To listen to most of the music of Man-Ching Donald Yu, please click on the following tags or go directly to the most bottom of this website: 1)YOUTUBE 2)CDBABY For further information on Yu, please click on the following tag: 3)Yu Personal Website |
Man-Ching Donald Yu (余文正) is an active and prolific Hong Kong composer as well as a pianist. He has composed over hundred works in many genres ranging from instrumental solo acoustic and electro-acoustic works to large-scale orchestral works, from vocal music to large-scale choral music and opera. Most of the pieces have been performed internationally in different countries. Regarding Yu's musical styles, his works are characterized by the intermingling of the lyrical language of atonality, Chinese color, as well as impressionistic elements. He was born in 1980 in Hong Kong and started learning piano, theory, composition as well as conducting at an early age. In 1998, he made his debut as a soloist with Pan Asia Symphony Orchestra when he was sixteen, performing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3. In 2004, he earned his Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from Baylor University while at the same time studied advanced composition. Later in 2007 summer, he furthered his composition study at the International Summer Academy of the University Mozarteum Salzburg where he earned a diploma. Next year in 2008 summer, he joined the "International Summer Course for New Music" in Darmstadt, Germany. He completed his PhD degree in composition and theory on a thesis entitled "The Application of Post-tonal Methodologies towards a Portfolio of Original Compositions and an Analysis of Joseph Schwantner's Distant Runes and Incantations" at Hong Kong Baptist University. His other scholarships and awards include the ASCAPLUS Awards (U.S.), Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fellowship, scholarship from "soundSCAPE" festival, scholarship from Mozarteum, full scholarships (PhD) from HKBU and among others. Yu started premiering his own music as a pianist when he was at the age of 18. His music has been actively premiered throughout many states of the United States, Mexico, England, Italy, Ukraine, Austria, Australia and Hong Kong. Various venues that his compositions have been performed include Harvard University, University "Mozarteum" Salzburg, National Lviv Music Academy, the Hong Kong City Hall's Concert Hall and among numerous others. His music has been featured in various events such as the "soundSCAPE" festival in Italy, the International Summer Academy of the "University Mozarteum Salzburg", the Australasian Computer Music Conference (ACMC) in Australia, the 18th Annual Fruehling Posaunen Concert in Pennsylvania, U.S. as well as radio broadcast at the contemporary music program "Rizoma" in Columbia. In 2010 spring, His First Symphony was premiered by Lugansk Academic Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra at the Lugansk Philharmonic Hall in Ukraine. The forthcoming premiere includes his recent large-scale choral work "Requiem Mass" commissioned and premiered by renowned Hong Kong singers Jeffie Leung, Mezzo-soprano Cynthia Luff, Tenor Sam Kan Chung Fai, and Bass Jimmy Chan in 2010 summer. Yu's music has been published by Gold Branch Music, Inc , Wehr's Music House in Florida, Zimbel Press in Massachusetts, the Hong Kong Church Music Service Limited. His music recordings are released by Zimbel Records in Massachusetts, U.S.A. Yu's music has been commissioned by or/and played by various performers, ensembles, choir, organizations and orchestra including Chernivtsi Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Lugansk Academic Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, the Choral Fellows of the Harvard University Choir, Ukraine Octet Players, HKBU Girls Choir, Duo 46, Ostap Shutko, Onondaga Civic Symphony Orchestra, Resonance Chanters, Ithaca College Trombone Troupe, JSU chamber orchestra and among many others. Yu also has collaborated with poets and authors for composing art songs and opera including renowned Taiwanese poet Ya Hsien and U.S. librettist Walter Wykes. For further information on Yu, visit: http://manchingdonaldyu.webs.com To listen to most of his music, visit: http://www.youtube.com/user/mozartdonaldyu Contact information: manchingyu@msn.com |
