Initial inspiration for The Letter occurred during the time I was scoring a short film about the important, unimportant, serious, casual signatures in people’s everyday life, the weight these signatures carry, which could influence our lives in dramatic ways. The idea of constructing an electro-acousmatic piece using sampled sound of various daily writing stationery, including ball pens, mechanical pencils, markers, and highlighters interacting with the surface of paper intrigued me. A few imperative controlled parameters of these recorded samples are speed, pressure, and orientation, which are expressed by making slow circles, random doodles, fast scratches back and forth, and etc. Later, recorded sound extended to rolling stationery at various speeds, dropping them from various heights, and even the spinning of a pencil sharpener. It is to my fascination how these samples are transformed and reborn as distinctively new materials so oddly different from their origins, which in turn shape the textural and gestural approach of the piece.

The Letter

"Arirang" (2014) for SATB choir and Jinggu, based on the same name Korean folk tune.

Performed by NENU Concert Choir
Conductor: Zhengwen Yin
Jinggu: Shengdan Cui
Composer: Tianyi Wang
Date: 11/18/15

Text:
Arirang, Arirang, Arariyo...
Arirang gogaero neomeoganda.
Nareul beorigo gashineun nimeun
Shimrido motgaseo balbyeongnanda.

Translation:
Arirang, Arirang, Arariyo...
Crossing over Arirang Pass.
Dear who abandoned me
Shall not walk even ten li before his feet hurt.

Arirang (新阿里郎)

~Dedicated to Melissa and Kolton Holbrook~
May you always treasure the hardships and joyfulness of life, hand in hand, walk together.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BL6zOKYtkxk

Violin: Liubomyr Senyshyn
Piano: Tianyi Wang
Composer: Tianyi Wang

12.15.2016 @ Pickman Hall, Cambridge, MA

Romanza

~Dedicated to Street Piano, Boston~

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XClaIdwOyvc

Piano: Chang Liu
Composer: Tianyi Wang

12.15.2016 @ Pickman Hall, Longy School of Music of Bard College

o Snap!

I. Shhhhh
II. Shuo (speak) 4:58

~A work inspired by the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) in China~
Text from "Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung"
_______________________
FOREWORD:
Every individual has a root, a root that ties firmly to one’s cultural background, previous experience, and interactions with surroundings… These factors define who we are, how we speak, and the choices we make. 

I always sense a responsibility, a responsibility for my root, for the awareness of the living, and the well-being of future generations. Today, I finally made the first step in fulfilling this irresistible affection.

The time: 1966-1976; Location: China; A period that has astonished me for years, we call it The Cultural Revolution. Many emotions I want to express, many individuals I want to sympathize with… But the ignorance and unawareness of peers and the younger generations towards this period, their failure to recognize and reflect upon this history always shock me and shut me off into silence. However, they are not at fault, but victims as well, not just victims of the after-effect, but also the numb veiled of their sensors.

Enemy of the Masses is my first documentary on this hefty and profound historical subject through the realm of sound; This is a reflection on those shattered ten years of which I never experienced, a reaction to the people who refuse to and blindfold the truth to the others and themselves.

This is a start.
_______________________
PROGRAM NOTES:
In a time when people do not depend on food; 
when sun does not rise in east; 
when rebellion is the superlative quality of all; 
when miracles of fate are not rare entities; 
when the wicked are justified as heroes and the sane are trampled on by the most ordinary people… 
  
Enemy of the people must be struck down and stepped on with a foot.
_______________________
Madeline Ross, Soprano
Billy Jewell, Trumpet
Joe LaRocca, Flute
Tianyi Wang, Piano

5.1.2017
Pickman Hall, Longy School of Music

Enemy of the Masses

Composed by Tianyi Wang, MIDI by Tianyi Wang

Winter Dream

Song of Normality (2017) for solo (amplified) flute

to Roy Amotz, Meitar Ensemble - CEME 2018

Song of Normality explores the potentiality of utilizing the flute as a companion and extension of the human voice. Through the pitch fluctuations of air noises amplified by the flute, the various syllables that articulate musical notes, and the most primitive form of human singing/shouting… The work becomes a song with unconventional elements.

