as well as the eventual resting place of many key historical figures of the country.  It also holds immense historical significance for its role as a battlefield site during the Japanese Occupation which occurred during the Second World War.  Brimming with biodiversity, it is also a natural habitat to a rich variety of flora and fauna, and is notably rich in birdlife with 91 species (resident and migratory) recorded so far, including 13 nationally-threatened species.

This elegy has been composed not just as a gesture to honor the deceased resting in Bukit Brown, but also as a gesture of mourning for the eventual demise of the cemetery.  While we look forward towards progress in the form of urbanization, what price are we really paying?


Recorded at the premiere performance on 25 September 2014 at the Composers' Forum Concert in Hatch Recital Hall, Eastman Theatre, Rochester, New York.

Elegy

Performed by the MusicaNova Orchestra
Conductor: Warren Cohen

Originally composed for the piano, "Seven Miniatures for Orchestra" is a collection of seven short pieces all connected by the same pitch material. Though based upon the same set of pitch classes and its derivations, all seven miniatures present vastly different sound-worlds, each having a character of its own.  Each miniature also contain various hidden references to the number seven.

The first of the miniatures, the "Prelude," is a playful yet structurally-rigorous piece. Though sounding improvisatory and whimsical, its structure is tight and strictly ordered.  The "Gymnopédie" draws upon the spirit of Satie’s "Three Gymnopédies," but is a unique product of a wholly different musical language. The pensive mood of this piece stands in stark contrast to the energy of the "Burlesque," which is somewhat Bartokian in character. The piece with the most programmatic title of the set, "White Echoes, Cold Shadows," conveys the notions of timelessness and emptiness in a surrealist vein.  "Grunge," as its title suggests, contains influences from grunge rock music.  "Reverie" takes one on a dreamy sound journey, in a lyrical songlike fashion. The last of the set, "Heptaphilia," is a tribute to the number seven, and various allusions to this number are playfully peppered throughout the piece.

II: Gymnopédie

"Mantra" is a 4-channel acousmatic work, inspired by the Buddhist Sanskrit six-syllable mantra "om mani padme hum."  It is particularly associated with Avalokitesvara (known to Chinese Buddhists as "guan yin"), the Bodhisattva of compassion.

The words themselves could be translated literally as "Behold the Jewel in the Lotus," and there are also various other interpretations concerning what each syllable represents.  However, another view of the mantra is that the sounds in themselves are intrinsically meaningful, and do not simply function as carriers relating to a referent.  The sonic quality of the mantra is thus the mantra itself.  This idea intrigues me as a composer, and I aim to uncover part of the power of the mantra through exploring its sonic make-up.

December 2016

Mantra

Percussion: Cameron Leach, Josh McClellan, Catherine Cole

Percussion 1: Temple Blocks (5), Togo Seed Rattle (also known as Ekpiri Rattle or "Corazón del Mar" Rattle), Suspended Cymbal (16"), Whispered Consonants
Percussion 2: Suspended Cymbal (20"), Whispered Consonants
Percussion 3: Finger Cymbals (with and without holder), Cabasa (unmounted), Maracas, Whispered Consonants, Cabasa (mounted)


"Mind Monkey" is a work inspired by the Buddhist concept of the unsettled mind.  The concept of the “mind monkey” or “monkey mind” is referenced in a number of Buddhist texts, where the mind is compared to a monkey - active, capricious, and often prone to distractions.  The various interactions between the three percussionists within this work may be understood as the inconstant state of the restless mind, driven by its whims and flights of fancy.

Recording of premiere performance in the Eastman Composers' Concert held on March 23 2017 in Hatch Recital Hall, Eastman Theater, Rochester, New York.

=============

This piece has been awarded the Wayne Brewster Barlow Prize (2017) from the Eastman School of Music.

