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▼节目单（系列音乐会第三场，2024年10月26日19:00，美国国家歌剧院音乐厅）本场音乐会将演出作品13部，其中：致敬作曲家作品1部，第二届musicON作曲比赛（决赛）作品3部，特邀作曲家作品7部，美好艺术中心学员作品2部。![]()
Emily Bai is a fifteen year old composer, violinist, and pianist from Clarksville, Maryland. She has been learning composition with Mr Yiming Wu since 2019. Since then, her music, which explores connectivity and transformation through sound, has been recognized by several acclaimed competitions such as the American Prize, MTNA, IWYCC, and Tribeca New Music. Emily is also a Luna Composition Labs 2024-2025 Honorable Mention winner and a student in the 2024-2025 Juilliard Summer Composition Program. In her free time, Emily likes to go on hikes and listen to the sound of nature.Out from ether is a piece that seeks to explore the creative process –– from which point does creation arise? It begins slowly with stagnant, empty notes, before growing and suddenly launching into a jaunty, pulsating beat. out from ether traverses the path one might take to create, battling the division between initial emptiness and the groove of a well-settled rhythm.
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Lucy Chen (b. 2005) is a sophomore at Stanford University who studies music composition with Wang Lu and previously Yiming Wu. She started studying composition in 2020, and has since been recognized in many national and international awards such as BMI’s Student Composer Awards (2021 and 2022), Morton Gould Young Composer Awards (2021 and 2023), and the National Young Composer Challenge (2021). Lucy was a Luna Lab Composition Fellow for the 2022-2023 season under mentor Nina Shekhar, and she was a composer apprentice for the 2023 season of Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra (NYO-USA) program under mentor Sean Shepherd. She premieredMemoir of Morocco with NYO musicians in Carnegie Hall, with subsequent performances in Joliette (QC), Nashville, Dallas, Jackson Hole, and Stanford.
An Invisible Lineage *Commissioned by the musicON Festival
This piece is dedicated to my piano teacher of 14 years, celebrating the Saturday mornings we spent together learning music and life lessons. It reflects our journey from my first lesson at age 4 to my last before leaving for college. The composition uses imitation and motifs to represent our musical conversations, with references to favorite pieces by Beethoven, Liszt, and others. Gliding runs and arpeggios symbolize the warmth of her studio. Though she is no longer with us, her love for music lives on in my playing, teaching, and passion—an invisible lineage passed down.
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TAIGE WANG, Young Steinway Artist and young scholar of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation, studies piano at The Juilliard School with Yoheved Kaplinsky.In 2023, as the youngest competitor, Taige made the quarterfinals at The Cliburn Junior Competition, and was one of the three finalists at Thomas and Evon Cooper International Piano Competition, where he performed with the world-renowned Cleveland Orchestra.Taige appeared on the show From the Top in 2021 and at From The Top’s 2022 Gala, in which he was the youngest of three nationally-selected musicians. He has played at various prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall Stern Auditorium, Nixon Presidential Library Museum, Lincoln Center, Severance Hall, and Henan Grand Theater (China).Taige studies composition with Bruce Adolphe. As a prize-winning composer, his piano trio Chopin vs Chopin 2.0 was commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and he performed its debut at Alice Tully Hall on April 16, 2023.NAN Trio (2024) for clarinet, cello, and piano *Commissioned by the musicON FestivalThis summer I have been traveling non-stop: New York, Cleveland, Aspen, Chicago, and back to New York. I composed this trio throughout the summer, and in its completed form it re)ects the journey itself. Different locations have different scenery, different rhythms, and different feelings. When I was in Aspen, I felt the contrast between New York and Aspen vividly: busy vs. leisurely; anxiety vs. calm; crowded vs. spacious; skyscrapers vs. mountains; one-way streets vs. open /elds; crowds vs. creeks, sirens wailing vs. birds chirping; can-be-hailed-everywhere yellow taxis vs. the chance to encounter black bears... Inadvertently, I keep comparing them.Yes, now you may have /gured out why this work was named that way, but I still don't want to tell you directly. Please forgive my mischievousness here.
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Sofia Jen Ouyang(b.2001) is committed to creating artwork that both expressively and critically engages with other people and the world. Sofia is the winner of two BMI Composer Awards (2023, 2024), 17th Annual John Eaten Memorial Competition (2024), Riot Ensemble call for scores (2024), Columbia University Douglas Moore Prize (2023), Juilliard Orchestra Competition (2023), American Prize in Composition (2022), and the Juilliard Gena Raps Piano Chamber Music Prize (2022). She received honorable mention from the New York Youth Symphony First Music Commission 2024, the Luigi Nono International Composition Prize 2023, and is one of eight composers selected to attend Lucerne Festival Composer Seminar 2023. In addition, Sofia is a Fromm Foundation Fellow at Composer's Conference 2024, a recipient of the ARTZenter Emerging Composer Completion Grant (2024), a BluePrint composer fellow with National Sawdust (2021), a recipient of Columbia University’s Rapaport Fellowship (2021, 2022).Five Miniatures for Violin and Cello *Commissioned by the musicON FestivalThis piece focuses on musical texture and motion, with each miniature dedicated to exploring a specific texture. It consists of five micro-structures, each presenting a different state of energy. Throughout these miniatures, the violin and cello traverse various states, characters, and relationships: at times, they engage in dialogue, while at others, they brim with imminent energy, creating diverse layers of emotion and tension. I hope this work offers the audience a fresh, kaleidoscopic listening experience.
