This work represents an exploration of my extend technique for piano. It is a very simple idea, to show our regular daily routine through the consolidation and development of similar but different type of sounds(gestures). "This is our daily routine, repeating the same and different things every day. At the end of the day you try
to summarize the day's takeaways, but it's still just a matter of repeating what you've done all over again ......"
This piece was premired at June 11, 2022 by SYPD, commissioned by BME Festival.
Piano I: Carolina Santiago Martinez
Piano II: Francisco Marti Hernandez

...Day To Day...--For Piano Duo(2022)

I have always believed that every instrument has a different life force. When they are "ensemble" together, the individuality of the individual instruments themselves is indelible. In this piece I equip each instrument with a unique gesture. And make sure there are no conflicts when they are combined. As each gesture has different characteristics, combining them creates a layer to maintain a delicate balance. At this point, each instrument becomes an integral part of the group while retaining its own identity. At the same time, I placed solo fragments for each instrument according to their gestures in this work, I believe that even in "Quartet", each instrument can be as dazzling as "Soloist"......
This piece was premired by Ensemble Dal Niente at the  July 17, 2022.Commissioned by DePaul New music Residency.
Constance Volk, flute
Hanna Hurwitz, Violin
Ammie Brod, Viola
Juan Horie, Cello

Quartet? Soloist! --For Flute and String trio(2022)

This is the second work of the “Anti-rhythm” series. The concept of “anti-rhythm” stems from the fact that the duration interval between two heartbeats while breathing is never the same. In spoken language, each word has different accents and lengths. Nature suggests to us that real rhythm does not entail a mechanical repetition of equal durations, but it follows a more complicated pattern of development. In the second work of the “Anti-rhythm” series, I am reimagining the material of the folk song “Yimeng” from the Shandong province through the Chinese concept of the unique “ 散 板 (Scattered)”. The “ 散 板 " indicates that there is no fixed beat or sectional divisions in the piece. The phrasing is composed by accordance with tension and release patterns formed with naturally. Moreover, in the selection of rhythm, unconventional rhythms such as triplets and quintuplets are used throughout the entire work.
This piece was premired at Jan 21, 2022.
Violin: Bowen Chen

Anti - Rhythm II: Explore'YiMeng'--For Violin solo(2021)

A hypothetical experiment: The process of bringing or returning 6 mutiple persons to a unite(simple) condition or state.Maybe it can hit at our present-day diverse world. First, I conceived all the gestures of the piece belonging to three groups. Some gestures have similar characteristics between groups, whereas others are unique to each group. Second, I divided these “persons”into three different types of "groups" by their character and personality. They are combination flute and bass mouthpiece, combination oboe bell and violin, one violin(group A: a family that tolerate different features about different personality and views), cello, double bass (group B: a family emphasizing similarity) and piano (group C: the king of instrument, which means omnipotent). Based on this, the work is divided into two parts for development. The first part describes the process of the development of the groups from their respective development to the simultaneous development. In the connection part, it is clear that all the instruments are merged into the same dimension. The second part gradually integrates their respective sounds on the basis of the same dimension, and gradually has a high degree of similarity. In the coda part, all the parts are concentrated on D natural harmonic, which freezes the principle of gradually simplifying and unifying from the multi-faceted sound of this work.
This piece was premired at Sep.2,  2022 by IEMA Ensemble, commissioned by Lucern Festival.
Conductor: Hankyeol Yoon
Bass mouthpiece/Flute: Rebecca Blau
Oboe bell/Violin: Vicente Moronta/Adam Woodward
Violin: Federico Ceppetelli
Cello: Elena Cappelleti
Bass: Rebecca Lawre
Piano: Christine Wu

...Mutiple...Simple...--For Bass mouthpiece, oboe bell, flute, piano and strings(2022)

This is the third work of the “Anti-rhythm” series. The concept of “anti-rhythm” stems from the fact that the duration interval between two heartbeats while breathing is never the same. In spoken language, each word has different accents and lengths. Nature suggests to us that real rhythm does not entail a mechanical repetition of equal durations, but it follows a more complicated pattern of development. In this work, I explore the “contrasts” that can be reflected in the music. The two movements serve different topics and contexts, but in principle, they both aim to be as "contrastive" as possible. I trying to have a lot of tension and drama in the overall piece through the “conversation” between different texture and gestures. Such as timbre trill and slap tongue, fast fingering trill and staccato gesture.......
This piece was premired by Yu-ting Cheng at the Nov 18, 2022. (National Opera Theatre)Selected by 'In Bloom'musiCON Concert.

