I encountered the title of this piece while reading a book on alchemy and mysticism. The book points out that alchemists were always ready to bring out twelve ideas, one of which reads: “The below is as the above, and the above as the below, to perfect the wonders of the One.” I find this phrase to be quite inspiring in the context of writing a piece of solo music, because the concept of “below” and “above” can map onto instrumental registers quite nicely while being represented on one instrument.
	The below is as the above, And the above as the below progresses mainly in a linear fashion, in which it starts hanging softly high above, in a narrow intervallic span, then goes lower and lower, louder and louder, while the intervallic span expands wider and wider.
	This piece is written for and dedicated to Ashley Walters, whose talent and support made this piece possible.

The below is as the above, And the above as the below

Partita
for solo Violoncello

Composed for:
Juan Aguilera Cerezo

Premiered on 
January 25, 2023, Espacio Turina, Seville, Spain

I. Lobelia

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

Premiered by Festino Chamber Choir at 12th St. Petersburg New Music Festival

Loquats

This Car Is Crazy (Film Score Rock&Roll)

In the fall of 2024 as a present for his 65th birthday, I composed a string quartet for John McDonald (composer, pianist, and professor at Tufts University) who has been a mentor and dear friend to me. Through him, the piece was shared with Palaver Strings who then invited me to arrange the piece for them. As I reworked the string quartet to be suitable for a larger ensemble, I had the opportunity to reflect further on current events, eventually settling on the title, Panalangin, which means “prayer” in Tagalog (the Philippine dialect that I speak). The piece unfolds gently through successive waves of rising and falling lines as well as increasing and decreasing intensities, allowing instruments of the ensemble to come to the fore and then recede. It is a prayer that is at times whispered softly, sometimes spoken fervently, and always delivered passionately, with hope at its core.

Panalangin

BACK LIKE I NEVER LEFT :) ENJOY I MISSED YOU

MOTHERBOARD VOL. 3 TOTAL SYSTEM RESET

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.