Lakeshore is a piece for flute, clarinet, bassoon, harp, and percussion. The inspiration for this composition came from a trip to Antelope Island, not far from Salt Lake City. Overlooking the panorama of the Great Salt Lake from Antelope Island, I was deeply attracted by the shape of the Wasatch Front and its reflection on the lake. After taking a picture of this gorgeous scenery, I spent a long time gazing at the picture. The landscape in the picture seemed to come alive with movement in my imagination. As a composer, I translated those movements into sounds. I then interpreted visual images — from the mountains to the lakeshore, from the sunset to the reflection on the lake, from the shape of clouds to the water waves — into pitch selection, rhythmic patterns, and instrumentation.
Lakeshore contains two movements. The first movement, “Water Wave,” begins with a quiet wind trio that has a leisurely and meditative feeling, which musically illustrates the natural beauty around the Great Salt Lake. The percussion instruments are only occasionally used in the first movement. Instead, the harp is utilized to imitate the sound of gongs through extended techniques. In addition to the traditional acoustic instruments, a water bowl and two small river stones are used as percussion instruments. The second movement, “Water Flow,” provides a contrast to the first. Instead of establishing a relaxing environment with a static tonality, the second movement starts with a dramatically-accelerated rhythmic pattern in an ambiguous tonal sense. The pitch selection for this piece is characterized by the use of the pentatonic scale in different tonal areas and highlights ambiguity between each tonal area.

"Lakeshore" for Woodwind Trio, Harp, and Percussion

“Reflection” is written for piano quintet and percussion, associated with an interdisciplinary collaborative project, “From Loss to Hope.” This project unites composers, visual artists, and poets to bridge the gap between and blur the boundaries of science and the humanities to evoke people’s awareness of climate change. The idea of this composition is based on a musicalized presentation of the poem “Feedback.” The title “Reflection” corresponds to the poem profoundly, referring to both feedback and introspection.
According to Liza Flum, the poet, “Through the mythological figure of Echo, “Feedback” considers how precipitation has been affected by human activity. When we confront extreme weather events, like blizzards or rainstorms, are we encountering traces of our own humanity, as evidenced in a changing climate? Or is there something about an extreme weather event that always transcends and evades the human? These questions are embedded in the cyclical, repetitive form of the sestina, which suggests climate feedback loops, the water cycle, and of course, echoing. The poem is expected to challenge readers to examine the ways humans psychologically and materially project ourselves onto our environments and the ways those environments resist us.”
The composition contains four movements: i. Exaggeration, ii. Punishment, iii. Dreamscapes, and iv. Feedback. Each movement’s title is selected from the most representative keywords in each part of the poem, expressing different musical and emotional environments. This piece begins with a percussion solo, representing the mythological figure of Echo in the poetry. The poem’s events or narratives are presented as various motivic fragments, rhythmic patterns, and sound effects. For instance, the word “snow” is performed as percussion’s brush swirling. This compositional approach has been employed throughout the piece.
The poem’s actual texts do not exist in the music until the fourth movement, which provides the audiences an opportunity for imagination from a musical perspective. The last movement contrasts with the first three, which transcribes the poem’s ending section into pitches. Also, the poem is recited by the performers at specific spots in the fourth movement.

"Reflection" For Piano Quintet and Percussion

“A Letter” is composed for SATB choir and piano. The idea of this composition comes from the texts by Jingxiao Liu (a student in the Chinese-Language Major at China University of Mining and Technology), written for the celebration of the Chinese Communist Party’s one- hundredth birthday (1921-2021). This piece is structured using the text’s setting in two large sections, which can be further divided into a five-part form (ABABB’) with a codetta. The tonality and pitch selection are based on G Major and D Major pentatonic scales. The music begins with a four-measure piano prelude in Rubato, so the pianist is suggested to play this passage in a free and impressionistic way. The vocal part should be performed with deep emotion and expression, so the choir members are expected to read through the texts and understand the historical background. Although it is encouraged to follow the score’s indications strictly, the conductor can make any necessary modifications to strengthen the performance’s quality. The piano interludes (both mm. 29-34 and mm. 53-59) should be played expressively as indicated. At m. 80, a solo soprano is asked to sing in Rubato and pop style, followed by the non-solo tenor in the same singing style.

