INTERVIEW
March 11, 2022
Episode 8: Hsu Chiayu
Classical Composition, Folk Traditions, and Combining the Two
Han Chen speaks with composer Hsu Chiayu, whose work blends Chinese and western techniques. Hsu, an Associate Professor of Music-Composition at the University of Wisconsin, has spent half her life in Taiwan and half in the United States.
During their conversation, Han Chen and Hsu bond over their shared experience as Taiwanese immigrants and discuss Hsu’s interests in contemporary classical composition, folk traditions, and combining the two. They also talk about the meaning of her new piece for piano, Invocation, which explores the stages of emotion people have experienced throughout the turbulent pandemic.
Performance of Invocation recorded on February 26th, 2022, in New York.
