Aug 4 – We are already halfway through summer and I hope everyone is enjoying this season so far! Summer for me has been incredibly busy with many projects in the works. Instead of writing a separate post for each, here is the cliff notes version of all the happenings to-date:
Composition Competition News
My work “I Wait” (2021) was announced as one of the winning entries in the Cantabile Choirs BIPOC Song Competition! The work was awarded an honorable mention in the SATB category, and the news was announced on social media and various press outlets in mid July 2022.
CBC Radio Broadcast
To celebrate a new edition of “30 under 30” Classical Musicians by CBC Music, my work Continual Awakening for trombone octet was aired on About Time with Tom Allen on CBC Radio, Tuesday Aug 2. The piece was recorded by Neal Bennett and released on the RedShift Music Label in 2014. The broadcast also featured music by past “30 under 30” composers Matthew Emery, Bekah Simms, and Jared Miller.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution feature on Shikata Ga Nai
My recent collaboration with librettist Marcus Yi and the Atlanta Opera yielded a new chamber opera based on the remarkable life of Japanese-American veteran Jimmy Doi which was performed at the Ray Charles Center for the Performing Arts on June 20, 2022. A full performance can be viewed here. Our chamber opera was featured as part of a piece on Jimmy Doi’s life on the AJC written by Bo Emerson.
Recent & Upcoming Performances
July 2, 2022 – International Clarinet Association ClarinetFest 2022
Clarinetist Dr. Jack Liang gave the world premiere of my piece “Silhouettes” for bass clarinet and live electronics at ClarinetFest held in Reno, Nevada. The piece was specially commissioned by Jack and was supported by a grant from the Ontario Arts Council. Full video here.
July 30, 2022 – International Double Reed Society Conference
Bassoonist Stephanie Patterson and pianist David Korevaar gave the in-person premiere of To Earth (2021) at the IDRS Conference in Boulder, Colorado. Event listing here.
Aug 1, 2022 – Ottawa Chamberfest
The Verona Quartet made their Ottawa Chamberfest debut in a program featuring Ligeti’s String Quartet No.1, the Dvorak “American” quartet, and my LAMP commissioned work Blank Canvas. I was grateful to be there in-person to witness their debut and meet the wonderful group! Event listing here with live streaming option.
Aug 13, 2022 – Art Song Collaborative Project
Composer and soprano Alondra Vega-Zaldivar will perform the leading role in the premiere performance of my vocal-chamber work, “Decoupling” at the Canadian Music Center. This project was commissioned with the assistance of the Canada Council for the Arts in early 2021.
Canadian Opera Company Summer Camps
I had the privilege of being the composition teaching artist for the Canadian Opera Company’s summer camp, where we created four unique works that were performed by the participants in each of the weeks of July! It was an intense yet rewarding experience to see all the children master new music and create a performance over the course of a week.
Photo: Taylor Long
Roydon Tse 