Daniel Stepner

A new CD by Lydian String Quartet‘s 1st violinist, Daniel Stepner, has been released by the Centaur Records. This album, titled Music at Brandeis, features works for violin and piano by several past and current Brandeis composers, including Yu-Hui’s Worries Just As Real. Also in the album are Harold Shapero and Irving Fine’s sonatas, Yehudi Wyner’s Concert Duo, and David Rakowski’s Pied-à-terre. Joining Stepner on the piano are Sally Pinkas, Yehudi Wyner, and Donald Berman.
Worries Just As Real was commissioned by the National Chiang Kai-Shek Cultural Center (now National Theater and Concert Hall) in Taipei, Taiwan, for violinist Henry Tong.


Residency at the University of Utah, Salt Lake
DECEMBER 10, 2014 5:49 PM
U of Utah, Salt Lake residency Nov 2014







On November 24-25, Yu-Hui was featured as the Maurice Abravanel Visiting Distinguished Composer at the University of Utah. During the residency, she gave two public lectures and several private composition sessions. She also enjoyed the hospitality of the School of Music’s faculty and the breathtaking view of the Rockies. In the evening on November 24, the Canyonlands New Music Ensemble presented two of her compositions, Flicker and Worries Just As Real, alongside with music by Kurtág, Kagel, Berio and Xenakis.

"Metamorphosis" for marimba with 6 mallets plus 14 percussion instruments
OCTOBER 27, 2014 1:57 PM
Pei-Ching Wu recitalMarimba virtuoso Pei-Ching Wu is giving a 3-concert tour this November in Taiwan. This is her 13th solo recital, and the 2nd program in which all pieces are for 6-mallet marimba, including Yu-Hui’s “Metamorphosis” (2014), a commission from Wu.
A founding member of the internationally renowned Ju Percussion Group, Pei-Ching Wu has served as principal of the ensemble since she was 18 years old. Wu has performed around the world either as a soloist or with Ju Percussion Group. She has been perfecting the 6 mallets techniques for 20 years. Wu is an Associate Professor of Music at Taipei National University of the Arts.

"Flicker" in New Zealand and Denmark
AUGUST 15, 2014 9:16 PM
(NZTrio | photo by John Crawford)
(NZTrio | photo by John Crawford)


Yu-Hui’s “Flicker” went on an tour with NZTrio this summer. First it was performed in their Art3 (art to the power of three) program at Tauranga Art Gallery (Tauranga, New Zealand) on August 7. On August 30th it will be in a concert that is part of the 2014 Aarhus Festival at Musikhuset Aarhus, Lille Sal (Aarhus, Denmark), followed by a performance at the Royal Danish Playhouse in Copenhagen on August 31st.
Premiere of "Intersect" by ECCE on May 1 and 15, 2014
APRIL 15, 2014 5:08 PM
Intersect, Yu-Hui’s newly written quintet scored for flute/bass flute, clarinet/bass clarinet, violin, cello and piano, will be premiered by the supremely talented musicians of the East Coast Contemporary Ensemble in May. The concerts will take place at the Slosberg Recital Hall, Brandeis University (May 1st) and DiMenna Center, New York (May 15th). This piece is part of a wonderful program that includes works by Mark Andre, Gérard Grisey, John Aylward, Schuyler Tsuda, Wei-Chieh Lin, José Manuel Serrano, and Colin Tucker.
ECCE(photo by Faremis Visuals)

A Tribute Concert to D. K. Holoman
APRIL 5, 2014 5:28 PM
EmpyreanThe Empyrean Ensemble at UC Davis is giving a tribute concert to Professor D. K. Holoman, an eminent scholar, teacher, and conductor at UCD for more than three decades. In the concert are works written for this special occasion by Christian Baldini, Ross Bauer, Yu-Hui Chang, Sam Nichols, Pablo Ortiz, Mika Pelo, Laurie San Martin, Kurt Rohde, Steven Mackey, and Darin Wilson. Also on the program are David Lang’s These Broken Wings and Georg F. Haas’s tri ex uno.
This concert will take place on April 28, 2014, at Vanderhoef Studio Theater, Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, UC Davis.