Mind Monkey

Performers: Hailey McAvoy (mezzo-soprano), Joseph Duncan (clarinet), Alex Yuill (piano)

Composer: Jon Lin Chua
Based on poem of the same title by Juliane Wald

Performed and recorded at the concert "Women's Voices," celebrating 100 years of New York Women's Right to Vote, held on March 5th 2017 at the Kilbourn Hall, Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York.


SNOW

Oh, Snow,
Clean and light, 
Fresh and white.
A picture of tranquility!

Your pristine form
Sheathes a heart of dust.
A birth from impurity!

Transfigured speck,
You remain untainted - 
Evanescent entity!

Oh, Snow,
Clean and light, 
Fresh and white.
A picture of tranquility!

Snow

Performers: Hailey McAvoy (mezzo-soprano), Martha Chan (flute), Yunwen Chen (cello)

Composer: Jon Lin Chua
Based on poem of the same title by Juliane Wald

Performed and recorded at the concert "Women's Voices," celebrating 100 years of New York Women's Right to Vote, held on March 5th 2017 at the Kilbourn Hall, Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York.


RAG DOLL

Rag doll
Disembodied oyster
Fleshy Mother of pearl.

Where there should have been life,
Only tea dregs remain.
A wilted tree with
Asphyxiated roots ---

I had not even known,
Or was just not ready to face you.
But now you are gone
Without even a "hello!”

My little crystal ---
What were you?
What would you have been?

Like a rag doll
Disembodied oyster,
Here I lie ---

Cold and bare,
An empty shell.

Rag Doll

Soprano Sax: Seung-Dong Lee

"Operatic Resonances" is a piece inspired by Chinese Peking opera.  Various features such as certain rhythmic gestures, melodic minor sixths, wide vibrati, tempi changes, and a general sense of dramatic contrast have been borrowed and adapted into the saxophone writing.  The piece also explores the free and strict aspects of meter that is often heard in traditional Peking opera.

Premiered on the inaugural Dot The Line New Music Festival

Operatic Resonances

Piccolo: Sheng Jia-Min
Clarinet: Cheong Mun Hoe

This piece  is inspired by Singaporean artist Lin Hsin Hsin's painting of the same title (1989). Awash in white and grey hues, the painting on first glance presents a picture of serenity.  Belying that tranquility, however, is the all-pervading sense of emptiness and death evoked by its pale tones, grey shadows, and the occasional spots of color, not to mention the incomplete surrealist outline of a four-fingered hand boldly standing in stark contrast against the rest of the painting, conveying a sense of “not waving but drowning.”  The abstract expression of muted horror is peaceful and even poetic in its subtlety, and the music attempts to recreate that atmosphere.

This piece is commissioned by the National Arts Council of Singapore as part of the Pictures at an (SG) Exhibition project, and premiered by musicians Sheng Jia-Min (piccolo) and Cheong Mun Hoe (clarinet) from the Philharmonic Winds, on 26 & 27 October 2019 at the National Gallery of Singapore.

how deep is the ocean?

Vocalise

Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra 小巨人丝竹乐团
Conductor: Chih-Sheng Chen 指挥：陈志升

Inspired by the famous traditional nanyin piece "Yuan Xiao Shi Wu" (Lantern Festival) which relates the tragic love story of Chen San and Wu Niang, "Reminiscences of Yuan Xiao" was envisioned as an abstract re-creation of the original piece.  "Reminiscences" draws upon not only the pitch material, melodic, and gestural features of the original piece, but also the heterophonic texture and the pacing characteristic of nanyin vocal music in general, as well as certain structural features of the tune.  This re-creation of the original tune also attempts to engage with the meaning of the text at various points within the piece.  The work as a whole represents a contemporary reinterpretation of an ancient piece.

This work was awarded First Prize (large ensemble category) in the 3rd Singapore International Composition Competition for Chinese Chamber Music, "Composium 2018," organized by the Ding Yi Music Company (Singapore).