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LIST OF COMPOSITIONS Orchestral Works: ．Apocalypse for orchestra (2009)．First Symphony for orchestra (2008)．Organ Concerto: Nebula for organ and chamber orchestra(2007)．Reflections for trombones choir (2006) for trombone Choir．The Persistence of Memory for full orchestra (2006)．Concert Overture "Hong Kong Night Scene Sketch" for orchestra (2006)．Three Movements for string orchestra (2005)．The Lonely Heart of the Cosmos for string orchestra (2003)． Symphonic Poem: Dreamscapes for orchestra (2002)．Rhapsody for piano and orchestra (2002)．Essay for orchestra (2002)． Black Hole for full orchestra (2002)．Concerto for horn and orchestra (2001) Chamber Works: ．Wind and Rain for erhu and piano (2010)．Recede and Surge for clarinet and piano (2010)．The Vermilion Bird for violin and piano (2010)．Primordial for piano quintet (2009) ． Piano Trio “Moody Rain” for flute, cello and piano(2009)． Lamentation for cello and piano (2009)．"The Maximum Speed of Raphael's Madonna” for flute and piano (2009)．Duo for cello and piano(2009)．Octet for string (2009)． Three Bagatelles for violin and organ (2008)．Memories for brass quartet (2009)．The Refraction of Shadowfor trombone and piano (2008)．Brilliant Variations and Fantasy on a Chinese Folk Tune for violin and piano (2008)．Hamlet's Aria "To Be or Not To Be" for violin and piano/viola and piano/cello and piano (2006)．Film Score: Dong for piano, harp, flute and clarinet/chamber orchestra (2006)．Autumn Elegy for violin and piano/guitar, violin and piano (2006)．Frankenstein for organ and cello (2006) ． Sonata "Echo"for flute solo (2006) ． Romantic Light Piece No. 2 for cello and piano (2006)．Lyric Sketch: The Art of Fugue for four instruments/string quartet/flute quartet (2005)．Romantic light piece for violin and piano (2005)．Imaginary Conversation for violin and piano (2005)．Recalling from Dream for trumpet and piano (2005)．Dialogue for oboe and clarinet (2005)． Nocturne Reflections for flute and piano/orchestra (2005)．Mesto Fugue for chamber string orchestra/string trio (2004) ． Solemn Elegy for trombone quartet/horn quartet/two horns and two bass trombones (2004)．Duet "Argument" for violin and cello (2004)．Fanfare for brass quartet/orchestra (2005)．Illusion for oboe and piano (2003)．Dark Rhapsody for cello and piano (2003)．Rhapsodic Sonata for flute and piano (2003)．In the Dark Mist for clarinet and piano (2002)． String Quartet No.2 "Apparition"(2002)．Choral: Recalling for brass quintet (2002)． String Quartet No.1 "Four Seasonal Sketches"(2001)．Fuga for string quartet (2001)．Four Souvenirs for wind quintet (2001)．Concert Rhapsody for violin and piano (2001)．Dialogue for two violins (2000) ．String Quartet in Eb (1999) Instrumental Solo and Electro-acoustic Work ．Contemplation for piano(2010)．Revelation Fantasy for chamber organ(2010)．Nine Dragons for piano(2010)． Three Children Pieces for piano (2009)． Disintegration for piano and tape (2008)． Hallucination for piano (2008)． Three Characteristic Pieces for piano duet (2007) ． Organic Synthesis for piano (2007)． Explosion for piano (2007) ． In Memoriam of J.S. Bach for harpsichord (2007) ． Twelve Preludes for organ (2006)． Mystical Aria for organ (2006) ． Meditation (2006) for organ． Toccata Fantasique for organ solo (2006)． Etude "Birds" for piano (2006)． Shivering for double bass (2005)． Ode for flute (2005)． Two Pieces for clarinet (2004)． Vier Kleine Klavier Stuecke for piano (2004)． Uncertainty for piano (2004)． Fantasy on "The Lady of Shalott" for piano (2003) ． Ten Variations on a Chinese Folk Song "Home-sickness" for piano (2003) ． Sonata No.5 "Ionization" for piano (2003)． Toccata for piano (2003)． Hell and Heaven for piano (2003)． Sonata No.4 "Chaos" for piano (2002)． Five Miniatures for piano (2001)． Sonata No.3 "Aggressive" for piano (2001)． Song without Words for piano (2000) ． Sonata No.2 "Humoresque" for piano (2000)． Sonata No.1 "Grand Concert Fantasy" for piano (2000)． Brilliant Humorous Waltz for piano (2000)． Cantabile for violin (1999) Vocal, Choral Works and Opera ．Two Sacred songs for soprano and piano(2010)．Requiem Mass for SATB mixed Choir and piano (2009)．A Chamber Opera in one act "The Death of the Hired Man” for mezzo-soprano, tenor and piano (2009)．Love's Draft for mezzo-soprano and piano (2009)．Summer Doorway for mezzo-soprano and piano (2009)．Ancient Egyptian Lyric for mezzo-soprano and piano (2009)．