Livewire 8: Asian Music in America

The Department of Music presents Livewire 8: Asian Music in America, a festival of contemporary music that will explore the creativity of composers with cultural connections to China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Music of ten composers, including Shih-Hui Chen, Kyong Mee Choi, Mandy Fang, Hitomi Kaneko, Liza Lim, Toshiro Mayuzumi, Tokuhide Niimi, and P. Q. Phan, will be performed by UMBC faculty and students, including the Ruckus contemporary faculty music ensemble.

P. Q. Phan, who immigrated to the United States from Vietnam in 1982, will be the festival's featured composer. Originally training as an architect in Vietnam, Phan trained as a composer in the United States at the University of Southern California (B. Mus.), and the University of Michigan (M.Mus. in composition and ethnomusicology; D.M.A. in composition). A recipient of the 1998 Rome Prize, he has received grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ohio Arts Councils, Charles Ives Center for American Music, and fellowships from the Macdowell Colony. Performances of his music have been presented by the Kronos Quartet, the BBC Scottish Radio, Radio France, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, and Hanoi Conservatory Orchestra. Phan has received commissions from the Kronos Quartet, the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, the American Composers Orchestra, the Greater East Lansing Symphony, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, the Samaris Piano Trio, the New York Youth Symphony, and La Sierra University. He has been a member of the music faculty at the University of Illinois Champaign/Urbana, and Cleveland State University, and is currently Professor of Music at Indiana University.

Festival Schedule:

Thursday, October 26, 7:30 p.m.
Ruckus, UMBC's faculty new music ensemble, presents a program that will include:

• Larkspur for flute, viola, and harp (2004) — Mandy Fang (China)
• Kazane for violin, clarinet, and cello (1989) — Tokuhide Niimi (Japan)
• Collection of Songs on Poetry by Ho Zuan Huong for soprano and piano (2004) — P. Q. Phan (Vietnam)
• Rippled Pond for violin, cello, and piano (2013) — Kyong Mee Choi (Korea)
• Toccata Colorato for clarinet, harp, and two pianos (2016) — P. Q. Phan

Friday, October 27, 12 p.m.
Student concert

Friday, October 27, 7:30 p.m.
Talk by P. Q. Phan, "Characters and Their Arias in The Tale of Lady Thị Kính"

Saturday, October 28, 2:00 p.m.
A faculty concert will feature:

• Pieces for Prepared Piano and Strings (1957) — Toshiro Mayuzumi (Japan)
• War Songs from Middle Kingdom (2013) — Shih-Hui Chen (Taiwan)
• Inguz for clarinet and cello (1996) — Liza Lim
• Espace Brune (2004) — Hitomi Kaneko (Japan)

Saturday, October 28, 8:00 p.m.
Korean percussion music by Washington Samulnori:

The Livewire 8 guest ensemble will be Washington Samulnori – four performers playing Korean percussion instruments within a contemporary Korean performing art that was developed in 1978. Samulnori traces its traditional roots to farmers’ band music that has been central to rural life in Korea for centuries. The genre’s title literally means the “playing of four things.” The four instruments are: the changgo (hourglass-shaped drum), buk (barrel drum), jing (large gong) and kwaengwari (small gong). Musical patterns and rhythms have been taken out of their traditional contexts, restyled and redesigned for performance on a stage. Samulnori’s popularity has been immense, and it has been performed and taught throughout Korea as well as all over the world.

This festival has been made possible in part by the support of Dr. Phillip Rous, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs; Dr. Scott Casper, Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences; and UMBC's Asian Studies Program.

Tickets

Evening concerts on October 26 and 28 are ticketed events: $15 general admission, $10 seniors, $5 students, free for all UMBC students, available online and at the box office one hour before performances.

All other events are free.