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Winston F. Schneider (b. 2007) is an international award-winning young American composer. He has 35 composition wins to his name across the U.S. and Europe. A prolific composer, he’s written over 100 pieces. His music has been premiered and performed in NYC, Dallas, Boston, Cleveland, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Omaha and more. Commissions, premieres and performances include the Grammynominated Omaha Symphony, the Grammy Award-winning New York Youth Symphony, the Steamboat Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Project Saint Louis, Sempre Musick Orchestra, Soundbox Ventures, and virtuosic flutist, Mimi Stillman. He’s been featured on PBS’s News Hour’s "Arts Canvas," is a From the Top Fellow and a Davidson Fellow (2024).Six-Spotted Tiger Beetle QuartetSix-Spotted Tiger Beetle Quartet draws inspiration from the vibrant and dynamic six-spotted tiger beetle. The piece captures the essence of this insect’s swift movements and striking appearance through intricate rhythms and vivid harmonies. The first movement captures the essence of the beetle in motion, characterized by rapid passages and playful motifs. The strings intertwine to create a sense of urgency, reflecting the creature’s swift movements across its habitat and in search of prey. By contrast, the second movement evokes a serene moment in nature, where lyrical melodies emerge, allowing listeners envision the beetle resting amidst lush surroundings.*Additionally, insects inspire a significant amount of my work. I’ve caught, studied and released over 100 different species of insects, arachnids, and other crawling arthropods. I even caught a Six-Spotted Tiger Beetle myself last August!
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Aidan Gold is a composer, conductor, percussionist, and music educator from Seattle, Washington. Aidan is currently pursuing a DMA in Composition at the Juilliard School. He studies with Andrew Norman. Aidan teaches composition, theory, and musicianship at Juilliard Pre-College. He is a teaching fellow for theory at Juilliard, and has taught aural skills at USC and the University of Washington. In the summer of 2024, Aidan will be on the faculty of the Walden School’s Young Musicians Program.Decisions are Hard *Commissioned by the musicON FestivalYou have to be very careful making your decisions. Any small thing could have massive ripple effectsfurther down the line, transforming ideas that you don't even know exist yet. At the same time, you have to make the decision somehow. Get something down, or else nothing gets done.I 7nd the idea of "choose your own adventure" scenarios interesting. You are presented with binary choices – ostensibly given agency over whether things are going, but with such a meticulously crafted scenario, how much control do you really have? How meaningful are the choices you make if every one of them had to be planned and accounted for?
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Thomas Pennisi approached music by the study of classical guitar. He then entered the Composition class in the Conservatory of Como in 2018 studying with Vittorio Zago, Federico Gardella, Pasquale Corrado (current tutor). As a student he’s also attended masterclasses and laboratories in various fields of music and medias with many relevant personalities.
Amigdala *Finalist of the 2nd musicON Composition Competition (above Age18 )The word «amigdala» is both latin and greek etymology for almond, and it is the name of a specific gland in the human cerebellum from which all of the emotions’ impulses are born and sent from. It is also the name that the first ever manufactured weapon in human history was given, a roughly notched stone that would be tied to sticks as very primitive spears, as it would in fact resemble the shape of an almond or of a water drop. These references were the basis for a piece about something very primordial, even in its own musical developing, and especially about germination, in fact just like a seed (maybe an almond-shaped one) that slowly germinates and grows in two several branches. Germination calls for some sort of a cycle of life, and the weapon amigdala stands for its possible ending.Generally speaking, evolution and germination are thought to be going on-wards and up wards, instead the piece shows that evolution as part of life implies a sort of circularity, in which life cannot exist without death.
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Paul Novak (b.1998) The "spellbinding"(Washington Post) music of Chicago-based composer Paul Novak immerses listeners in shimmering and subtly crafted musical worlds full of color, motion,
light, and magic. His recent projects engage with dreams and memory, queer identity, climate change and the natural world, and psychosomatic illness. Novak’s recent commissions include projects with American Composers Orchestra, Balourdet Quartet, Orchestra of St. Luke's and Kinetic; other recent collaborators include the Austin Symphony, Orlando Philharmonic, Reno Philharmonic, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and DanceWorks Chicago. He has received awards from the Barlow Endowment, ASCAP, BMI, American Academy of Arts and Letters, and more. Originally from Reno, NV, he completed his undergraduate studies at Rice University, and is currently a PhD student at the University of Chicago.Prisms and mirrors *Finalist of the 2nd musicON Composition Competition( above Age 18)I’m fascinated by prismatic musical forms: structures that continuously refract and reflect, kaleidoscopically shifting and evolving but at the same time static and unchanging. I imagine a light shined through a series of crystals and mirrors, shimmering into colorful spectra and bouncing in unexpected directions. Similarly, prisms and mirrors maps a single idea through a series of musical refractions and reflections, a set of continuous variations which is by turns textural, rhythmic, and melodic. To me, this concept of musical form resonates with the beautifully collaborative nature of writing music, in which all ideas are continually refracted throughout the course of notation, interpretation, and performance. prismsand mirrors musically enacts this refraction, with all the fragility, intricacy, and color of a prism refracting light.