Oculus non vidit for a cappella SATB mixed Choir (2008)．"Praying" for tenor and piano(2008)．"The Shadow of My Dream" for tenor and piano (2008)．"Tomorrow" for mezzo-soprano and piano (2008) ．"The Creation" for Mezzo-soprano and piano (2008)．Five Poems by Yosano Akiko for soprano and piano (2008)．Psalm 23 for high voices and piano (2008)．Zao Chen "The Morning" for baritone and piano (2007)．Ge "Ode" for baritone and piano (2007) ． De Ceng Yin "The Recitation of the Stratum" for baritone and piano (2007)．Si Wang Hang Xing "The Voyage of Death" for baritone and piano (2007)．Yuan Yang Gan Jue "The Feeling of the Far Ocean" for baritone and piano (2007)．yang ming shan ye you "Wandering at the Yang Ming Mountain" for soprano and piano (2007) ． Wen Tian "Inquiring the Sky" for soprano and piano (2007)．Qiu zhi shi luo "The Suffering in Autumn" for soprano and piano(2007)．Xin Yu "The Deepest voice of My Heart" for baritone and piano (2007)．Starlight for soprano and piano (2007)．I used up this body for soprano and piano (2007)．A polish Poem "Everything" for soprano and piano(2007)．With a Flower for mezzo-soprano and piano(2007)．Collect Beads of Night for mezzo-soprano and piano (2007)．The Morning for mezzo-soprano and piano (2007)．Two Chinese Poems by Ya Hsien for baritone and piano (2007)．O virtus Sapientiae for A Cappella (2007) ．Zwei Lyrisches Intermezzi for soprano and piano (2006) ． An Anthem: Our Father for a cappella SATB choir(2006) ．An Concert Aria "To be or not to be" for tenor and piano．Psalm No.63 for chorus SSA and piano (2005)．Two Dramatic Art Songs for soprano and piano (2002)．Sonnet No.104 by William Shakespeare for mezzo-soprano and piano (2003)．A Song Cycle from Japanese Lyrics for soprano and piano (2001)．Zwei Rosen for baritone and Piano (2000)．"Ode on Nature" for soprano and piano (2000) |
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Compositions | |||
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Disintegration for piano and tape |
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| Disintegration for piano and tape.mp3 - complete | |||
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Disintegration for piano and tape is inspired by one of a Dali’s surrealistic painting “Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory.” The sound of the tape part is generated from the Granular Cloud Generator. First, the piano part begins with the tone C while blending with several quasi-hitting sound of the on-going tape part. Soon, some quasi-bell sounds emerge and this contrasts the other musical texture in the piece. After that, a sound mass gradually fades in and this builds the music up to the first climax, the piano part is full of chromatic angular musical gestures. After the sound mass fades out, a repeated static centric pitch emerges and this gives more a sense of musical stability of the piece and the following musical texture tends to become sparser and be in a rather lower density and higher register when the quasi-bell sounds merge with the several gong sounds. Upon passing through this contrasting section, the second climax fades in and after reaching the loudest part, the music gradually fades out. Some of the sounds at the beginning of the piece recur while the music ends quietly and mysteriously just like the sound fades away in a long distance. In the piece, set-class the chromatic half-step dominates and this simple dyad develops profusely throughout the piece in various ways. | |||
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The Refractions of Shadow for trombone and piano |
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The Refraction of Shadow is written for and dedicated to Ithaca College’s Trombone professor Harold Reynolds. The title is inspired by charming shadow of a mountain under the sea upon its shadow was refracted by evening sunlight. The music begins with an uprising tender and impressionistic-like thematic gesture and it recurs several times in the whole piece before each new section begins. The trombone states the song-like main motivic figure after the short piano introduction and this figure develops in various ways throughout the whole piece. The middle section tends to be more energetic and the piano quasi-cadenza part drives numerous harmonic colors in this section and the harmonic language is more chromatic. Nevertheless, the harmonic structure of the piece is well delineated by the pedal tone of each section and this gives more coherence of the music as a whole. The music ends with a loud tone on C. The style of the music is neo-tonality in which the tonal point of the music is established by the non-traditional means. | |||
