Melissa Huiis a Chinese-Canadian composer and pianist. She was born in 1966 in Hong Kong and currently resides in Montreal where she has been a faculty member at McGill University since 2010. Notable works by this artist includeand blue sparks burn(2002) for violin and piano,Common Ground(1993) for orchestra, andSan Rocco(1991) foroboe d'amore,SATB chamber choir, and chimes.[1]
Melissa Hui | |
|---|---|
| Born | 22 April 1966 Hong Kong |
| Genres | |
| Occupation | Composer |
| Website | sites |
Biography
editEarly life and education
editHui was born in the year 1966 in British Hong Kong (Now Hong Kong, China). In 1974, at the age of eight years old, she immigrated to Canada where she was raised from then on in Vancouver, British Columbia.[2]Hui's college education began at the University of British Columbia, where she earned her undergraduate degree in piano performance. For her graduate studies, Hui pursued and earned both her master's and doctoral degrees in composition from theCalifornia Institute of the ArtsandYale University,respectively. Mentors to Hui during her collegiate studies in composition are noted asJacob Druckman,Mel Powell,Martin Bresnick,Earl Kim,andMorton Subotnick.[2]
Career
editIn 1993, Hui worked with a small group of composers in collaboration with an eleven-member instrumental ensemble to found the Common Sense Composer's Collective. This organization was founded with a common interest in challenging the way music had been created and shared up until that point in time. Its founding members went on to collaborate with ten more ensembles between their first project and the year 2017.[3]From 1994 to 2004, Hui served as a faculty member atStanford Universitybefore moving back to Canada. In 2010, Hui joined theSchulich School of MusicatMcGill Universityin Quebec as associate professor of composition, where she has remained employed to this day.[2]
Music
editAside from her extensive list ofchamber musiccompositions, Hui has also written a number of orchestral and choral works for larger ensembles. Notable orchestral works includeBetween You(1992),Common Ground(1993), andAljira(1995) commissioned by the Vancouver, Winnipeg, and Oregon Symphonies, respectively.[2]Among some of Hui's few larger-scale choral pieces areSan Rocco(1991),Night on Earth(2001), and the more recentPax(2019), all of which include non-vocal instrumental parts in addition to the foundationalSATBparts in their scoring.[1]
Among the other memorable works from Hui's collection of chamber music compositions isand blue sparks burn(2002) for violin and piano. Commissioned by the Music Teacher's Association of California's program, "Friends of Today's Music", this piece is noted by Hui herself as a commentary from her point of view on the tragic events ofSeptember 11, 2001.[1]
Speaking in Tongues(1993) andForeign Affairs(1994) are two more of Hui's chamber works that are both notable in that they call for a larger ensemble of fifteen parts in their instrumentation. These two works were followed byLacrymosa(1996), which calls for a soprano vocalist in its scoring, andWoman: Songs on poems by Sandra Cisneros(1997), featuring a mezzo-soprano among the flute, viola, and cello parts. As the name of the latter work implies, this piece is set to the words of a handful ofSandra Cisneros’ poems, including "Loose Woman", which, in an effort to evoke a bold sense of femininity, Hui set to music inspired by aburlesquedance scene from the Broadway musical, “Sweet Charity”.[1]Additionally, in 1998 Melissa Hui wrote the score to the Oscar-nominated short film, "Sunrise Over Tiananmen Square",which was directed by Shui-Bo Wang.[4]
Works
edit| Year | Title | Instrumentation |
|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Shadow play | flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, chamber orchestra |
| Three songs on poems by Longfellow | solo voice with keyboard | |
| 1989 | Tempered glass | flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion |
| Beyond the moment | cello | |
| 1990 | Two sides to the wind | trumpet, full orchestra |
| Absolut cd #1: New Music Canada | variable ensemble | |
| Changes | flute, oboe, clarinet, violin, cello, double bass, piano and percussion | |
| 1991 | San Rocco | mixed chorus, percussion, oboe |
| One voice for flute | flute | |
| 1992 | Between you | full orchestra, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba, timpani, percussion, piano |
| 1993 | Speaking in tongues: Nine miniatures for fifteen instruments | chamber orchestra, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, horn, trombone, percussion, piano, violin, viola, cello, double bass |
| 1994 | Foreign affairs | flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, harp, violin, viola, cello, double bass, chamber orchestra |
| Solstice | piano, percussion, piccolo, English horn, oboe | |
| 1995 | Aljira | full orchestra |
| Inner voices | full orchestra, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba, timpani, percussion | |
| 1996 | As I lie still | piano, percussion |
| Lacrymosa | solo voice with chamber ensemble, woodwinds, keyboards | |
| 1997 | From dusk to dawn | chamber orchestra, piano, percussion, flute, oboe, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, double bass, harp |
| 1998 | Sunrise Over Tiananmen Square | |
| 1999 | In the breath of night | string orchestra |
| 2000 | Come as you are | flute, clarinet, trumpet, horn, trombone, percussion, violin, viola, pipa, chamber orchestra |
| When soft voices die | solo piano | |
| 2001 | Night on Earth | English horn, mixed chorus, other percussion |
| 2002 | and blue sparks burn | violin and piano |
| 2008 | Pimooteewin | soprano, tenor, narrator/actor, mixed chorus, flute, oboe, percussion, violin, viola, cello, double-bass |
References
edit- ^abcdHui, Melissa."Menu: Program Notes".Melissa Hui: composer.Retrieved1 May2021.
- ^abcd"Melissa Hui".Schulich School of Music, McGill University.Retrieved21 April2021.
- ^"Common Sense Composers".commonsensecomposers.org.Retrieved21 April2021.
- ^"Composer Showcase -Melissa Hui".Canadian Music Centre.Retrieved1 May2021.