The artist Sibylle Hauert created an interactive soundwalk. We walk with headphones through the city. A headtracker tracks our movements. Virtual sounds are played, while I walk beside the Rhine. It's about, what we hear and how our brain works with that, what we hear.

Soundwalk mit Sibylle Hauert

Quarteto de cordas no.4 "Uma qualquer esperança"
streiff Quartett (Switzerland)
Egidius Streiff, 1o. violino
Kazumi Suzuki Kraft, 2o. violino
Mariana Doughty, viola
Sebastien Singer, violoncelo

Premiered on Sep, 29th, 2022, at Alter Stadthaussaal, Winterthur and 
on Sep. 30th, at BauArt Basel.
Live recording, Delemont, Switzerland. Oct, 2022.

Inspirado nos poemas "Aviso Final", de Torquato Neto e, "Esperança", de Mário Quintana.

É preciso que haja alguma coisa
alimentando o meu povo;
uma vontade
uma certeza
uma qualquer esperança.

É preciso que alguma coisa atraia

a vida

ou tudo será posto de lado
e na procura da vida
a morte virá na frente
e abrirá caminhos.

É preciso que haja algum respeito,
ao menos um esboço
ou a dignidade humana se afirmará
a machadadas. (Torquato Neto)

Lá bem no alto do décimo segundo andar do Ano
Vive uma louca chamada Esperança
E ela pensa que quando todas as sirenas
Todas as buzinas
Todos os reco-recos tocarem
Atira-se
E — ó delicioso voo!
Ela será encontrada miraculosamente incólume na calçada,
Outra vez criança…
E em torno dela indagará o povo:
— Como é teu nome, meninazinha de olhos verdes?
E ela lhes dirá
(É preciso dizer-lhes tudo de novo!)
Ela lhes dirá bem devagarinho, para que não esqueçam:
— O meu nome é ES-PE-RAN-ÇA…(Mário Quintana)

Quarteto de cordas no.4 "Uma qualquer esperança" (2021)

A Plurality of One (1982) was commissioned by clarinetist Robert Hill for premiere in Cleveland, Ohio.  The idea for the piece came from a recording session which provided a variety of clarinet sounds for the composer to use in making the accompanying tape part – that is, to use ONLY clarinet sounds, thereby insuring a strict timbral unity between soloist and tape.  
This recording is by clarinetist Patricia Kostek-Huebner.

A Plurality of One

Live performance of the US Premiere of Chen Yi's viola concerto, Xian Shi, with Michael Hall, viola and the Chicago Composers Orchestra. Matthew Kasper, conductor.  Xian Shi is the first viola concerto written by a Chinese composer. 

Chen Yi –  "Xian Shi" Concerto for viola and orchestra. American Premiere

Performed by:
- Kalo hoyle
- Taylor Gwin 


We Sing Together

    Children in the Grave was composed as a memorial to the children who died in a disastrous earthquake in Wenchuan county, southwest China. On May 12, 2008, a massive and enormously devastating earthquake struck Wenchuan County in southwest China’s Sichuan Province, soon becoming the country’s worst natural disaster in three decades. A year after the earthquake, the Chinese government released the earthquake death toll to around 70,000 people died, 5,335 children either were dead or remained missing. 
    The lyric poem in this piece was written by Zhai Yongming, one of China’s greatest contemporary feminist poet. The song at the ending of this piece came from the Christian hymn sung by the Nu ethnic minority. The Nu people live near the Nu River Grand Canyon in Yunnan Province.
     This work was premiere by Chinese vocalist Xin SHAO and pianist Xueli LIU on March 10th at Grant Hall UMKC.

坟茔里的儿童
翟永明

坟茔里的儿童如菩萨
他们并不像莲花般清洁
也没有净瓶护身
说这话的人  却已成为大师
谀词铸成了宗庙
这故事等同于
用一杯牛奶  便可杀死一个孩子

这世上  总有人以仁者自诩
双手合十时  他们面目不清
赫赫有名的照片
赫赫有名的文章
赫赫有名的纪念

一个地点的悲剧性更名
让多少活着的人   又死去
一个可耻的词   让儿童从坟茔里
再跌下一层

一切都在三分钟之内消亡
再无良心可以言说
再无愤怒长出人心  开出漫天花朵
为坟茔里的儿童扎满花冠


                   2008年9月2日



Children in the grave
Zhai Yongming

Children in the grave have transformed to Bodhisattvas.
Although they are not as clean as lotus flowers.
Nor they have Kundika to protect themselves.
Whoever said so had become master.
For a temple made of his adulations.
This, is a brutal story:
kill a child by a glass of milk.

In this world many people believe themselves are merciful.
Their faces are ambiguous when they are praying.
Far-famed portraits of deceased.
Far-famed tribute articles.
Far-famed monuments.

Pathetically changing the name of a place,
had murdered many survived people once more.
A shameful word had thrown the children in the grave,
down to a deeper level in the underworld.

Everything vanished in just three minutes.
No more conscious to speak out.
No more angers to pierce out from a heart to bloom flowers full of the sky.
To knit corollas for the children in the grave.

                        2008/09/02
              Translated by Yiguo Yan


Children In The Grave

Folium cubed (2015) is part of a set of pocket pieces inspired by a poem by a friend and musician/collaborator, Luisa Sello for whom I wrote Flone.  Luisa invited me and another close collaborator friend, Michael Hall to Europe in 2015 to premiere Folium prime for audience and viola (2014).  Folium squared was then commissioned for flute and cello for Luisa and Alvin Wong, another great musician/collaborator friend.  All three pieces from the set are inspired by Luisa's poem, the first she wrote in English called, "Let Clover Be Aid" which she shared with me when she visited Kansas City in 2014.

Let Clover be Aid 

I did not ask to hide my tears
 I did not ask
I only stand in fears

Why do you ask me who I am
I am you, me, them

I did not ask to blush in shame
I did not ask
I have no name

Why do you push me to try
I do not want to go and die

Eyes, 
of forgotten boys
I still remember 
those silent cries

Eyes,
of girls abused,
the sky is dark
their dreams confused

Unwanted children,
betrayed and lost
the life has no worth 
for a part of them most
 
Someone told me
that life is a way  
to redress and repair 
what others have made  

Let clover be symbol
of love and support
in order to aid
the children in the world 

Folium cubed completes the "third leaf" and was composed for my colleague Zach Shemon.  This piece is built around emphasized words and emotions from the poem.  While each of the pocket pieces can be realized separately, the set reflects a similar aesthetic: reflecting a clover including both the biological form and geometric equation - implying the possibility of the infinite.  The sonic map for each piece is the same, but each piece is realized very differently.


Folium Cubed

Scarborough fair mbira

Traditional mbira song - a call to 'wake up, let's go'.
Weekend project with garageband..

Children In The Grave

Mao Zhu

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