Premiered Jan. 5, 2018 @ Israel Music Conservatory, Tel Aviv, Israel

Song of Normality (2017)

Commissioned by Atlantic Music Festival.
A work inspired by the strings’ various timbral colors, Dark Blessing explores an ethereal and ominous sonic realm, as if a dark rite is taking place. The beauty of darkness surrounds us all.

Performed by:
--Puget Sound Piano Trio--
Maria Sampen - Violin
Alistair MacRae - Cello
Tanya Stambuk - Piano

Mar. 3, 2018
2018 SCI National Conference, Schneebeck Concert Hall, Tacoma, WA

Dark Blessing (2017)

Under The Dome (2017) for orchestra

Composer: Tianyi Wang

Premiered by Boston Modern Orchestra Project, led by Gil Rose

Feb. 9, 2018 @ Boston Jordan Hall, New England Conservatory of Music

(This audio recording is intended for personal and private use only, it is not to be shared without the consent of the composer)

Under The Dome (2017)

My first set of composition before I learnt any theory about music. This should be the most genuine flow of my inspirations.  I found out the more I learn, the harder it is to compose music like the way I composed before. It seems like with all these rules and methodologies in mind, they hinder me to go back to my most primitive and genuine nature of composition. I always found the former self when I look back on my journey and listen to compositions I did before, the former self that composed music for the happiness of music, not for the sake of compositions seems gradually disappearing in shadow.

"The Crossroad" Track 01

Tianyi Wang – ire (2018) for string quartet

A winner of New England Conservatory of Music 2018-19 Honors Composition Competition

performed by Blackbird String Quartet

Abigail Fayette, violin
Christine Lim, violin
Tanner Menees, viola
Jonah Ellsworth, cello

Premiered by Blackbird String Quartet, at Jordan Hall, Boston, MA, USA on March 24, 2019.

Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFk7mGAKuLU

Original cover art:
https://deleturself.tumblr.com/post/177906176876

ire (2018)

Song of Experience (2019) for solo voice, piano resonance, and live electronics

~To 10th WordSong Anniversary Celebration - "The Circus of Tygers"~
~For Tyler Bouque~

Tyler Bouque, voice
Tianyi Wang, electronics

Tuesday Night New Music, at Jordan Hall, Boston, MA, USA, September 24, 2019.

Premiered by Tyler Bouque and Tianyi Wang on the 10th WordSong Anniversary Celebration, at First Church Boston, Boston, MA, USA on April 26, 2019.

TEXT:

THE TYGER
WILLIAM BLAKE

Tyger Tyger, burning bright, 
In the forests of the night; 
What immortal hand or eye, 
Could frame thy fearful symmetry? 

In what distant deeps or skies. 
Burnt the fire of thine eyes? 
On what wings dare he aspire? 
What the hand, dare seize the fire? 

And what shoulder, & what art, 
Could twist the sinews of thy heart? 
And when thy heart began to beat, 
What dread hand? & what dread feet? 

What the hammer? what the chain, 
In what furnace was thy brain? 
What the anvil? what dread grasp, 
Dare its deadly terrors clasp! 

When the stars threw down their spears 
And water'd heaven with their tears: 
Did he smile his work to see? 
Did he who made the Lamb make thee? 

Tyger Tyger burning bright, 
In the forests of the night: 
What immortal hand or eye, 
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

Original cover art:
https://store.rareearthgallery.com/tiger-eye-teaser-50-pieces-artisanal-wooden-jigsaw.html

Song of Experience (2019)

To deliver the unspeakable; to explore the unknown with courage, love and passion; to define what it means to be HUMAN.

Tianyi Wang

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