Recorded on July 19, 2022, at Biddle 065, Duke University, Durham, NC.

Huijuan Ling - Harpsichord

Program Note:

Those Cold Winter Rains is written in homage to Toru Takemitsu, in which the beginning three notes of Takemitsu’s Rain Dreaming are referenced. I aim to use this piece to explore different sonic possibilities of the harpsichord, and this piece is an experiment of disruption, disrupted repetition, and continuation.

Those Cold Winter Rains

Fashion Promo

Echoes to Shangri-La: A Tibetan Migration

live at 2640 Space (Baltimore)

live recording of the premiere of "deep terrane (something moves)"

-Ty Bouque [voice]- http://tybouque.com
-Will Yager [bass] - https://willyager.com
-T McCormack [prepared bass drum]

more info:
https://www.timothy-mccormack.com/something-moves
www.timothy-mccormack.com/deepterraneproject

[photo credit: Ian Power - https://ianpoweromg.tumblr.com]

deep terrane (something moves) [2024]

First work in an experimental set of pieces for string quartet. This work was a finalist in the Music Madness 2024 live competition by Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle.

Pulsations I [2024]

Recording from premiere performance by the Princeton Singers at Adelphi University on Saturday, 30 September 2023.

Ave Maria (for SATB choir; 2018)

"Three Meditations" continues my practice of engaging with the creative work of Adelphi University colleagues and friends. This new work, written for Hub New Music, instead of setting the poems to be sung in performance, consists of instrumental reflections, responses, and “sonic paintings” of poetry by Maya Marshall and Jan-Henry Gray. These poems dwell on meanings of family and home; the anxiety of displacement; and love and hope. The three sections of the piece are performed without break, creating a quasi narrative progression from one to the next. The three poems are: "Nest" (M. Marshall); "Missing Document" (J. Gray); and "Everyday" (M. Marshall). Tremendous thanks to Hub New Music for how they made this piece come to life with such conviction. It was a deeply meaningful piece to me and it couldn't have been in better hands. And heartfelt gratitude to Maya and Jan-Henry for allowing me to respond to their work.

Three Meditations (for flute, clarinet, violin, and cello; 2024)

Sometimes, writing a short piece or song like this does more for me than journaling can ever do. The more I compose, the more I realize how precious of a gift it is to bring new music into this world. I'm thankful to have been busy with my larger projects, however, it is nice to take some time to write for myself. To express those complex emotions I feel without the worries of if it is playable or if people will like it is freeing. This is "Spring on the Rocks" for solo piano. As always, I hope you enjoy my work!

Spring on the Rocks

When Yael Weiss commissioned me to write a work in response to one of the Beethoven sonatas as part of her project “32 Bright Clouds,” I knew immediately which specific sonata I would choose: Op. 10, No. 3. As an undergraduate, this was one of the works that I analyzed, studied, and learned. In particular, I was drawn to the second movement’s overwhelming pathos that opened to the joy of the third movement. Unheard Voices dwells on the emotional content of this second movement while looking forward to the hope suggested by the third. In this new work, I ask Yael to perform the my composition while at the same time listening privately to a recording of the Beethoven movement with headphones. (This is a technique that I learned about from composer/pianist Jocelyn Ho.) As a result, two separate yet joint experiences occur simultaneously: the audience hears my piece being performed by the pianist whose interpretation of the music is in turn mediated, circumscribed, and informed by something that the audience can’t hear. 

Unheard Voices also uses another technique, which I heard about from composer Felippo Perocco, who devised a creative process that involves “carving away” notes from a pre-existing work. For Unheard Voices, using the second movement of Op. 10, No. 3 as the canvas upon which I created my piece, I “carved away” many of the notes, keeping a certain few and echoing others (like ghostly whispers) in the piano gestures. Embedded toward the end of Unheard Voices is a quote from the “Agnus Dei” of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis on the text dona nobis pacem: a plea for peace that is the underpinning of Yael’s commissioning project. 

Unheard Voices is dedicated to the victims of vigilante violence and extra-judicial killings that have happened in the Philippines, whose voices remain tragically unheard.

"Unheard Voices" (for solo piano; Yael Weiss, Live Performance; 2018)

JBDUBZ vol. 8 Compilation is the eighth various artist compilation.

Thank you to all of the artists who have so generously contributed to making this project the best and most comprehensive JBW compilation to date. Much love to the worldwide community for your support this year and always.

released December 1, 2020

RIP DJ Rashad


Mastered by Isaac Treece (DJ SWISHA)

Cover Art/Illustration by Richard Amezquita (SCATTA)

BORED LORD - Nonsense

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.

Those Cold Winter Rains

Huijuan Ling

Related tracks