CHANG, Yu-Hui

CHANG, Yu-Hui

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Award-winning composer Yu-Hui Chang has written a wide range of music that compels and resonates with professional musicians and audiences alike. Her music is characterized by energy, precision, ingenious effects, and vibrant colors – all in the pursuit of a deep connection with humanity. She strives to break through cultural and stylistic boundaries, and to take an inclusive view of musical diversity. This attitude is manifested in the multifaceted quality of her compositional output, and the stylistic fluidity in her writing.

Yu-Hui was given the Arts and Letters Award and the Charles Ives Fellowship by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She also received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University, and commissions from the Fromm Music Foundation, Koussevitzky Music Foundation, Barlow Endowment for Music Composition, the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation, and Meet The Composer (now New Music USA). Additional honors include the Aaron Copland Award, Yoshiro Irino Memorial Prize, and the Council for Cultural Affairs of the Executive Yuan (Taiwanese government agency, now Ministry of Culture).

Performances of Yu-Hui's compositions have taken places across continents in the Netherlands, Italy, UK, Germany, Denmark, New Zealand, Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and throughout the U.S. to critical acclaim by musicians and organizations such as the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra, Nieuw Ensemble, NZTrio, Lydian String Quartet, and Alexander String Quartet. Among the numerous commissions she has received include those from the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Taipei Symphony Orchestra, Klangforum Heidelberg, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Earplay, Volti, Boston Musica Viva, Alea III, ECCE, Triple Helix Piano Trio, Ju Percussion Group, Monadnock Music Festival, Arts Council Korea, Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, National Theater & Concert Hall of Taiwan, the 2003 Seoul International Festival of Women in Music Today, and many individual musicians.

Yu-Hui enjoys teaching and interacting with today's young musicians. Beyond Brandeis, she was invited to be Guest Composer at the Composers Conference and the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, coaching many highly gifted and devoting young composers and performers. She was also featured in the Maurice Abravanel Visiting Distinguished Composer series at University of Utah, nienteForte Contemporary Music Festival at Tulane University, and a residency at Taipei National University of the Arts. Her music has appeared in the Asian Contemporary Music Festival in Seoul, Asian Music Festival in Tokyo, Innovation Series in Taipei, the Pacific Rim Music Festival at UC Santa Cruz, and the Festival of New American Music at California State University – Sacramento. In March 2006, Works and Process at the New York Guggenheim Museum presented three premieres of her works, highlighting Yu-Hui as a new talent of the younger generation.

A native of Taiwan, Yu-Hui began her intensive music training in piano, voice, and music theory at the age of six, and started seriously pursuing composition as a career at the age of fourteen. Following her graduation from the National Taiwan Normal University, she went to the United States in 1994 and received her graduate degrees from Boston University (M.M.) and Brandeis University (Ph.D.). After teaching at UC Davis for seven years, Yu-Hui moved back to the east coast and joined the Brandeis composition faculty in 2006.

Yu-Hui's music may be found in CDs released by labels including Innova, Ravello, Azica, Centaur, and MSR Classics. She also appears as a conductor in composer Ross Bauer's CD “Ritual Fragments” and as a pianist in a CD titled “Tribute to Chou Wen-chung”, both released by the Albany label. As an exponent of contemporary music performance, Yu-Hui previously served as a co-artistic director of Empyrean Ensemble and Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble. Collectively she curated more than seventy concerts.

