(b. 28 November 1972, Tianjin).
American composer, born in China, of mostly stage, orchestral and chamber works that have been performed throughout the world; he is also active as a musicologist.
Prof. Liang is the son of the musicologists Liang Mao-chun (b. 1940) and Cai Liang-yu (b. 1940). He studied piano in China as a child. He later studied composition with Robert Cogan and Lee Hyla at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts from 1992–98, where he earned his BMus and MMus in composition with distinction in performance. He later studied composition with Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Chaya Czernowin, Mario Davidovsky, Joshua Fineberg, Elliott Gyger, Magnus Lindberg, and Bernard Rands at Harvard University from 2001–06, where he was a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow from 2002–04 and where he earned his PhD.
Among his honours are numerous prizes as both a composer and pianist in China while a child (1984–89), a term as a Junior Fellow of the Harvard Society of Fellows (1998–2001), a bursary from the Experimentalstudio des SWR in Freiburg im Breisgau (2004), an honourable mention in the Aliénor Awards for music for harpsichord in Washington, D. C. (2004, for Some Empty Thoughts of a Person from Edo), and the George Arthur Knight Prize from Harvard University (2006, for Serashi Fragments). He was later a finalist in the competition for music for saxophone Thailand in Nakhon Pathom (2006, for Parallel Gardens) and received the Guggenheim Fellowship (2009–10) and the Elliott Carter Rome Prize (2011–12), plus was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Music (2015, for Xiaoxiang) and won the Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition (2021, for A Thousand Mountains, A Million Streams). He is the subject of a book of collected essays and analyses in Chinese (2017, edited by Ban Lixia, Shanghai Conservatory of Music Press) and a biography in Chinese (2020, edited by Luo Qin, Shanghai Conservatory of Music Press).
As a musicologist, he is engaged with the preservation of traditional music from Asia and has co-produced historical recordings from Inner Mongolia, China, as well as digital versions of historical recordings for the Music Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Arts in Beijing. In addition, he has recorded an extensive interview with jinghu (2-string fiddle used in Peking opera)-player Ni Qiu-ping for the Archive of World Music at the Loeb Music Library of Harvard University. His articles about his research and other elements of Asian music have appeared in publications in China, South Korea and the USA, including in the journals Renmin Yinyue – People's Music and Yinyue Zhoubao – Music Weekly, both in Beijing, as well as in China and the West – The Birth of a New Music (2007, edited by Edward Green, Contemporary Music Review). He later edited the collected essays of Chou Wen-chung in Chinese (Shanghai Conservatory of Music Press, 2013).
He is also active in other positions. He has served as artistic director of the Chou Wen-chung Music Research Center in Guangzhou since 2018.
He taught as an honorary professor at the Conservatory of Music in Wuhan in 2000 and as Distinguished Visiting Professor at Shaanxi Normal University in Xi'an from 2004–07. He taught composition, music from China and music theory as a visiting assistant professor of music at Middlebury College in Vermont in 2006–07. He has taught composition and music theory at the University of California, San Diego since 2007, as an assistant professor from 2007–20, then as Chancellor's Distinguished Professor of Music since 2020, where he also served as director of the programme for undergraduate composition and as acting chair of the music department and where he served as Composer-in-Residence at the Qualcomm Institute from 2013–16 and has served as its Research Artist-in-Residence since 2018 and where the Lei Lab was founded in 2023.
He has lived in the USA since 1990 and became a citizen of the USA in 2006.
His publisher is Schott Music.
