By Moonflowers (2022) for 2 violins, viola and cello

The title and idea of this piece was inspired from Bashõ’s five original haiku and it was the first section (short movement) of the composer’s previous piece, “Renga in Kigo” in the Bashõ’s haiku series. In this piece, it was like a magnification of the short movement of the previous work and showing more details.

by moonflowers
a fascinating body
floats absent-mindedly (1662-74)

The Moonflower is a symbol of Blossoming in the Dark. It was also appears as one of the main female characters, named “Renka (evening face)” in a Japanese novel, “the Tale of Genji” who encountered and dated with the male main character, Hikaru Genji during the night time.

The entire piece is generally atmospheric, descriptive and sensational in an abstract and imaginative way. The Zen idea of the sound design in this piece depicts to the nature. Bring the simple mind, calm and tranquility effect; and giving a special mental state of solitude soul. Finding the relationship between human, earth and heaven, could be the balance of the natural beauty. The changing of the tone color may transit slowly through multiple dimensions as like a window of transition in the perception of external and internal space. This idea allows transform and superimposes different sonority elements to one another.

By moonflowers for string quartet

Stephen Yip’s music have been described as post-modernist in style, with Asian roots, gives the inner colors of an advanced spatial sense…….
Yip was born in Hong Kong and now living in U.S.A. He received his doctor of musical arts (D.M.A.) at Rice University and bachelor of fine arts (B.F.A.) at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, studied with Law Wing-fai, Clarence Mak, and Arthur Gottschalk. He has attended major music festivals including: Wellesley Composers Conference, Aspen Music Festival, Asian Composers’ League, ISCM World Music Days, Chinese Composers’ Festival, IMPULS Ensemble Akademie, Luxembourg, the International Summer Course for New Music, Darmstadt, Germany, Wellesley Composers’ Conference. Residencies include: the Atlantic Centre for the Arts, Yaddo Colony and MacDowell Colony.
Yip’s works have been performed in the Asia, Europe and America. He has received several composition prizes, included “Salvatore Martirano Memorial Composition Award”, “Taiwan Music Center International Composition Prize”, “Robert Avalon International Prize”, “Singapore International Composition Competition for Chinese Orchestra”, the ALEA III composition Competition, and the 2010 Alvarez Chamber Orchestra Freestyle Composition Competition, London, England. His works are recorded in the ERM-Media, PARMA, Capstone, North South recording, Ablaze records, ATMA Classique, and Beauport Classical labels.
Yip is a member of the SCI, NACUSA, and ASCAP. Currently, he is on the music faculty at Houston Community College and works as a freelance composer.  More information: www.stephen-yip.com