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Lei Liang, Parts for a Floating Space (2002)

Parts for a Floating Space is dedicated to the Yesaroun' Duo for a premiere in Temple Ohabei Shalom's magnificent sanctuary. It consists of discrete parts; it's not conceived as a whole. I hope to use the richness of the parts to construct an open-ended architecture with not one, but multiple identities. Each part might stand on its own, combine with one another, collide in superimposition, or connect into a larger continuum. Yet, all of its sounds and rhythmic patterns are derived from one single source. Ina given evening, we chose one sequence out of a number of possibilities. Ohabei Shalom's sanctuary has been filled with songs and prayers for three quarters of a century; this piece is my tribute to this sacred space.



Lei Liang is a Chinese-American composer of mostly stage and chamber works that have been performed throughout the world. He earned numerous prizes as both a composer and pianist in China while a child, and left for the US in the aftermath of Tiananmen Square protest at the age of 17. He studied composition with Robert Cogan and Mario Davidovsky, and received degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music (BA & MA with honors and distinction) and Harvard University (PhD).

Lei Liang has received commissions from the Heidelberger Philharmonisches Orchester, the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, World-Wide Concurrent Premieres, Inc., Pro Musicis, Harvard University Asia Center, the Ying Quartet, the Callithumpian Consort, No World Quartets, YesarounŐ Duo, IIIZ+, VisionIntoArt, Odd Appetite, the Core Ensemble, flautist Masahiro Arita, shakuhachi-master Reian Bennett, pianist Stephen Drury, erhu-player Xu Ke, saxophonist Chien-Kwan Lin, among other organizations, ensembles, and soloists. He was the recipient of a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship and a Heinrich Strobel Foundation bursary from the South West German Radio Experimentalstudio. Besides chamber music, he also composes electronic music, as well as music for film, dance and theater. Lei Liang is also active as an ethnomusicologist, and as such, he is especially interested in the preservation of traditional Asian music.

Lei Liang was Junior Fellow at the Society of Fellows at Harvard University. He has taught as honorary professor of composition and sound design at Wuhan Conservatory of Music and as Distinguished Visiting Professor at Shaanxi Normal University College of Arts in Xi'an. He is currently visiting assistant professor of music at Middlebury College.

For more information, please visit lei-liang.com.

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