Behemoth (2023)
Below are the original program notes for Behemoth
Behemoth is a journey, a trip from a starting place to a destination. The traveler? A small asteroid, or a comet, or maybe a spaceship, who it is is not so significant. The traveler finds its way from deep space right under the nose of an ancient Behemoth. But the Behemoth is far too large to even notice such an insignificant particle. The traveler looks up at the Behemoth in awe. The Behemoth rages with fire, spits flames and gobbles up whatever is unlucky enough to fall in its path. But surrounding the Behemoth is a whole ecosystem, teeming with life, or, not life per say, but planets and asteroids and tiny rocks. It is a thousand times larger than even the largest object in its influence. So the lonely traveler, passing by asteroid and moon and planet and comet, enters into the sun.
This piece was written for PHACE in Vienna through the Vienna Summer Music Festival.
Wanderer (2022-23)
This piece was composed during my 1 year stay in Vienna, Austria. I was very lucky to work with two of my peers, Yian Gao (cello) and Kento Yu (piano) on this performance. The scale of this project greatly exceeded the scope and scale of any chamber piece I had ever written before and pushed me to solidify my compositional foundations.
Luminesce (2023)
This piece was written for my dear friend, Taiyo Tokunaga (violin), together with myself (alto saxophone). This duo flows freely in the dark sound world of deep waters, where any trace of sunlight is extinguished.
Lunar Waltz (2021)
This piece is a duo for french horn and viola. It was composed over the summer of 2021, at The Walden School. This recording features Kyra Sims (French horn) and Leah Asher (viola). Lunar Waltz has received an honorable mention in the Composition Competition for the Music Teachers National Association for California.
Splinters (2021)
This piano trio represents the beginning of my serious exploration of contemporary compositional techniques. This recording was performed by Alisa Rose (violin),Vicky Wang (cello), and Allegra Chapman (piano), at the Concert Hall, San Francisco Conservatory of Music in April of 2022.
The Dream Odyssey (2021)
This piece is my first symphonic work, composed over 2020-21, during my 8th grade year. This recording is a MIDI realization.
Quartet in B Minor (2020)
This string quartet was composed for the 2020-2021 Composition Seminar at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. I wrote it during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when we were in lockdown and isolated from each other. We followed the news extensively about the impact of the pandemic around the world. It was quite special for this recording to have been performed by live musicians (with masks), the Telegraph Quartet.