Han Qiao (乔瀚), a composer, pianist, and Morin Khuur player, is currently pursuing studies in composition under Prof. Xiang Min at the Central Conservatory of Music. His creative inspiration stems from the interconnectedness of sound and its subtle nuances. This inspiration manifests in his compositions, which incorporate Mongolian musical elements and have been performed in Inner Mongolia, Beijing, Chengdu, and other locations. Demonstrating a commitment to the advancement of new music, Han Qiao founded the "Laboratory of Contemporary Music" in 2022. This initiative successfully hosts concerts showcasing new works, as well as seminars and discussions. Notably, his solo piano piece "Pen-Ink" was awarded third prize in the "Xinghai Cup" First Chinese Style Piano Composition Competition. Additionally, his chamber music work "Deconstruction of Images" received the Third Prize in the 19th China-Chengdu "Sunshine Cup" Students' New Music Composition Competition.

Borneo Ensemble
Turali/Bungkau: Najmie Hafizan
Violin: Lee See Ling @ Grace
Viola: Lim Zi Shian
Kalimba: Neo Nai Wen
Piano: Tham Horng Kent

Conductor: Lee Chie Tsang Isaiah

Recordings by Ong Yuan Shun
Mixed and Mastered by Ong Yuan Shun

Wind Song (excerpt) by Han Qiao

Performed by Open Union on the 27th of September 2024 at Centrala, Space

Performed by Open Union
Modular Synth: Peter Bell
Electric Guitar: Patrick Ellis

Live sound by Joseph Ockford
Audio taken from 'Open Union: Live at Centrala, Birmingham' filmed by Alexander Henshaw 

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Bio:

Wilson Leywantono is a composer currently based in Indonesia. His music has been performed in the UK, the Netherlands, Ireland, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia by many professional ensembles and performers such as Orkest de Ereprijs, New European Ensemble, Rosetta Contemporary Ensemble, Open Union, the Azalais Quartet, Hordienal Quartet, Decibel, Le Page Ensemble, the Schubert Ensemble, Thallein Plus Ensemble, Fumiko Miyachi, Mary Wiegold, Rowland Sutherland, Miriam Kitchener, etc.

More info on Wilson here: wilsonleywantono.wordpress.com

Wilson Leywantono - open con (2024)

Performed by Open Union on the 27th of September 2024 at Centrala, Space

Performed by Open Union
Modular Synth: Peter Bell
Electric Guitar: Patrick Ellis

Live sound by Joseph Ockford
Audio taken from 'Open Union: Live at Centrala, Birmingham' filmed by Alexander Henshaw

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Bio:

Christine Cornwell is a performer/composer and producer based in Rotterdam with strong links to free improvisation, collective practice, and strives to initiate projects for artists from different disciplines to work together. In her work, she works closely with performers and audience, recently at Screen Dive/Gaudeamus in Utrecht, workshops with Hackers&Designers + Questions Collective in Amsterdam, and a new series Sounding Here at Rotterdam's Batavierhuis. 

Christine has a Masters in Classical Composition from Codarts University of the Arts, and a Bachelor in Music Performance (violin) from Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. She currently mentors students at Codarts University of the Arts and is employed as a Creative Producer there.

More info on Christine here: https://christinecornwell.info

Christine Cornwell - invisible poetry, instructions for singing to ghosts (2024)

Performance by Raffaele Masicano
Sala Puccini of Conservatorio di Milano 
26/10/2024

Schizzo IV (for Trombone Solo)

Born in Malaysia, Wong began playing the piano at age four and the violin at age eight. She fell in love with music at birth and has been an active performer since young. She was a Malaysia delegate in many international music events including the ASEAN Youth Orchestra, Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, APEC support team, and Commonwealth Youth Orchestra during her teenage as a violinist and pianist. She was also a multiple scholarship recipient during her studies at the University of North Texas (B. Mus) and Deakin University (M. Edu). She studied violin with Prof. Robert Davidovici, who was a student of Ivan Galamian and David Oistrach, and upon graduation, she taught at 6 universities and tertiary institutions including Universiti Malaya and Universiti Putra Malaysia in Malaysia.

