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Kangyi Zhang - Crossing the Border

from Traveling Tunes // Traveling Sounds by The New Music Conflagration, Inc.

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"This piece was first inspired by a conversation in Denver with my DJ friend Justin Cheasty. He talked about his experiences with Pro Tools and I immediately had an idea about using recordings of contemporary flute techniques. We also started talking about this amazing TED talk given by Hyeon-seo Lee “My Escape from North Korea”. Hyeon-seo Lee talked about her courageous journey of escaping North Korea and subsequently rescuing her parents from the totalitarian regime.
Several motivic ideas are used throughout three sections: “Confinement”, “The Escape”, and “A Poignant Liberation”. Several fragmentary motifs, which appear purposeless and restricted in the beginning, shift into continuous motion in the second section. Finally, the ideas are fully presented in meaningful and melodious themes. “A Poignant Liberation” depicts North Koreans who successfully escaped the regime but are now separated from their loved ones.
Utilizing audio recordings and synthesizers, this piece overcomes major challenges of flute performance. Contemporary flute techniques such as tongue pizzicato and jet whistle are hard to reproduce exactly using synthesizers. These sounds are crucial in representing the exhausted physical and mental state of the subject. On the other hand, synthesizers are utilized for their limitless possibilities."

credits

from Traveling Tunes // Traveling Sounds, released November 30, 2016
"Kangyi is a flutist-composer whose programmatic music often highlights important historical events or personal life experiences. Kangyi started learning the Chinese flute at 12 years old, under maestro Zhan Yong Ming. He later studied Western music in Singapore and the United States (Brown University, Northwestern University, University of California, Los Angeles). He studied the Western flute under Cheryl Lim Xuanzi, John Curran and Evgueni Brokmiller. As a flutist, Kangyi has performed on various stages in the United States, Malaysia and Singapore. Kangyi studied composition with Bernard Tan Tiong Gie, Gerald Shapiro, Jay Alan Yim, Bruce Broughton and Ian Krouse. He also studied electronic music/sonic arts with Drew Schnurr.
Kangyi's composition ""Unit 731: The Museum and the Survivors"" is the special mention winner at the 2015 Orient/Occident Composers Competition and Forum. The piece was performed by musicians from Lviv Chamber Orchestra at Lviv, Ukraine. His composition “Syonanto: Remembering Shinozaki Mamoru” is the merit prize winner at the 2016 China-ASEAN Music Festival Composition Competition. Kangyi is a co-founder and artistic adviser at the Singapore Asian Composers Festival. This is a biennial competition/festival which focuses on promoting new music from living composers in the Asia-Pacific region. A list of compositions and collaborating musicians can be found at kangyizhang.weebly.com/music.html
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The New Music Conflagration, Inc. Saint Petersburg, Florida

The New Music Conflagration, Inc. is a non-profit corporation that seeks to further public awareness and perception of contemporary concert music as well as to develop our community culturally by making interactive activities, which acquaint participants with elements of new music easily available to the public. ... more

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