SELECT LIST OF WORKS
STAGE:
Somniloquy (choreography by Masashi Harada), male butoh dancer, trombone, 1992
Dialectal Percussions (choreography by Jeong-Ae Yoon), percussion, 1994 (may be performed as a concert work)
Garden Nine (vocalise, choreography by Ling Chu), 8 female voices, 4 male voices, piano, 2 pairs of rocks, 1996 (may be performed as a concert work)
Der gute Mensch von Sezuan (incidental music, play by Bertolt Brecht), 3 mechanical metronomes (around hall; 1 operator), fixed media, 1998
Other Encounter (choreography by the Tremont Theatre Dance Project), fixed media, 1999
Memories of Xiaoxiang (choreography by You Shao-ching), alto saxophone, fixed media (4 tracks), 2003 (may be performed as a concert work)
Green Piece (choreography by Tiffany Rhynard), female dancer, piano, film, 2006 (stage version of Garden Eight, piano)
Gobi Gloria (choreography by Garth Fagan), string quartet, 2006 (may be performed as a concert work)
Cuatro Corridos (act 3, Rose, in a chamber opera in 4 acts, libretto by Jorge Volpi), soprano, guitar, piano, percussion, 2012 (collaboration with Hebert Vázquez [act 1], Arlene Elizabeth Sierra [act 2], Hilda Paredes [act 4])
Inheritance (chamber opera, libretto by Matt Donovan), 3 sopranos, baritone, 2 clarinets, trumpet, guitar, harpsichord, 2 percussion, double bass, 2018
ORCHESTRAL:
Pausing, Awaiting the Wind to Rise..., 2003 (version of work for piano)
Brush-Stroke, small orchestra (15 players), 2004
Parallel Gardens, 24 saxophones, 2006
Concerto, harp, small orchestra (15 players), 2008
Xiaoxiang (concerto), alto saxophone, orchestra/large orchestra (10 winds, 8 brass, harp, piano, 3 percussion, strings), 2008–09, revised 2014
Verge, 18 strings, 2008–09
Tremors of a Memory Chord, piano, orchestra of instruments from China, 2011
Bamboo Lights, small orchestra (16 players), 2013
Five Seasons (concerto), pipa (lute from China), 38 strings, 2014 (version of work for pipa, string quartet)
A Thousand Mountains, A Million Streams, orchestra/large orchestra (8 winds, 7 brass, harp, piano, 3 percussion, strings), 2017
CHAMBER MUSIC:
Peking Opera Soliloquy, alto saxophone, 1994
Dialectal Percussions, percussion, 1994 (concert version of stage work)
Garden Six, soprano saxophone, 4 alto saxophones, baritone saxophone, 1996 (also version for any 6 saxophones, 1996)
Garden Eight, any player, 1996
Feng, cello, 1998 (also version for violin, 2000)
Garden Eleven (text by Li Bai), soprano, pipa, ensemble (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, mandolin, piano/harpsichord/electronic keyboard, vibraphone, violin, viola, cello, double bass), 1998
Invisible Garden, 13-string koto (zither from Japan), zheng (zither from China), gayageum (zither from the Koreas), 2 pairs of rocks, 1998
March Cathedral, soprano saxophone, 4 alto saxophones, baritone saxophone, electric guitar, piano, harpsichord, 6 percussion, 1998
Milou, mixed chorus ad libitum, soprano saxophone, 4 alto saxophones, baritone saxophone, electric guitar, piano, harpsichord, 4 percussion (2 around hall), 1996–99
For Shakuhachi, shakuhachi (bamboo flute from Japan), 1999
Lake, 2 flutes (both + alto flute, 2nd + bass flute), 1999 (also versions for flute, clarinet, 2004; flute, violin, 2011; 2 trumpets, 2013; flute, alto saxophone, 2013)
Extend, guan (oboe from China), alto saxophone, 2000
Parts for a Floating Space, soprano saxophone (+ baritone saxophone), percussion, 2001 (also version for clarinet, vibraphone, 2014)
For a Lost Stone, cello, percussion, 2002
