GENERAL UPDATE:
At the beginning of the year, I promised that I would try to write more regularly. This has clearly not been achieved! In my defence, studying mathematics full-time requires much dedication, patience, and practice — not unlike learning a musical instrument. But now I have time to write since I have completed my semester 1 exams.
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Continue reading “Composer’s Notebook #6: Bowing and Articulation in Violin Playing”
I am very pleased to announce that my Three Concert Pieces for piano will receive its première performance in the Utzon Room at the Sydney Opera House on 9 February at 7 pm. The pianist is a good friend and colleague, Nicholas Young, with whom I collaborated frequently during our time at the Sydney Conservatorium. It is a pleasure to work with him again, but this time as a composer!
For more information about the concert and ticketing, click here to be directed to the corresponding page on the Sydney Opera House website.
For some insight into Nicholas’ project, and the rationale behind such a concert, you may be interested in this interview for CutCommon magazine.
The program notes for the concert are available online now.
Dear reader, thank you for visiting the blog, and happy new year! This is an update post, letting you know what I have been up to in the last few months.
This blog post appears at quite an appropriate time. As I write, the Sydney International Piano Competition is just about to wrap up, and I am also planning to write a piano trio, a classic but nonetheless difficult chamber combination. All this has led me to consider carefully why and how I write for the piano. Continue reading
I have decided to record some of my thoughts on composition on this blog. In the good ol’ days, these things were usually penned down into a notebook or included in letters to friends and colleagues, but now we have the Internet!
For this first notebook entry, I would like to say a few words about my recent trip to Kendall, NSW, where I attended the finals of the Kendall National Violin Competition (hereafter KNVC). Despite its setting in a quiet rural town, the KNVC is nevertheless one of the most prestigious in Australia, and attracts the best young violinists from around the country.
I am delighted to accept the inaugural Watermark Composition Award for my composition Rhapsody No. 2 for solo violin. The piece is written specifically for the Kendall National Violin Competition, and will be the compulsory “test” piece in the finals, to be held in Kendall (NSW) in September. I look forward to hearing my piece interpreted by some of Australia’s best young violinists!
Visit www.kendallviolin.org.au for further details.
Jonathan Mui 