In 2007, she founded the H.E.A.R.T. Foundation in Cambodia to help marginalized and underserved children to go to school in Cambodia. The foundation has reached more than 14 countries including India, Indonesia, Lesotho, Nepal, China, and The Philippines since then. She is currently the president of the Hearts Symphony Society and composed numerous compositions for children and humanitarian work. Some of her recent compositions include Occa and Illia (musical - 2023), Care that We Share (World Palliative Care Theme Song
2022 - Premiered at Hospital Rembau), and Di Dalam Hati Ku (2023).

Borneo Ensemble+Ums Chamber Choir+Hearts Symphony
Turali/Bungkau: Najmie Hafizan
Violin: Lee See Ling @ Grace
Viola: Lim Zi Shian
Kalimba: Neo Nai Wen
Piano: Tham Horng Kent

Conductor: Lee Chie Tsang Isaiah

Recordings by Ong Yuan Shun
Mixed and Mastered by Ong Yuan Shun

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (excerpt) by Wong Siew Ngan

Garden of the Gods I (2025)

"Composition No. 2" is the second work in the Composition cycle, and it explores the boundaries between structure and spontaneity. This piece weaves together rigorous compositional methods—such as serialism and rhythmic expansion and contraction—with elements of indeterminacy, allowing chance to play a crucial role in shaping the musical narrative.

The result is a work that challenges traditional expectations while offering a deeply engaging sonic experience.

Composition No. 2 (2024)

Premiered by Israel Contemporary Players.
 
The name of the piece derives from the action of suggestion, a hypnotic process that opens a window to subconscious, which contains distant memories. In these moments the sobriety emerges - pure from confusion, bright and breathtaking. In this piece, as in reality, dreams and memories occasionally mix, yet the fear of leaning on imaginary moments gives its way to reconciliation. Then, even sad dreams become precious memories.

Instrumentation: Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, Trumpet, Trombone, Percussion, Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello, Double bass

Suggestion, for ensemble (2019)


Instrumentation: Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon​

Commissioned by the Cane Trio. Premiered at the Israel Music Fest 2022.

​The piece consists of six miniatures. Each section corresponding to a different part of the tree: roots, trunk, branches, leaves, and flowers. The concluding section is called "Shuv" (Again), and unlike the others, it does not refer to a physical part of the tree but rather to the principle of the cycle of life.

Six Elements of a Tree, for trio (2022)

Commissioned by the Tzlil Meudcan Festival. Premiered on July 4th, 2023.

Clouds of White is a political piece. It is based on the idea of extreme political parties that have no intention of compromising, even when their ideology becomes more important than the citizens who they are supposed to represent.
This one movement piece contains three sections. The beginning and end are messy and restless, while the middle part is the unattainable utopia. At that point, a well known song is quoted, enabling the instruments to feel at home, in a familiar setting derived from jazz music. At the very end of the piece, the pitch disappears completely, representing a world without compassion and kindness.

Clouds of White, for Saxophone and Double-Bass (2023)

Commissioned by The Israel Contemporary Players
Dedicated to the victims of the October 7 massacre

The piece is a reflection of the Israeli soul after the October 7 massacre. Although it is written as a single movement, the piece consists of four parts, each portraying different emotions: shock and confusion; fear; anger; as well as sadness and pain. Reflecting the complexity and the intensity of the emotions, the music, throughout the entire piece, varies frequently, expressed through different parameters of the sound, such as orchestration, diapason, density, and more. In between the sections, an alien sound on the clarinet symbolizes the search for compassion and mercy towards the other side. This task is the most challenging given the events and the harsh news that keep coming. Thus, the piece remains open-ended, encouraging further reflection on the matter.

Instrumentation: Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon (all woodwinds doubling), Horn, Trumpet, Trombone, Percussion, Piano, 2 Violins, Viola, Cello, Double bass

This is the Reality NOW, for ensemble (2023)

Commissioned by Meitar Ensemble
Premiered at the Radialsystem V as part of the Ultraschall Berlin Festival

Three miniatures, inspired by the sand. In Desert Dance, the colorful sand of Makhtesh Ramon rises from the silence of the desert for an imaginary dance, in honor of the breathtaking beauty of the place. The second movement, Into the Sea, follows a barefoot walk, from the hot sand of the beach into the Mediterranean Sea, to a point where one can barely touch the ground. And last, Hiking, which corresponds with Desert Dance in some musical aspects, is inspired by the mountains of Jerusalem in a sunny Saturday. The ensemble can choose which of these two movements opens the piece, and which one ends it.

