Composer Vivian Fung created this Spotify playlist, including Violin Concerto from our collaborative album, Dreamscapes, performed by violinist Kristin Lee.

“I created this playlist and included both composers and performers that have inspired me. This is not an exhaustive list, just a cross section of tracks I found on Spotify!

Composers: Violet Archer was my first composition teacher in Edmonton, Canada; Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and Chen Yi were guests at Juilliard while I was a student and made an impression; I attended the Canadian Opera Company’s performance of Kaija Saariaho’s L’Amour de loin and was blown away by the sound world of that opera; Charles Ives’s Symphony No. 4 is a masterpiece and inspired many pieces of mine.

Performers: I just finished a trumpet concerto for the amazing trumpet player Mary Bowden; violinist Kristin Lee has inspired (and premiered) at least three works of mine; Barbara Hannigan and her performance of Alma Mahler’s songs are so exquisite (Barbara is also an inspiration); Cudamani is a wonderful gamelan collective that I studied with while in Bali many years ago and they are astounding; and finally, the folk singers from Yunnan have inspired some works of mine, including my Clarinet Quintet and my Yunnan Folk Songs.” 

  • Alma Mahler: Fünf Lieder: “Ich wandle unter Blumen,” performed by Barbara Hannigan

  • Kaija Saariaho: L’Amour de loin: First Act, Second Scene. Le Pѐlerin: “Peut-être bien qu’elle n’existe pas”

  • Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Symphony No. 1 (Three Movements for Orchestra): First movement

  • Chen Yi: Sparkle, performed by Claire Heldrich

  • Vivian Fung: Violin Concerto from Dreamscapes, performed by Kristin Lee

  • Germaine Tailleferre: Rêverie, performed by the Kassia Ensemble and Mary Elizabeth Bowden

  • Sarah Kirkland Snider: Chrysalis, performed by the Kassia Ensemble and Mary Elizabeth Bowden

  • Charles Ives: Symphony No. 4: II. Comedy (Allegretto)

  • Violet Archer: Four Duets for Violin and Cello: No. 2, Restless

  • Cudamani: “What Really Happens at Rehearsal,” from Bamboo to Bronze

  • Lady Gaga “Bad Romance”

  • Zuolimei (performer): “Wuyin shange” (Wuyin mountain song), from Baishibai: Songs of the Minority Nationalities of Yunnan

  • Bai Xiuzhen and Xiang Youfen (performers): “Wushanqiang” (Wushan melody), from Baishibai: Songs of the Minority Nationalities of Yunnan