Anti - Rhythm III: Contrast--For bB-Flat Clarinet solo(2021)

This version was rehearsed and performed live by the French Ensemble Court-circuit at Clark University on October 23.
Flute: Anne-Cecile Cuniot
Bass Clarinet: Pierre Dutrieu
Violin: Alexandra Greffin-Klein
Cello: Julien Decoin
Piano: Jean-Marie Cottet

(Reading)Micro-Chromatic; Toccata--For Pierrot Ensemble

This work focuses on the collocation and counterpoint between similar timbres in the same acoustic properties. In this state, any slight deformation, expansion, and supplement are magnified. This represents my thinking and exploration of the aesthetics of "noiseism": Trying to construct a "harmonic system" through these unconventional gestures. In the first section, it develops two different sonic state, which are “staccato” (A(M.1-2)) and “linear”(B(M.3)) at the same time, These two materials are gradually increased the length between M.1--M.1. In the second section, sonic states A and B were developed separately. In M.18--M.34, A gradually fills the gaps between percussive speakers in the form of several subsections (this design is also due to the characteristics of percussive materiel) and transitions to material B (linear material) In M.39--M.52, when I was developing material B, I gradually thickened the sound in the form of long lines and sentences, paving the way for the final climax.the work ushered in the third part--Improvasition section, which is also the climax and coda part of the work. All of its material is derived from the sound elements that appeared in the previous passages. The similarity in the acoustics of the individual voices also lends this passage an impressive effect.
Performance team: MCME(Moscow Contemporary Modern Ensemble)
Flute：Maria Alikhanov
Clarinet in Bb：Oleg Tantsov
Violin：Evfeniv Subbotin
Cello：Olga Dyomina
Piano：Mikhail Dubov

Micro - Chromatic;Toccata (MCME Performance version)

Bee Swarm Disease--For Arc-en ciel Ensemble

Quartet? Soloist!--For Flute and String trio

The opposition and intergration of Cross-border--For Mixed chamber ensemble

Pengyi Li was born in Jinan in December 1999. He studied composition with Professor Xu Zhitong since the age of 12. In 2013, he was admitted to the High School Attached to the Central Conservatory of Music and graduated in 2019. He is currently an undergraduate student at the New England Conservatory of Music  study with Greek composer, theorist and conductor Stratis Minakakis. In recent years, his music has been devoted to exploring the fusion and collaboration of multi-dimensional sound, trying to make every timbre full of vitality and existence value.
He has been invited to participate in many composition projects, including AMF Festival (2018), reMusik Festival in St. Petersburg (2021), New music in clarinet call for works in Florence (2022), BME Festival(2022), DePaul New Music Residency (2022), Lucerne Festival (2022), MayFlower Art Center's call for works (2022). He has won more than 20 awards in composition competitions internationally, among which are: Won the grand prize in the Barletta International Composition Competition (2018), the second prize and the first prize in the California String Composition Competition (2018, 2019),won the first prize in the solo piece category, the second prize in the chamber piece category in the Vienna "Academia Musica" composition competition   (2021), the third prize in the Lithuanian Future Symphony International Chamber Orchestra Composition Competition (2018), and Honorable Mention Award in the Vienna Graz Composition Competition  (2020) )and Japan IseShima International Composition Competition(2022), etc. His works have been performed in more than ten countries and cities including the United States, Italy, Russia, Serbia, etc.  He also has cooperation with performers Carmine Marcello Rizz, Jarrett Hoffman, Emilio Checchini, as well as the Serbian Radio Symphony Orchestra Strings, Lithuanian LMTA Chamber Ensemble, Moscow Contemporary Ensemble (part of the performers), Syntagma Piano Duo, IEMA Ensemble, Ensemble Dal Niente and Ensemble Court-circuit.

Pengyi Li

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