Instrumentation: Flute, Clarinet, Bassoon, Piano, Violin, Cello

Colors of the Sand, for ensemble (2024)

Leró is a short work for cello solo that shares the composer's free spirit of composition, his interest in percussion, and above all, the rhythms of Puerto Rican culture. However, unlike his other works for cello that are inspired by salsa, (Soneo de la 22 and Rumbo), Leró is inspired by the Puerto Rican bomba. Leró serves as the title of this piece, but it is also meant to be sung with the voice while playing the cello. It is an option that can be omitted, but in the interest of presenting the work in its entirety, I have recorded it with the voice. While this technique is utilized in other works by Ortiz, in Leró, it references the popular songs of the Puerto Rican bomba. Another way in which he experiments with this genre is through the incorporation of percussion passages. These are performed on the cello's body and serve as attractive interjections within the rest of the material while alluding to the language of the bomba drums.


Leró

In this pre-recorded pre-performance lecture, Dr. Tiffany Kuo guides you through Osvaldo Golijov's Ainadamar: the plot, the history, and, of course, the music. Tickets to Ainadamar are available now at LAOpera.org. 

Dr. TIffany Kuo's Pre-Performance Talk on Ainadamar

Performed at the Lunenburg Academy for Musical Performance, Lunenburg Nova Scotia, June 2024.

(In)ElasticCollisions

Castor and Pollux - for Violin and Marimba (2021)

Contemporary Classical Music for Woodwind Quintet

Q part 1

The post-serialist piece is based on a series of variations and permutations of three series of 6, 8 and 10 notes on rhythmic elements inspired by the melody of Bobby Timmons' jazz piece Dat Dere. It develops in panels, in which the previously introduced elements are reworked and reused. The title, in addition to being a tribute to Bobby Timmons, refers to the famous series of children's books by English illustrator Martin Handford, Where's Wally? 
Just as in the Wally books, where each volume contains a series of highly detailed illustrations with many characters and the reader is invited to find a character called Wally, distinguishable among a thousand difficulties only by his red and white striped shirt, in the piece the listener is led to follow the metamorphosis undergone by the material, searching for the rhythmic elements inspired by Timmons' theme, which through a series of permutations and variations become almost completely indistinguishable, creating new and surprising soundscapes compared to the jazz mood of the reference track.

Dov'è Bobby?

"Discussion sur le pamplemousse" uses rhythmic displacement and note lengthening/shortening techniques to propose various transformations and permutations of a series of eight notes of equal duration. The title is obviously a tribute to Erik Satie. The series of eight notes is derived from four starting notes: C (Do) – A (La) – D (Ré) – E (Mi); “c-a-de” in Italian is the present tense singular of the verb “cadere” (to fall). The piece is constructed as a mirror image: the first part, which ends at bar 94, is then reproduced in retrograde form, reworking it as if it were a distorted image.

Discussion sur le pamplemousse

Open Union is an experimental music duo made up of composer-performers Peter Bell (modular synthesiser) and Patrick Ellis (electric guitar) based in Birmingham and London.

Described by the treasured composer Howard Skempton as being, ‘sometimes subtle and unstable; sometimes rich and dense’, the duo aims to build up strong collaborative relationships to create new verbal and text based works. Their current collaborators are Christine Cornwell, Wilson Leywantono, May Chi, Paolo Griffin and Seán Clancy.  

The duo have performed across the UK at events such as Ealing Extranormal, AMOK, Don't Mind Control, Birmingham Modular Organisation and CODA Festival. In 2025, they supported Passepartout Duo at Centrala Space, Birmingham as part of their UK Tour, and in 2023, undertook a mini tour of The Netherlands as part of the Sounding Here concert series, where they performed at Splendor in Amsterdam and Batavierhuis in Rotterdam.

In July 2025, they co-hosted a portrait concert with saxophonist David Zucchi featuring music by Paolo Griffin at the Hundred Years Gallery.

Hello and welcome to my profile! 

     My name is Omar Octavio Gaytán-Procel, born in México City and currently living in Copenhagen, Denmark. Music and Composition especially have played a very significant role in my life for the past 40 years or so.

    With my production I try to portray the human drama of our times, all of that fragmented reality that appears in front of us every day and that we, the composers, painters, writers use to express our vision of ourselves and the creation around us. My production consist in more than 1000 pieces to the date ( February 2024 ) and is divided in multiple textures and formats. It started years ago with acoustic music and with time and new technology it developed into electro-acoustic music and later into pure electronic.

