Lei Liang
Photo by Alex Matthews
The music of Chinese-American composer Lei Liang combines East and West in a colorful and dramatic fusion. His versatility ranges from brilliant orchestral and theatrical works to gentle chamber pieces. He is a master craftsman and orchestrator, yet the lasting tone of his music is nuanced and intimate, as if everything depended on the perfectly shaped gesture.
- The American Academy of Arts and Letters, 2021 More Reviews
April 15, 2021, Lei Liang receives the 2021 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition. Watch his acceptance speech here.
Feb 22, 2021, Lei Liang receives the American Academy of Arts and Letters Music Award. Read San Diego Union Tribune article here.
July 1, 2020, UC San Diego appoints Lei Liang as the Chancellor's Distinguished Professor of Music. Read UCSD News here.
Jun 24, 2020, Albany Records releases Lei's chamber opera Inheritance, featuring soprano Susan Narucki. Order it here.
Jun 23, 2020, Shanghai Conservatory of Music Press - one of the leading music publishers in China - publishes Confluence of A Hundred Streams: Narrating the Soundscapes of Lei Liang (ed. Qin Luo). Order it here.
May 11, 2022: La Jolla, CA
Luminosity (contrabass solo), Mark Dresser, Experimental Theater, University of California, San DiegoMay 18, 2022: La Jolla, CA
Luminous (chamber concerto for contrabass), Mark Dresser, bass, Steven Schick, conductor, Conrad Prebys Concert Hall, University of California, San DiegoJune 1, 2022: Melbourne, Australia
Trio (piano, cello and percussion), Australian National Academy of Music, Abbotsford ConventJune 10, 2022: Chicago, IL
Trans (percussion and audience), Kyle Flens, percussion, Holtschneider Performance CenterJune 10-17, 2022: Wolfeboro, NH
Composer-in-Residence at the Walden SchoolJune 11, 2022: Wolfeboro, NH
Lake (flute and clarinet), Isabel Lepanto Gleicher, flute, Emmalie Tello, clarinet, Anderson Performing Arts Center, the Walden SchoolJune 16, 2022: Wolfeboro, NH
Trans (percussion and audience), Kyle Flens, percussion, Anderson Performing Arts Center, the Walden SchoolJune 30, 2022: Rockport, MA
Mother's Songs (pipa and viola), Wu Man and Hsin-Yun Huang, Rockport Music FestivalJuly 11-17, 2022: Chicago, IL
Composer-in-Residence at Ensemble Dal Niente and DePaul University Summer Residency for New MusicAugust 2, 2022: Putney, VT
Lakescape III (for 2 violas), Lara Albesano, Maria Lambros, violas, Yellow Barn Music Festival, The Big BarnAugust 6, 2022: Putney, VT
Trans (percussion and audience), Eduardo Leandro, percussion, Yellow Barn Music Festival, The Big BarnOct 15, 2022: La Jolla, CA
Six Seasons (string quartet and electronics), world premiere, Mivos Quartet, ArtPower, Experimental Theater, Conrad Prebys Music Center, University of California, San DiegoOct 19, 2022: San Diego, CA
Bamboo Lights (chamber orchestra), Elena Schwarz, conductor, San Diego Symphony, The Rady Shell at Jacobs ParkOct 21, 2022: La Jolla, CA
Bamboo Lights (chamber orchestra), Elena Schwarz, conductor, San Diego Symphony, The Epstein Family AmphitheaterJanuary 20, 2023: Philadelphia, PA
Mother's Songs (pipa and viola), Wu Man and Hsin-Yun Huang, Philadelphia Chamber Music SocietyJanuary 22, 2023: Albany, NY
Mother's Songs (pipa and viola), Wu Man and Hsin-Yun Huang, Capital Region ClassicsApril 11 -13, 2023: Bloomington, IN
Composer-in-Residence at the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana UniversityJune 11 -25, 2023: Cambridge, MA
Composer-in-Residence at the Divergent Studio, Longy School of Music
Photo by Alex Matthews
Lei Liang Is the Recipient of the 2021 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition
Scorched Silence, Fragile Rebirth, Award-Winning Music
-The New York Times, December 13th, 2019
FEATURED DISC: VERGE
FEATURED REVIEW
The world premiere of Inheritance, a new chamber opera by Lei Liang, was described as "unusually powerful" (New Music Box), "groundbreaking," "unique and compelling" (San Diego Union Tribune)
Inheritance revolves around the bizarre life of Sarah Winchester, the eccentric widow and heiress to the Winchester rifle fortune. According to popular belief, Winchester imprisoned herself in her labyrinth-like home to seek refuge from the spirits of those killed by the same weapons whose manufacture and sale gave her a life of indescribable wealth. Inheritance juxtaposes elements of Winchester’s biography with contemporary events in a work that explores America’s deeply complex relationship with guns. Watch a short trailer, or read more about the opera here.
Photo by Emily Zheng
MORE REVIEWS
The performances are, without exception, stellar. But they’d have to be: Lei Liang’s scores seem to demand one delicately constructed dramatic gesture after another. Stephen Drury’s Callithumpian Consort scintillates in the brilliantly colored Aural Hypothesis for small ensemble, and Five Seasons stars Wu Man, rockstar of the lute-like Chinese pipa, alongside the Shanghai Quartet. Passionately, but precisely, these interpreters make a powerful case for Lei Liang as a composer with the ears and the ingenuity to construct a boundless, and boundlessly thrilling, new music.
- Daniel Stephen Johnson, New York Public Radio WQXR Q2, Music Album of the Week (Dec. 24, 2012)
While Lei Liang's opera must obviously be seen to be fully experienced, especially given the press of current events, so sensitively and imaginatively does he mix and match his kaleidoscopic sonic palette to Matt Donovan's evocative, numerology-driven libretto, the quartet of voices, the curious ensembles and the electronics that keep the highly charged narrative makes a deep impression even without the stagecraft.
- Laurence Vittes, Gramophone (2020)
Lei Liang’s Verge is a gripping and engaging work for 18 solo strings, which are taken full advantage of in their timbre and potential for sound. The music here stands out among many new records for its vitality and directness…
- George Adams, American Record Guide (May 2013)