《忆·元宵》的音乐素材取自于著名南音曲《元宵十五》。其曲陈述着民间传说陈三与五娘的爱情悲剧。《忆·元宵》在我的创作概念中，属于在原曲基础上抽象化的再创作品。除了采用原曲的音高元素、旋律等音乐特征，也采取了一般南音曲中常见的支声复音、速度变化、及原曲中的一些结构上的特性。此曲也保留及抒发了原曲中歌词的意境。《忆·元宵》象征着对一首南音古曲的一种现代演绎。

此曲在鼎艺团主办的第三阶国际华族室内乐作曲比赛囊获大型乐队组一等奖。

Reminiscences of Yuan Xiao 忆‧元宵

Singapore-born composer Jon Lin Chua credits her versatility in traversing musical cultures and genres to her eclectic musical background.

 

Jon Lin is currently the composer-in-residence of the Toronto Chinese Orchestra for the 2018-2019 concert season.  Recent composition awards include the First Prize (large ensemble category) as well as the Young Singaporean Composer award on the 3rd Singapore International Composition Competition for Chinese Chamber Music, "Composium 2018," organized by the Ding Yi Music Company (Singapore).  As composer, she has also worked with groups such as the Toronto Chinese Orchestra as the current composer-in-residence, MusicaNova Orchestra (Phoenix AZ) as the orchestra’s composition fellow for the 2015-2016 season, the Ju Percussion Group (Taipei), EL Music Group (Seoul), the Southeastern Ensemble for Today’s and Tomorrow’s Sounds (Singapore), the Singapore Chinese Orchestra, Ding Yi Music Company (Singapore), Orchestra Collective (Singapore), 成都天资国乐 (Chengdu, Sichuan), the Guitar Ensemble of the National University of Singapore, and has had works performed in festivals such as the 2019 China-ASEAN New Music Festival (Nanning, Guangxi, 2019), ACL-Korea "Seoul Asia Waves" International Conference and Festival (Seoul, 2019), the inaugural Dot The Line New Music Festival (Seoul, 2019), the 35th Asian Composers League Conference and Festival (Taipei, 2018), 18th Biennial Festival of New Music organized by the Florida State University College of Music (Tallahassee FL, 2017), the Women in Music Festival (Rochester NY, 2017 & 2014), and the National University of Singapore Arts Festival (Singapore, 2012).

​

Jon Lin studied at the Eastman School of Music, where she graduated with highest distinction as a double major in composition and music theory, and also a recipient of numerous scholarships, including the prestigious Presser Scholar Award and the National Arts Council of Singapore Arts Scholarship.  She also received composition awards such as the Wayne Brewster Barlow Award, Louis Lane Award, and the Bernard Rogers Memorial Prize.  Jon Lin is a member of the national honor music society Pi Kappa Lambda in the United States, the current treasurer of the Composers Society of Singapore (CSS), as well as a member of the Composers and Authors Society of Singapore (COMPASS).

​​

Her teachers in composition include composers Oliver Schneller, Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, Robert Morris, David Liptak, and Robert Casteels, and she has participated in composition masterclasses with Moritz Eggert and Louis Karchin.  In Eastman, she also studied piano performance under the tutelage of classical/jazz pianist and pedagogue Tony Caramia, and has also received instruction from Vincent Lenti, piano professor at the Eastman School of Music. Apart from being a pianist, she is also an erhu player, and has obtained a performance diploma from the Central Conservatory of Music of China.  In addition, Jon Lin has also taken the effort to venture into alternative styles of music, including traditional Nanyin music, various subgenres of traditional Chinese opera, and has collaborated with Flame of the Forest, a contemporary Northern Indian music trio.


Jon Lin was also invited to present her paper A Collapse of Musical Categories? : A Closer Look at Ethnic Chinese Music within the Chinese Conservatory Tradition Today at the Composition in Asia International Symposium and Festival held in the University of Florida (2015).  Her recent research interests include analytical approaches to timbre-based works, as well as the music of Helmut Lachenmann.  Prior to pursuing her degree in music, Jon Lin obtained a B.A. (Hons) in philosophy from the National University of Singapore.

Jon Lin Chua

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