    Here on my SoundCloud you will find some examples of the different musical ideas that I have been involved with from the mid-nineties to this date. This ideas range from Solo pieces, Chamber Music, Orchestral Music to pure Electronics.

    Thanks for listening!

Batya Frenklakh (b. 1992) is an Israeli composer. The most striking aspect of her music is that it cannot be categorized under a single genre. Her style is primarily influenced by modern and contemporary classical music, but equally by pop, indie, and electronic music, as well as by Baroque and Classical music. She is interested in a certain degree of minimalism, in flowing energy and rhythm that draws listeners in, and in using scales and chords as timbres rather than within traditional harmonic contexts. Her compositions are often driven by extra-musical ideas that shape both the structure and the sounds she uses, often touching on social themes.

Batya has completed a second master's degree in composition at the Anton Bruckner Private University under the direction of Prof. Carola Bauckholt ('19-'21). Previously she studied with Mr. Dan Yuhas ('14-'17) and Mr. Reuben Seroussi ('17-'19) at The Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University.

Her works have been performed by notable ensembles, orchestras and soloists, such as the Israel Contemporary Players, Meitar Ensemble, Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, Schallfeld Ensemble, Divertimento Ensemble, The Israel Chamber Orchestra, The Israel NK Orchestra, Sharon Kam, Saar Berger, among many others. She has attended masterclasses with Francesco Filidei, Franck Bedrossian, Clara Iannotta, Fabien Levy, Mauro Lanza and Manuela Kerer, and took part in several projects, such as composing in collaboration at Labor Beethoven 2020 and constructing musical representations at the Biennale Urbana (Venice).

She won the 3rd prize of the Klon Competition Scholarship and received a master's degree scholarship from The Colton Foundation, a scholarship for excellence in a memory of lawyer Dan Ben-Basat, the Rotary Club Wels Stipendium 2019/20, and a scholarship for composing after the Israeli poet Aviva Or-Shalom.

Rodrigo Gonçalves (b. 2002) is a Brazilian composer currently studying Music Composition at Escola de Música da UFRJ (UFRJ School of Music). His background blends formal academic training with independent study and practical experience, shaping a distinct creative and technical approach.

Gonçalves began his musical studies in 2016 under the guidance of the conductor Josué Campos, focusing on music theory — an essential foundation for his development as a composer. From 2017 to 2019, he was member of Banda Sinfônica do Colégio São Vicente de Paulo, an experience that deepened his understanding of ensemble performance and the practical application of compositional techniques.

Between 2018 and 2022, he pursued independent studies in composition, further refining his craft through self-directed learning.

Gonçalves has also participated in a conducting and wind ensemble composition workshop led by the esteemed conductor and composer Rubén Darío Gómez at UFRJ School of Music. This experience provided him with valuable insights into conducting and composing for wind ensembles, broadening his approach to instrumentation and ensemble writing.

In addition to his work as a composer, Gonçalves is also an educator, teaching saxophone, music initiation and rhythmic solfeggio. Through his teaching, he aims to inspire and guide students in developing both their technical and artistic skills.

As he continues his studies and creative work, Rodrigo Gonçalves remains dedicated to exploring new directions in composition and refining his musical voice.

Puerto Rican composer William Ortiz was raised and educated in the United States, but his Latino identity plays a vital role in his music. Particularly, his experience as a Nuyorican in the 1970s have informed the aesthetics of his music, which transforms the sounds of the streets into art music. Unique in that respect is the use of instrumental and vocalized graffiti that are integrated in some of his works. A professor at the University of Puerto Rico at Bayamón, he has taught at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music and is Music Director of the Ateneo Puertorriqueño. 
He makes the following statement on his music: "I conceive of music as the 'violent beauty' of urban life; as the expressions of the cries and shouts of the street - cries and shouts that reflect the thoughts of those who are oppressed, of those who feel. It is my intent to convert the language of the street into a legitimate instrument".

Created in 1986 by a team of visionaries, LA Opera has become a leader in artistic innovation, while honoring the great historical legacy of opera. Through the powerful art form of opera, we celebrate the diversity and pioneering spirit of our great city.

New tracks tagged #Contemporary Classical Music