The 2022 Composer Commissioning Fund an initiative of ABC Classic and ABC Jazz have recently announced the 15 winners whose work will be commissioned. 4 of the 15 recipients come from an Asian background. 3 are for ABC Classic and 1 is for ABC Jazz. This is quite excellent considering there were a total of 130 applications to this fund. Here are the composers who have an Asian background who were chosen:
ABC CLASSIC
Charulatha Mani: The Five Elements
- 5 movement orchestral style representing the 5 elements of nature- earth, fire, water, space, and air;
- It features Sanskrit text from the 4000 yea old Rig Ved and combines Indian naga and tala to highlight the significance of nature particularly under the current situation of climate change;
- It also blends South Indian and Western instruments, and will be recorded by the composer Charulatha Mani (Karnatik voice/spoken word);
- It is accompanied by a 10 piece orchestra;
Puya Mehman Pazir: Az Lalaei ta Bidarei (From Lullaby to Awakening)
- This music is inspired by the 2022 Iranian uprising and the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini by the Iranian morality police;
- This will be a suite of 4 movements representing the 4 geographical regions of Iran, and using the cultural music from the respective regions;
- The primary point of this work is folk Persian lullaby which will awaken the music into energy and struggle;
Ray Lin: East meets West in Australian classical chamber music
- This will be a 16-18 minute multi-movement piece for a mixed ensemble consisting of five musicians: Ziwei Wang on Dizi (Chinese flute), Cara Shen on GuZheng (Chinese harp), Sean Cai on piano, Daniel Shearer on cello and Ana Kho on percussion (Chinese & Western);
- The composer Ray Lin says this is a way to connect cultures of his home China and Australia;
ABC JAZZ
Jordan Chung: Zodiac
- This is a debut album for the quartet and will draw on the ensemble’s Asian Australian experience.
- All their works are original and the quartet consists of 4 emerging Asian Aussie musicians: Jordan Chung (piano), Hinano Fujisaki (saxophone), Matt Ling (Double Bass) and Manson Luk (drums).
We definitely look forward to listen to all these awesome music!
Images via ABC