见信如晤

词：刘竞霄 曲：周政

当我展开那一张
纸上飞过了雁行
拾起嘉兴的船桨 
谁蘸着湖水 写下热血文章

当我念到第一句
浸着青春的诗行
红旗会破开迷惘
开启百年篇章

光阴中老去的 一张张脸庞 
曾经也是最青春的模样 
选择了理想 背起了行囊 
从此不惧山高水长

当我展开那一张 
纸上飞过了雁行 
拾起嘉兴的船桨 
谁蘸着湖水 写下热血文章

当我念到最后一句
泛起微笑的诗行
红旗破开了迷惘
谱写百年篇章

光阴中老去的 一张张脸庞 
曾经也是最青春的模样 
选择了理想 背起了行囊 
从此不惧山高水长

苍穹中凝结的 红色星光 
它将多少青春的人照亮 
选择了理想 坚定了信仰 
山不再高水不再长

这一封书信 落款是信仰 
我轻轻将它 藏进行囊

见信如晤 | "A Letter" for Choir and Piano

Where the Buffalo Roam is composed for piano solo under “The Creation of New Music to Sonify Landscape, Land art, and the American West,” a collaborative project related to climate change with J. Willard Marriott Library and Utah Museum of Fine Arts. The composition’s idea stems from the climate change impact at Antelope Island based on five research materials collected by the library and museum. The title is taken explicitly from one of the five recourses, an autobiographical book by Max Harward, who lived and worked on Antelope Island from 1938 to 1950. The piece adopts buffalo as a primary thematic figure because they are primarily visible on the island. However, they were not initially the local wildlife but were introduced by humans in 1893. Twelve of them rapidly increased and reached a hundred in 1911 due to their propagation speed and lack of natural enemies that potentially impacted the island’s ecosystem. The antelopes were not the primary animals either but were later named by John Charles Fremont, who first explored the island. Fremont killed antelopes for food and was criticized by the local Indians. He gave them cloth, tobacco, and a knife to make up for the dead antelope—to the island; he gave the name of the beasts that roamed it. It became Antelope Island. ).
In addition, wildlife and local Indians used to rely on the freshwater springs (36 million gallons per year) until the external population grew. The trees were removed for house and farm constructions. The population of artificial-feeding animals (sheep and horses) increased between 1857-77. Range fires every year in the summer causes air pollution and vegetation deterioration. Unwanted visitors annoyed the local life with airplane buzzing and massive killing. They also left trash on the island, including cigarette butts and burned matches, which potentially caused the wildfires. Vegetation conditions became different since the first white people moved in. Overgrazing and proliferation pressures altered the balance of the island’s vegetation.
This piece’s musical structure consists of five main sections (listed below), inspired by Antelope Island, an oil painting by Waldo Park Midgley, collected at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts.
The artwork’s impressionistic feature influences the fundamental style of this composition. For instance, the music begins with a slow quasi-impressionistic introduction in Adagio rubato, combining consonant and dissonant sounds. Instead of purely appreciating the island’s natural beauty, the introduction’s contrasting setup is to establish a romantic image and ironize people’s ignorance of the environmental issues behind it. Also, the tone clusters produced by clapping piano keys with palms can be heard throughout the piece, creating percussive sounds that warn of the ongoing crisis of climate change.

Where The Buffalo Roam

"Skyline" for Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello, and Percussion

“Hiatus” For Pierrot Ensemble

"Watery Glass" For Electronics

雨后彩虹 (Rainbow after the Storm)
词曲：周政 (Written by Selvester Zhou)

抬头看看天空乌云还没散开
Look up to see the dark clouds in the sky

我们手牵着手期待阳光照进来
We hold hands and expect the sun to come in

也许对于未来 你我没有更好的答案
Maybe for the future you and I have no better answer

那就默默地等待花开
Then silently wait for flowers to bloom

希望的种子已经在心里播种
The seeds of hope have been planted in our heart

我们用爱去灌溉默默守护
We use love to irrigate and guard

只要万众一心 众志成城 不怕痛苦
As long as all people are united, we are not afraid of pain.

不管多大的磨难我们都一起克服
No matter how much suffering, we all overcome together

尽管狂风暴雨阻挡我们前进的路
Despite the storms blocking our way

泪水也不会将我们的视线变得模糊
Tears don't blur our vision

你会看到风雨过后那道美丽的彩虹
You will see the beautiful rainbow after the storm

就算再多艰难险阻 我们别轻易屈服
Even if it ’s so difficult, let’s not give in easily.

雨后彩虹 (Rainbow after the Storm)

Composed by Zheng Zhou
Performed by Michie Quartet
School of Music | University of Utah