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Imaginery Conversation for violin and piano |
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The music is inspired by the best-known prose work of the English poet and author Walter Savage Landor which comprises 6 volumes of imaginary conversations between personalities of classical Greece and Rome, poets and authors, statesmen and women, and fortunate and unfortunate individuals. The music begins with the dissonant tremolo of the violin being accompanied with the uprising of the piano chromatic areas. The chromatic thematic material is stated by the violin where the piano generates some pedal points at a lower register. After passing through several passages of chromatic materials, the music arrives at a second thematic point where the violin reaches its highest register in this section. After that, the central section emerges the violin part becomes more melodious and fanciful in character while being accompanied by the ostinato cell of the piano part. After passing through several ostinato cells in several tonal focused point, the music reaches its climax by means of two loud and heavy tone clusters. The recitative section begins where the violin restates the transformed motivic materials in the first section. Soon, the piano joins in by several ostinato cells which recalls the materials in the central section. The piece ends with a sudden loud tone which gives some surprises to audiences. | |||
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Halluncination for piano |
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| Halluncination for piano.mp3 - complete | |||
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Hallucination is a single movement 15 minutes concert piano piece. First, hallucination is the experience of seeing something that has not really occurred. Abundances of contrasting musical elements and contexts in the piece definitely well describe and suit this programmatic title in an illusive way. The piece is delineated into several prominent sections and each section shows contrasting varieties in terms of pitch register, density, mood and gesture. The first section begins with a dyad in minor second and this intervallic nucleus becomes an important motive for developments throughout the rest of the whole piece. Following the vivid, angular and colorful first section, the contrasting second section emerges which is more slow, mysterious and dreamy in context. Soon, some of the textural fragments of the first section juxtapose and recur and these elements gradually build the music up to the first intense and climatic state of the piece. After the first intense state, the modified second section follows and has different pitch choices comparing with the previous second section. Also, some pointillistic, toccata-like and light gestures are merged and juxtaposed into this section. This sort of toccata-like gesture serves as introductory elements for the developments of the next contrasting third section’s musical elements which are highly rhythmic oriented and energetic. Along with the third section, there is a rather lyrical and melodious chromatic section which follows the toccata-like section. These two attached sections become the central point of the whole piece from the piece’s structural point of view. As soon as this section ends, the next energetic and fantastic section occurs and it is deemed as an amalgamation of the first and second sections’ musical elements---vivid, dreamy, angular, energetic and crystal-like. Upon reaching several intense states of the piece, the first section and the third section eventually return with some modifications. The piece ends with passages of highly registered bombastic octatonic elements in different transposition levels. | |||
©2009 by Man-Ching Donald Yu
All Rights Reserved
Man-Ching Donald Yu is a member of Society of Composers, Inc. SCI is dedicated to the promotion of composition, performance, understanding and dissemination of new and contemporary music.