Toward (2015)

for flute, clarinet, piano, violin, violoncello

I. Lilt

II. Devour

III. Scatter

IV. Shift

[Score | Recording]

selected for performance at the 2015 Midwest Composer's Symposium

selected for performance at the 2016 Exchange of Midwest Collegiate Composers

Recorded by the Brno Philharmonic to be released on ABLAZE Records (2018).

Premiered by Ensemble 319 at the University of Iowa (IA)

Performed by Ensemble 319 at the 2015 Midwest Composer's Symposium at Indiana University (IN)

Performed by Ensemble 319 for GRIT at the Englert Theatre (IA)

Performed by the University of Iowa Center for New Music at the University ofIowa (IA)

Performed by the University of Iowa Center for New Music at the Exchange of Midwest Collegiate Composers at University of Colorado-Boulder (CO)

Ensemble 319, University of Iowa

Program Notes:

Moving toward new positions, plates collide. That which pollutes becomes nourishing. Fragments scatter into new forms. Monoliths crumble, roots take. Toward is a cycle of destruction and rebirth (Lilt – Devour – Scatter – Shift).

Through spectral distortion, material is collided, collapsed, expanded, shifted, convolved, and manipulated.  The ever-evolving, liminal state of Toward is representative of my own experiences as an Asian American.  My contentious duality is constantly in-flux and influenced by my own “double consciousness” resulting in shifting identities that are both elected and imposed.

Toward was created in collaboration with visual artist, Dana O’Malley.  Each movement is paired with a painting.  The interdisciplinary and collaborative efforts of this project furthered this dialogue of liminality and fluctuating perspectives, within the work.