I wanted Around G to be complete enough that it could be a stand-alone piece, but also incomplete enough that it can be an integral part of my dissertation. As a result, I found myself thinking a lot about unrealized potential while writing the piece, and I attempted to restrain myself from thinking about the endless possibilities we can realize and instead considered only what is needed to reach a relatively steady closure.

Around G explores the sonic space around the pitch G, and is written for fellow explorers at the 2022 nief-norf summer festival.

Maria Castillo - Flute
Darius D. Edwards - Soprano Saxophone
Rachel Richards - Percussion
Huijuan Ling - Piano
Jayla Tang - Conductor

Dress rehearsal recording. Recorded at Powell Recital Hall, University of Tennessee Knoxville, on June 15, 2022.

Around G

afrosheen's spin on your favorite french robots.

FRENCH CONNECTION - AFROSHEEN 5555

Composed for Ieva Jokubaviciute and premiered on January 12, 2025.  The pianist is asked to reveal a hidden melody embedded within each chord.  A strict interval pattern shapes the harmony throughout.

Etude no. 3 - "Chords"

Composed for Ieva Jokubaviciute and premiered on January 12, 2025.  "Q-D 6&9" uses a spiral permutation to determine the length of scales and the presentation of harmonies.  Later, the harmonies detach themselves from the scales and take on a life of their own.

Etude no. 4 - "Q-D 6&9"

Castle Of Our Skins commissioned 18 Black composers to create musical works for chorus, wind ensemble, and orchestra that would expose young students to a wide range of contemporary African diasporic composers, and provide teachers with culturally responsive pedagogical tools and materials to support their learning.

COOS teaching artists created curriculum guides and partnered with Boston Public Schools to pilot each of the pieces. I’m honored to be a part of the first cohort of composers! You can find our work by visiting risingtidemusicpress.com!

Sheet Music, Program Notes, & Curriculum Guide available for purchase at https://www.risingtidearts.org/product-page/in-my-skin

In My Skin for Concert Band - Darius D. Edwards

Sheng for Orchestra

Named for the composer and violinist's cat, Blue-Dream MacKenzie

Blue Boppin'

This is the premiere recording from the 2025 North American Saxophone Alliance Region 7 Conference in Knoxville, Tennessee! Program notes coming soon!

Reiterations for Sax Ensemble - Darius D. Edwards

The title word "Alu" is a somewhat gnomic term found on a variety of runestones. While a clear definition of the term is not agreed upon, it is used in the context of benediction in the closing of rune texts and perhaps derives from "ale." In this composition, some inspiration was taken from the encryption techniques used to hide deeper meanings within the poetic, ceremonial inscriptions on runestones. In addition to the association of runes with the practice of encoding, there remains an association of runes with the crudeness of the technology of antiquity. This association, combined with the notion of monoliths as unwieldy objects, led to a musical vision of the chamber orchestra as a fairly uniform body articulating swarming, mass textures. The music takes a step back from many of the modern advances in experimental or virtuosic performing technique, preferring a crude and jagged approach to both form and material.

Alu was premiered on Sunday April 20, 2025 by the University of Iowa Center for New Music

Alu (2024) for sinfonietta

Cairn (2025) for solo violoncello was premiered by Liam Battle on 1 May 2025 in Mixon Hall on the campus of the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Cairn was subsequently performed by Liam Battle on 2 May 2025 at Lives United Church in Cincinnati Ohio.

The title "Nyctivoe" is taken from Dimitris Lyacos's work of the same name which was later revised and currently published under the name "With the People from the Bridge." Cairn is a component of a cycle of works under this title.

Cairn: Nyctivoe Interlude (2025) for solo violoncello

Huijuan Ling is a composer and keyboardist currently based in Durham, NC. She likes to draw her inspiration outside the boundaries of the wobbly concept of Western art music and enjoys the process of discovering and negotiating a sound world that feels authentic both to her and her collaborators. Her music has been performed by ensembles and musicians such as the Ciompi Quartet, Yarn/Wire, Imani Winds, JACK Quartet, Line Upon Line Percussion, Patchwork Duo, cellist Ashley Walters, pianist Gloria Cheng, Kris Rucinski, and others. In 2022, her woodwind quintet "Toward a Rediscovery" won the first prize in the fifth International "New Vision" Composition Competition from the New York Dance & Arts Innovations; in 2021, she was awarded the William Klenz Prize in Composition from Duke University; in 2020, she was among the recipients of the Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; and in 2019, her harpsichord solo "Those Cold Winter Rains" won the third prize in the SIMM 2019 International Harpsichord Composition Competition. 



Upcoming projects and collaborations include The Poetics, for flutist Brandon Patrick George from Imani Winds, saxophonist Susan Fancher, Yarn/Wire, and the Ciompi Quartet; as well as Rainy Days, a set of pieces for harpsichord and electronics written for herself. Huijuan’s works have been presented in calls for scores and conferences such as Yarn/Wire International Institute, Weekend of Chamber Music, Nief-Norf Summer Festival, Line Upon Line Winter Composer Festival, and Midwest Composer’s Symposium.



As a keyboardist, Huijuan enjoys collaborating with ensembles and frequently serves as a performer for student composers’ works. As a performer, Huijuan is particularly interested in contemporary music and baroque music. She participated in Nief-Norf Summer Festival in both 2019 and 2022 as a composer-performer fellow, and in 2017, she was the harpsichord soloist for R. Murray Schafer’s Concerto for Harpsichord and Eight Wind Instruments with CCM Chamber Winds. 



Huijuan is currently a PhD candidate in Composition at Duke University, studying composition with Stephen Jaffe and harpsichord/organ with Robert Parkins. She received her MM at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and her BM at Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

Around G

Huijuan Ling

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