For SORI Percussion
Premiered November 2021

Revolutions (2021)

A new piano trio from the summer of 2014 inspired by Van Gogh's "Starry Night over the Rhone" (1888).  2nd prize winner of the Land's End Chamber Ensemble Competition for Canadian composers in 2015.  Performed by the ensemble in March 2015, Calgary AB.

Starscape (2014) - for piano, violin, cello

Workshopped by the Brussels Philharmonic and conducted by maestro Franck Ollu.  This recording is made possible by the [`TACTUS] program for young composers.

The piece is based on the 7-day creation story outlined in the book of Genesis.  There are extensive program notes for the piece which for the purpose of brevity I will not include here, but they can be found on my website below:

https://roydontse.wordpress.com/music-and-scores/orchestral/genesis/?preview_id=2307&preview_nonce=26a3f7dcff&preview=true

Genesis (2015) - for orchestra

Performed by the CECILIA STRING QUARTET

Breathe (2015) explores in musical terms the various ideas related to breathing, such as representing musically the phrasing of a natural breath to incorporating sounds of breathing along with the string quartet. As a starting point for the composition, I imagined the four members of the quartet becoming an organism that for the most part would move and respire together. Lines converge and blur in a piece where simple gestures and repetition are used to evoke different states of breathing and being.

www,roydontse.com

Breathe (2015) for string quartet

Metropolis - four movements for string quartet

Performed by the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra
Sheng Solo: Hua Yifei, Conductor: Zhang Liang
Shanghai Symphony Hall, Nov 12, 2017

The primary material for the piece comes from the folk song [太阳出来喜洋洋], which originally came from the Southwest region of China and was sung by lumberjacks going up to the mountain in the morning.  As with many folk songs, the melody is simple and memorable, consisting of five tones only (Bb, C, Eb, F, G).  I took the first four notes of the melody as the theme for this work for sheng and orchestra.   

Commissioned by the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.  
www.roydontse.com

Radiant Light (2017) for sheng and orchestra

Commissioned and performed by the Central Bucks High School-West Choir, lead by Dr. Joseph Ohrt.  Premiered at the Metropolitan United Church of Toronto, on April 14, 2018.

Thoughts on the Conservation of the Earth in Words and Music

The Stream (2018) SATB Youth Choir

Winner of the Lyra Costello Harp composition competition, "Release" explores the idea of moving letting go - moving from a place where one holds onto certain fears and emotions towards freedom from the past.  The piece begins with a series of meditative gestures which culminate in a rapidly moving middle section.  The composition was also an effort to employ various harmonics in conjunction with normal notes, creating a glassy and haunting effect for the listener.  

Many thanks to Elizabeth White Clark, Elizabeth Hainen (Philadelphia Orchestra harpist) and the Lyra Costello Harp Society for their support in the creation of this piece.

Release (2019) - for harp

Roydon Tse (b.1991) is an award-winning composer of symphonic, chamber, and vocal acoustic music.  Lives in Toronto | Canadian Opera Company Teaching Artist | Toronto Symphony Orchestra NextGen Composer 2021/22.

Roydon Tse

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