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Orchestral/Concerto Works
Title Instrumentation Year Duration NCAF-funded
Hawking Radiation full orchestra 2020 25'
Pixelandia full orchestra 2015 20'
Mountain is Mountain flute and string orchestra 2007 16'
Amid Haze erhu and chamber orchestra 1999 13'
Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra clarinet and string orchestra 1995 14'
Vocal Works/Choral
Title Instrumentation Year Duration NCAF-funded
Saving Faces six vocalists, alto saxophone, tenor trombone, violin, cello, accordion, and percussion 2020 17'
In the Gentle Breeze chamber choir, children’s choir, piano and 2 percussions 2017 7'
It Might Be Lonelier Without the Loneliness soprano, piano 2017 11'
The Path in Front of Me Mezzo-Soprano, violin, cello, and Marimba 2017 6'
Ching mixed chorus, piccolo/flute, clarinet, French horn, bass trombone, double bass, piano, and 2 percussions 2013 30'
It Is an Illusion You Were Ever Free women's choir (or mixed chorus), violin, cello, and piano 2010 14'
Rhetorical Flourishes: Three Shepard Songs soprano, viola, clarinet/bass clarinet, percussion 2010 12'
Being: Two Collins Songs a cappella chamber choir 2009 12'
Orpheus With His Lute a cappella chamber choir 2006 3'
Chamber Music Works
Title Instrumentation Year Duration NCAF-funded
Germinate flute/piccolo, bass clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and percussion 2019 12'
Incredulous alto flute, bass clarinet, horn, violin, viola, cello, double bass, percussion and piano 2018 12'
Mind Like Water string quartet 2016 10'
Intersect flute/bass flute, clarinet/bass clarinet, violin, cello, and piano 2014 12'
On the Podium flute, clarinet/bass clarinet, piano and percussion 2014 3'
In Thin Air violin, piano, percussion 2012 15'
Under a Dim, Orange Light flute/bass flute, viola, guitar 2012 11'
Pu Songling's Bizarre Tales erhu, pipa, yangqin, piccolo/alto flute, bass clarinet, and percussion 2011 15'
When the Wind Comes, the Grass Bends violins (2), viola, cellos (2) 2011 11'
Burst Bb clarinets (3) and bass clarinet 2010 3'
Toil, Live, and Sing ajaeng, violin, cello 2010 7'
At the Brink of the Chill violin, viola, cello, double bass, and piano 2009 19'
Sky Lantern piccolos (2), G flutes (2), flutes (21), alto flutes (6), bass flutes (4), clarinet, bassoon, percussions (2), piano, cello, and double bass 2009 10'
Through Time…, with Su Shr cello, and piano 2009 7'30"
Dou Zhen six percussionists 2008 12'
Flicker piano trio 2008 3'
The Orphan of Zhao (concert version) erhu, yang-qin, viola, cello, percussion 2008 10'
Worries Just As Real violin and piano 2008 12'
Wu gayaguem and cello 2007 10'
Lost Threads piccolo/alto flute, viola, bass clarinet, and percussion 2006 12'
Transpiration piano trio 2004 12'
Longing for String Trio string trio 2003 10'
Lotus•Piercing•Tender four violists 2003 10'
Shadow Chase string quartet 2003 10'
kai•men•da•ji string quartet and piano 2002 10'
Perplexing Sorrow flute, viola, and piano 2002 10'
The Horizon Unfolds clarinet, bassoon, cornet, trombone, percussion, violin, and double bass 2000 11'
Duet for Clarinet and Violoncello clarinet and cello 1997 10'
Solo Instrumental Works
Title Instrumentation Year Duration NCAF-funded
Alter Ego cello solo 2019 17'
A Long Overdue Sequel percussion solo 2015 8'
Metamorphosis solo marimba with 6 mallets and 14 percussion instruments 2014 10'
Rio del Tizon cello solo 2010 6'30"
Binge Delirium percussion solo 2007 10'
Lonebird piano solo 2006 10'
Three Fantasias clarinet solo 2006 9'
Tangled in Smoke piano solo 2004 3'
Subliminal Waters violin solo 2001 13'
Ballade piano solo 1998 7'
Other
Title Instrumentation Year Duration NCAF-funded
The Orphan of Zhao (incidental music for theater) erhu, yang-qin, viola, cello, percussion 2007 38'

* link to " NCAF online Archive of Grant Fruitages "website (in Chinese)

Title Instrumentation Year Duration
In the Gentle Breeze chamber choir, children’s choir, piano and 2 percussions 2017 7'