Program Notes:
The inspiration for string quartet Glen Echo comes from a road trip to the Grand Canyon National Park. Its compositional idea is also inspired by a painting Landscape (circa 1824 - 1849), collected at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. The painting was created by Chiang Ta-Lai, who was an artist in the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1912) of China. Overlooking the gorgeous view of the Grand Canyon National Park, I was deeply attracted by the shape of the Colorado River and its echo reverberating in the canyon. I then was fascinated by the sounds and motions of the natural scene, including the sound of water flow and the wind through leaves, the action of squirrels play by the riverside, and the fog in the gorge. In Chiang’s painting, realistic objects in the landscape are presented in the form of symbolic signs. Thus, the emotion and understandings of the artwork vary depending on the audiences’ interpretations. By gazing at the artwork with Grand Canyon’s natural beauty in my mind, the painting’s landscape seemed to come alive with movement in my imagination.
This string quartet contains two movements: i. “Riverside at Dawn” and ii. “Gorge at Nightfall.” Its musical components describe both authentic and imaginary sounds and images presented in Grand Canyon and Chiang’s painting. The first movement starts with a Bartok pizzicato in the cello, followed by alternate regular pizzicati in both the first violin and viola and a glissando in the second violin. This beginning passage simulates an echo-like sound by switching between physically placed instruments in different locations on the stage. Then, sixteenth notes and eighth notes begin in two violins from the seventh measure, representing the Colorado River’s rapid water flow. In Chiang’s painting, several foot-print-shaped objects in front can be interpreted, for instance, as a person who climbs to the mountain top and finds a pavilion hidden behind the trees. This imaginary scene is also presented in the music by building up the cadential arrival points, such as the first beat in the sixteenth measure and the last beat in the fifty-eighth measure. Artistically speaking, this string quartet aims to explore if a sound can be seen or if an image can be heard.
In addition to the appreciation of nature and art, this quartet also attempts to evoke people’s awareness of climate change, environmental protection, and anti-racism. In 2020, we have been experiencing numerous miserable disasters, and COVID-19 has taken many people’s lives and impacted the entire human race. This on-going pandemic also somehow stimulates a potential issue of global hostility and racial discrimination. Although we have not yet won the battle with the virus, we might learn a beneficial lesson from this nightmare. It is always our responsibility to care for and protect this beautiful planet we live on instead of jeopardizing her environment and over-exploiting her resources. No matter how challenging the current condition is, we should keep moving forward, care for our loved ones, fight for justice, and never lose hope. This idea is considered throughout the quartet, which is also conveyed in both movements’ titles. “Riverside at Dawn” depicts any unforeseen problems or possible dangers after a brand- new day starts, and “Gorge at Nightfall” reflects a dark night before another sunrise. The music is dissonant until a pentatonic folk melody appears in measure thirty-nine, bringing hope after establishing a depressing atmosphere. Contrastingly, Bartok pizzicati are utilized simultaneously with the folk tune, which makes a warning that reminds us to remember the harm and loss. The artificial harmonics and high-range melodies with sul ponticello in both violins represent an imaginary figure of an innocent child, who sings a folk song from childhood that brings purity and kindness of human nature.

"Glen Echo" For String Quartet - i. Riverside at Dawn

“Contemplation” For Bamboo Flute And Fixed Electronics

Katherine Janet McLaughlin, Oboe

Program Notes:
“Just for Fun” is an etude written for oboe, which is part of an etude collection with the same title. The reason for giving this title is to make the etude sound more exciting and joyful. It is also to help the performer to make their practicing process more enjoyable. The motivation for composing this work came from an orchestration practice of oboe. This piece contains four main sections, which logically follow a formal structure of ABA’ with a Coda. The pitch selection is partially tonal and atonal, with wide leaps in between intervals. This approach is to help the instrumentalist to practice the intonation and fingering. While there are no extended techniques, virtuosity is required to achieve the skills presented in this piece, including wide-range leaps, fast-tempo fingering, and flutter tonguing.

"Just For Fun" Etude for Oboe

Composer/Songwriter/College Professor/Photographer

Winner of The American Prize 2023 in Orchestral Composition, Professional Division
Assistant Professor of Music Composition at Central China Normal University
Ph.D. in Music Composition at University of Utah 22’
Email: zhouzheng@ccnu.edu.cn

Zheng Zhou (b. 1992 in Anhui, China) is a composer, songwriter, and Di-Zi (Chinese bamboo flute) player whose music has been performed globally, including in the United States, France, Austria, China, etc. He has worked with ensembles from different regions, such as DuselForty58 (Los Angeles), PHACE (Vienna), NOVA (Salt Lake City), Fear No Music (Oregon), etc. Zhou’s music is multicultural, employing various elements of many genres. He also absorbs compositional ideas from vivid images of the world around him. Zhou has been working on the composition and research of “visual-musical combination” and “electroacoustic music with cultural diversity.” Zhou has received several national awards in China as a composer and songwriter, including the First and Second Prizes in “The Sixth Exhibition of National Aesthetic Education (2014)” and The First Prize in the “Top 100 Best Chinese Original Songs in 2017-2018.” His works have been published by Universal Edition, UCLA Music Library, China Scientific & Cultural Audio-video Publishing Co., Ltd., and Central China Normal University Publisher. One of his string quartets, Glen Echo (2020), has been published on the official site of the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA), in which he has been interviewed by UMFA and “@theU” News of the University of Utah. He was involved in a university-wide interdisciplinary collaboration regarding climate change at the University of Utah, “Artivism for Earth,” in which he composed a sextet piece, Reflection (2021). His work "Loess" for Orchestra and Live Multimedia has been selected as a finalist for The American Prize: Orchestral Composition Professional Division (2023). Zhou holds a degree in musicology from the China University of Mining and Technology (B.A.) and music composition from California State University, Northridge (M.M.). In 2022, Zhou received his Ph.D. in music composition from the University of Utah, where he also served as an instructor of record in musicianship/theory areas and the president of the University Composers Collective. Currently, Zhou is an Assistant Professor of Music Composition at the School of Music at Central China Normal University.

Zheng Zhou, Composer

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