The meditative, calm second movement of my Second Piano Concerto, "Confluence," is a reconstruction of a Hakka folk tune.
Yiu Kwong Chung conducts the Taoyuan Chinese Orchestra, Piano Soloist: Fan-Chiang Yi

Piano Concerto No. 2 "Confluence" 2nd Movement

A love song from my new opera, portraying a wealthy airline magnate who discovers that Rosina, his fiancée, is about to reunite with her former boyfriend from Italy, now visiting Taiwan. Struggling with his emotions, he decides to give Rosina the freedom to choose whom she wishes to marry."
Lyric:
[Intro]
Rosina dazed on this fateful night,
Let your heart be your guiding light.
With tender words, so I wrapped in sweet refrain,
With whispered dreams and slighted pain.

[Verse 1]
In the garden of Will, where shadows play,
I stand with heart on display,
With Nietzsche’s wisdom and Goethe’s glow,
He whispers softly, ‘tis you must know.

[Verse 2]
Rosina, choose who'll be your light,
Love shall guide you through the night.
A book of dreams within your palm, 
Sometimes, the peace will fly.
Though doubt may linger, and tears may pour out,
For our love sublime.

[Chorus]
Rosina, the heavens await,
Your choice will shape what we await,
Let your heart dictate your fate,
Through joy, through pain, love prevails.

[Chorus]
Rosina, my cherished star,
Let your spirit take its flight.
Choose the love that feels so right,
Under the moon’s soft light.

Nietzsche's Hint

Racks

Flawless

KiffKaff

In 2025, the composer developed a ground-breaking six-mallet independence technique, in which each mallet functions like a pianist’s individual finger. This innovation redefines the technical and expressive possibilities of the marimba, aiming to bridge the gap between marimba playing and piano performance. While contemporary six-mallet marimba players often rely on the hand-alternation technique to execute rapid passages, this new approach emphasizes true mallet independence, allowing for simultaneous contrapuntal texture and polyphonic articulation.
To demonstrate and explore the full potential of this technique, the composer wrote a series of five etudes for six-mallet marimba, each focusing on different aspects of inter-hand coordination, polyphonic independence, and tonal clarity. Together, these etudes establish a new pedagogical and artistic foundation for six-mallet marimba performance.

My performance of my self-composed Etude for 6-Mallet Marimba No. 1 is now available to watch on YouTube. YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/pk6SgkgGJlE?si=H3ZcNwlE3EPRnZbI

KiffKaff

NjA

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