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Fabian Leung is a 18-year-old composer, violist, pianist, and sheng player living in Murphy, Texas. He is a finalist and winner in the 2023 National Young Composers Challenge, an Honorable Mention in the 2024 ASCAP Morton Gould Composer’s Awards, and has won 3rd Place in the 3rd International Balsys Competition. Fabian is an alum at the 2023 Young Musicians Program at the Walden School, and is a freshman at the Peabody Institute of Music at Johns Hopkins University under the tutelage of Kevin Puts.A GHOST AWOKE BY THE SHORE *Commissioned by the musicON FestivalHarmonics are indicated with the diamond notehead “w ” at touch-finger pitch. For guitar, fingered pitch is displayed below the harmonic in parentheses. The harmonic diamond does not necessarily indicate sounding pitch.The harmonic circle does not appear on the violapart. The score is written at sounding pitch,excluding harmonic fingerings.
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AlbertLu is an 11th grader at the Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, USA. He started musical training at the age of four, studying the piano, the cello, and later composition under the tutelage of Yiming Wu. He was a two-time finalist and received Honorable Mention at the ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards. He was also a finalist in the Dmitri Shostakovich composers competition. "Spatium Incognito" is a piece in ABCA form for flute, vibraphone, piano, viola, and cello, depicting a spaceship's journey through an unknown galaxy. The first section presents a calm, aimless exploration, while the second shows the ship being affected by nearby cosmic forces. The climax portrays its dangerous fall into a wormhole, with intense, distorted rhythms. The final section brings the ship to a peaceful yet uncertain new space, revisiting the opening melody with a dissonant coda suggesting an unclear destination.
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Zhenmin Xu (China) *The tribute composer of musiON FestivalXu Zhenmin (April 24, 1934 – August 15, 2024) was a composer, music educator, and senior member of the Jiusan Society. He served as a professor and doctoral advisor at the Central Conservatory of Music. Xu Zhenmin was once hailed as "China's Tchaikovsky" and mentored many of China's top composers and music educators.Two Poem Classics of The Tang Danysty"Two Poem Classics of the Tang Dynasty" was composed in 1998 as a piano work commissioned by Professor Barry Snyder, a pianist from the Eastman School of Music in the United States. This piece won the Silver Award at the 1998 Chinese Golden Bell Award for Music, a national-level arts award in China.
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Chen Hao, an undergraduate student majoring in composition at Sichuan Conservatory of Music, studies under the guidance of Professor Song Mingzhu. Chen Hao's musical works primarily focus on narrative themes, using abstract musical thinking to express reflections on history, society, aesthetics, and personal experiences. Inspiration is often drawn from classical poetry and traditional folk music. Chen Hao was awarded second prize in the 9th European Composer Competition.Memories of memory *Finalist of the 2nd musicON Composition Competition ( above Age18 )Memory has a way of being preserved forever. Even though time may erode most things, fragments of memories still linger unexpectedly. In my home, there is an Epiphyllum plant that has been with me since my childhood. I used to stay up all night by its side when it was about to bloom. I aim to use music to depict my memories of this plant—from its silence, to sprouting, blooming, and withering. This piece consists of four movements, and what you will hear are the second and third movements.
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Maxwell Lu is a composer and graduate of the Columbia-Juilliard Exchange with Andrew Norman. His music is characterized by continuous exploration and experimentation, taking inspiration from aesthetics ranging from minimalism to impressionism, jazz, spectralism, electronic music, and film. As a concurrent engineer and previous liberal arts student, his work is shaped by the pursuit of new musical processes—each piece is built from the convolution or modulation of different parameters, creating new shapes, timbres, textures, and harmony.The only path forward *Commissioned by the musicON FestivalPeople often speak about the future in terms of “choosing a path”. Each decision and action comes with its consequence and reaction. Some decisions only shift a path slightly, while others mark the beginnings and ends of larger chapters, irreversibly changing the outcome. Often, decisions manifest in unexpected ways—a small decision can cause a great change, or a great decision may fall flat. Individual paths are uniquely shaped from their reactions to circumstance. Individual actions are inherently reactions to the many processes around us.Written at a crossroads in my own life, the only path forward reflects some thoughts about the inevitability of choice and its unpredictable manifestation into linearity. ▼ 2024 musicON音乐节演奏家及歌唱家（共25人）▼直播预告
YouTube：美国国家歌剧院National Opera Center官方YouTube频道将为此次2024 musicON音乐节系列音乐会提供全程直播服务，请大家持续关注频道https://www.youtube.com/user/NatOperaCenterLIVE
微信视频号：本场音乐会将于北京时间10月27日早晨7:00在微信视频号musiCON声先进行全球同步直播，欢迎广大乐迷届时观看。
