Materia Prima was commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra and was premiered on March 16, 2023 by Daniela Candillari and the American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.

Materia Prima draws inspiration from the mythological motif of the cosmic ocean. This motif, which can be found in the creation stories of a strikingly wide variety of cultures and religions, describes a cosmic ocean of primordial, often chaotic waters from which the universe was created. The title, Materia Prima (Latin for prime, or original matter) refers to the substance viewed as the material cause of the universe.

There are two musical elements that form my piece, sustained sounds and brief impulses. The impulses act as drops of water in a still, vast sea, creating waves of activity that disrupt the stability of the sustained material. The harmonic structure of the piece is built upon a similar opposition, one between the harmonic series of a low B-flat and the open strings of the string instruments, particularly the open A – the note from which the entire piece emerges. The piece unfolds through gradual processes of transformation as it attempts to reconcile these opposing materials. At its core, Materia Prima strives to find serene spaces in a turbulent and chaotic world.

Materia Prima (2023) for orchestra

Mneme 2 (2023) Duo for prepared Guitar and Percussionist

Duo Merors
Verena Merstallinger Gitarre
Lorenzo Orsenigo Schlagwerk

Musikwerkstatt Alte Schmiede, Kompositionswerkstatt: Dazwischen-Sein. Duo Merors.

Komposition Förderung bei SKE-Förderung

Mneme (ii) 2023 Duo for prepared Guitar and Percussionist

Recorded during the Luxembourg Rainy Days Festival 2023 and performed by United Instruments of Lucilin at neimënster.
Recorded by Tritone Studios.

...here was one

Yu-Hong Hong: The Chant of the Lotus (2023)

Conductor: YU-TE, WU
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Chun Chiang - sheng
Hsin-Jung, Li - bass clarinet
Yu-Shiuan Mei - zheng
Ting-Yun Li - violin 1
Sarah Chou - violin 2
Peggy Kuo – viola
Yu-Chien Huang - cello

Audio recording: Ting-Yun Li

‘’The Chant of the Lotus‘’  for Mixed Ensemble of Chinese and Western Instruments (2023)

Saxophonist: Meitar Ensemble, Noa Mick 
At CEME International New Music Festival

The title of the work, ...as he approaches I become not myself... is a fragment from a quotation from Virginia Woolf’s The Waves. Here is the complete quotation below:

“...As he approaches I become not myself but Neville mixed with somebody – with whom? – with Bernard? Yes, it is Bernard, and it is to Bernard that I shall put the question, Who am I?”

Woolf’s novels are famous for their stream-of-consciousness construction and the various ways time passes throughout her non-linear storylines. In The Waves, Virginia Woolf experiments with collective consciousness, at times collapsing multiple voices into one. Their consciousnesses are interwoven and hard to distinguish from each other.

In this work, ...as he approaches I become not myself..., the composer focuses on things that are interwoven and that melt into and out of one another, simultaneously trying to combine different timbres and sounds that depict the process of transitioning from one sound state to another.

...as he approaches I become not myself... for alto saxophone solo

Concerto pour Piano et Ensemble (12 players)
Yumi Suehiro (Piano solo) Ensemble Mise-en (cond. Yoon Jae Lee)

‘’The Chant of the Lotus‘’ for Mixed Ensemble of Chinese and Western Instruments (2023)

Yu-Hong Hong

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