YUN is an important category in Chinese aesthetics, which refers to the resonance of an artwork. In this piece, it lies in tiny pitch variations and the delicate processing of time and space.

YUN-String Quartet(live)

I never dare to look back when composing because, for years, I feel like there is something pushing me all the way forward. But now, I would like to challenge myself either to return on a larger scale as a whole or to trace back even within a single bar.

Return-for piano

Converse-conVerse-ConVerse is three short movements piece written for oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon, and piano.
This music is featured in the album of Ensemble Chaminade "The Other Half of Music" ► https://naxos.lnk.to/CDS7837FA

1. Converse

2. conVerse

3. ConVerse

Fanfare for the Symphonic Winds

The Three Oddest Words is inspired by Wislawa Szymborska’s poem of the same name. Driven both by the text and Cantonese intonations, the piece “oddly” explored a relationship between English pronunciation (from syllable to words) and 6 Cantonese intonations (high level, high rising, middle level, low falling, low rising, low level).
Baritone: Tyler Bouque
Cello: Robbie Bui

The Three Oddest Words

When I pronounce the word Future,
the first syllable already belongs to the past.
When I pronounce the word Silence,
I destroy it.
When I pronounce the word Nothing,
I make something no non-being can hold.

The Three Oddest Words

AURORA, written in 2018, is composed for clarinet, sheng, erhu, pipa, zheng and percussion. The image of aurora is regarded as a musical clue to the work, as the light falls from the sky to the ground with thousands of changes occurring in only a few seconds or minutes. The work aims at showing the vagaries of aurora and, in another perspective, is a reflection of the composer's inner world with particular expressions.

AURORA(live)

The piece is written for piano solo. Zhengming is Chinese word which literally means contention, and it is also the homophone to describe the sound of Zheng. Zheng is a traditional plucked Chinese instrument usually with 21 strings. In this piece, I attempted not only to explore the musical texture or the timbre of Zheng on piano, but also to show the characteristics of the two mentioned instruments through their "contentions".

Zhengming(live)

The inspiration for this piece originates from an ancient poem written by a Chinese poet named Wang Wei. The poem depicts a scene where no one can be seen in the deep mountains, and only can the echoes of voices be heard. The word "Echoing" in the title doesn't mean human voices specifically but the voice of nature. The piece is written for Qin and 2 percussionists. Qin is an ancient instrument of seven strings used to represent refined scholars. I intend to imagine myself as a scholar and immerse myself into the vast echoes around, pursuing not only the voice deep in heart, but also the concord between human beings and nature.

Echoing from the Mountains(live)

New England Conservatory MM in Composition

Wen ZHANG