Composer & Pianist
Stories Men Tell
(2011)
1. Veteran
2. How I Fell in Love
3. Three Little Pigs
for Speaking Pianist
An exploration into the art of storytelling. Playing and speaking, the pianist recounts stories: of a war veteran, how a man met his wife, and a daughter’s favourite fairy tale.
The following recordings of movements 1 and 3 were performed by pianist, Christopher Morano.
Click here for a PDF of the Score.
Futures of the Past (2011)
soundscore for online video
Welcome to a new spin on the graphic novel!
Creators Ray Hsu, Chloe Chan, and Michael Park asked. "What would happen if the words and images of a graphic novel were created in tandem with music that explores the same theme?"
Testing the conventions of graphic novel presentation, this collaboration examines the links between frontiers in rail transportation in Canada and China.
More Than Containers (2010)
for Baritone and Piano
A short song for baritone, setting a poem by Ray Hsu as a conversational dialogue between piano and voice. This song was premiered by baritone, Michael Broder and pianist, Laura Lowen at the Vancouver International Song Institute as part of the inaugural Art-Song Lab.
Click here for a PDF of the Score.
Songs of Ray (2010)
It's Cold in here
In the cliff-light
for SATB Chamber Choir
text: Ray Hsu
This set of two songs, uses texts by Vancouver poet, Ray Hsu. Commissioned by Charissa Bagan and Jake Funk for The UBC Chamber Choir.
Premiered by the UBC Chamber Choir Spring Concert, 2010.
Gramps Ain't No Namby-Pamby (2010)
for Bassoon and Baritone
Using text written by the composer, this piece is a dialogue between a grandfather and grandson where the audience only ever hears half of the conversation. By having the bassoonist perform their role, playing the rhythm and contour of the (un)spoken text, this piece explores the power of music to create syntactical meaning through the association of speech and musical gesture.
Commissioned by bassoonist, Susan Durnin, Gramps Ain’t No Namby-Pamby has also been performed by bassoonists Margaret Fay, and award winning soloist, Allen Harrington.
Click here for a PDF of the Score.
Peter Meets Susanna (2009)
for Speaking Pianist and Chamber Orchestra
Written for my Master’s thesis, this piece was my first formal composition for Speaking Pianist. Using Wallace Stevens’ Peter Quince at the Clavier, this 20-minute piano concerto presents the unique challenge of requiring the pianist to speak while playing complicated, idiomatic piano writing. The chamber Orchestra is scored for: 1 Fl, 2 Ob, 1 Cl, 2 Bsn, Tpt, Tbn, Percussion.
Premiered by the UWO Thesis Orchestra, conducted by Jim McKay, with pianist Alison Wiebe, and narrated by Michael Park.
Click here for a PDF of the score.
Parts available upon request.
Double Double, Toil and Trouble
(2008)
for Voice and Tape
instrumentation: soprano, MaxMSP, PCM digital processer
text: Shakespeare
duration: 7 minutes
Performed by Rachel Wood, soprano; Michael Park, electronics