Boston Premiere of "Pu Songling's Bizarre Tales" on 11/23
NOVEMBER 12, 2013 11:11 AM
MFC_web
(Music From China)


MFCFB
Yu-Hui’s “Pu Songling’s Bizarre Tales” – for erhu, pipa, yangqin, piccolo/alto flute, bass clarinet, and percussion, will be performed at Brandeis’ Slosberg Recital Hall on November 23 at 8PM. A piece based on “Liao Zhai Zhi Yi”, a collection of Chinese ghost stories written by Pu Songling of Qing Dynasty, “Pu Songling’s Bizarre Tales” was commissioned by Meet The Composer (now New Music USA) for Music From China. Also on the program is a fine selection of traditional Chinese silk and bamboo music.
On 11/22, Music From China will also perform new works written by Brandeis graduate students. Don’t miss it!

NZTRIO 2013 Taiwan Concert Tour, with Yu-Hui's "Flicker"
OCTOBER 8, 2013 10:55 PM
NZTRIO 2
(photo by John Crawford)


Renowned piano trio NZTrio from New Zealand is having a Taiwan concert tour in early November. An ensemble famous for their diverse, cross-genre programming and high artistry, they will be performing Yu-Hui’s “Flicker” in this six-concert tour, along with works by Debussy, Tchaikovsky, and New Zealand composer John Psathas.
For concert info, please check out Asia Music Arts website here.
"Rio del Tizon" (2011) on cellist Rhonda Rider's new Grand Canyon CD
SEPTEMBER 11, 2013 10:06 AM
Rhonda Grand Canyon CDThe fabulous cellist Rhonda Rider, who is on the faculty of Boston Conservatory and Boston University, has an upcoming CD, The Grand Canyon Project, to be released by MSR Classics laster this year. As part of the commissioned works for this project, Yu-Hui’s Rio del Tizon is included in this fascinating album. Rio del Tizon, which means Firebrand River, is an old Spanish name for the lower Colorado River, which carved out the Grand Canyon. Thus differentiates it from the other rivers that are also named Colorado.
Nine other pieces commissioned for this project are also included on this CD, they are written by David Rakowski, John Kennedy, Jan Swafford, Laura Kaminsky, Marti Epstein, Dalit Hadass Warshaw, Howard Frazin, Jeffrey Mumford, and Andy Vores. Check on MSR Classics’ page for more detail (Rhonda Rider, “The Grand Canyon Project”)

A Successful Tour with Dinosaur Annex
FEBRUARY 1, 2013 3:10 PM
Yu-Hui's new work In Thin Air – for violin, piano, and percussion, was premiered by Dinosaur Annex in a successful three-concert series at Harvard University, Syracuse University, and Eastman School of Music. The program also included works by Annie Gosfield, Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, Daniel S. Godfrey, and Steven Stuckey. The critics called In Thin Air "… the high point of a remarkably strong program."

Track list:
Sonata for violin and piano, 1942 / Harold Shapero (18:40) -- Sonata for violin and piano, 1946 / Irving Fine (18:50) -- Concert duo : 1955-7 / Yehudi Wyner (19:36) -- Pied-à-terre : 1999 / David Rakowski (9:56) -- Worries just as real : 2008 / Yu-Hui Chang (12:39).

Sonata for violin and piano, 1942 / Harold Shapero (18:40) -- Sonata for violin and piano, 1946 / Irving Fine (18:50) -- Concert duo : 1955-7 / Yehudi Wyner (19:36) -- Pied-à-terre : 1999 / David Rakowski (9:56) -- Worries just as real : 2008 / Yu-Hui Chang (12:39).

Daniel Stepner, violin ; Sally Pinkas (1st-2nd, 4th works), Yehudi Wyner (3rd work), Donald Berman (5th work), piano.

All works except the Wyner recorded at the Fraser Studio, WGBH, Boston. Wyner Duo recorded at Futura Productions, Roslindale Massachusetts.