Trio, cello, piano, percussion, 2002
Memories of Xiaoxiang, alto saxophone, fixed media (4 tracks), 2003 (concert version of stage work)
Tian for Four, sheng (mouth organ from China), trumpet, guitar, zheng, 2003
Gobi Polyphony, erhu (violin from China), cello, 2003
Gobi Canticle, violin, cello, 2004
Motion Parallel, sheng, guan, 2004
In Praise of Shadows, flute, 2005
Serashi Fragments, string quartet, 2005
Septet, flute (+ piccolo), clarinet (+ bass clarinet), piano, percussion, zheng, violin, double bass, 2006
Winged Creatures – A Cadenza for Harpsichord, harpsichord, 2 violins, cello, 2006
Gobi Gloria, string quartet, 2006 (concert version of stage work)
Ascension, French horn, 2 trumpets, trombone, tuba, percussion, 2007–08
YUAN, 4 saxophones, 2008
A Journey into Desire, guitar, 2009
Triplex Mobilis, flute, trumpet, harp, piano, 2 percussion, viola, double bass, 2009 (collaboration with Adam Roberts, Nicholas Vines)
Five Seasons, pipa, string quartet, 2010 (also version for pipa, 38 strings)
Aural Hypothesis, flute (+ piccolo, alto flute), clarinet (+ bass clarinet), piano, vibraphone, violin, cello, 2010
Listening for Blossoms, flute, harp, piano, violin, viola, double bass, 2011
Messages of White, sheng, 4 saxophones, pipa, erhu, yangqin (hammered dulcimer from China), percussion, 2011
Lakescape, soprano, piano, percussion, 2012
Lakescape II, 3 percussion, 2013
Verge Quartet, string quartet, 2013
Trans, percussion, audience, 2013
Inkscape, piano, 4 percussion, 2014
Lakescape III, viola/2 violas, 2014 (also version for violin/2 violins, 2014)
Lakescape IV, sheng, dizi (transverse flute from China), pipa, zhongruan (bass lute from China), yangqin, zheng, 2014
Luminous (chamber concerto), double bass, ensemble (bass clarinet, French horn, piano, percussion, violin, viola, cello), 2014
Hearing Landscapes Hearing Icescapes, flute, trumpet, violin, 2021
Six Seasons, string quartet, 2022 (also version for violin [+ viola d'amore], 2024)
CHORAL:
Garden Nine, 8 female voices, 4 male voices, piano, 2 pairs of rocks, 1996 (concert version of stage work)
A Dream within a Dream (text by the composer, after Bada Shanren), mixed chorus, soprano saxophone, piano, 2007
PIANO:
Garden Eight, 1996 (also stage version as Green Piece, female dancer, piano, film)
Against Piano, piano (2 players), 1999
My Windows (suite), 1996–2007 (its four movements may be performed separately: Tian, 1996–2004; Seven Rays of the Sun, 2007; Magma, 2007; Pausing, Awaiting the Wind to Rise..., 2003 [also version for orchestra])
fragile zones, 2007
hidden notes, 2007
Piano, Piano, for an improvising pianist, 2011
The moon is following us, 2015
HARPSICHORD:
Some Empty Thoughts of a Person from Edo, 2001
ELECTROACOUSTIC:
Project 121899 (sound installation), 1999
Jong-Jin's Rain, fixed media (2 tracks), 2002
Hearing Landscapes (music for paintings by Huang Binhong), fixed media, film, 2015 (collaboration with Eric Hamdan, Zachary Seldess, Greg Surges)
FILM SCORES (DIRECTOR):
The Giver, 2002 (Agnes Mei-Yee Chu)
Shall We Sing?, 2005 (Reina Higashitani)
DISCOGRAPHY (as compiler)
The Commemorative Edition of the Renowned Mongolian Chaorer Player Serashi (produced by Lei Liang and Wang Yin-yin). (China Record Corporation: CRC CCD-2455, 2005)
DISCOGRAPHY (as composer)
March Cathedral; Against Piano; Garden Eight (original version); Garden Six (original version); Dialectal Percussions (concert version); Feng; Extend; Garden Nine (concert version); Other Encounter. Bao Jian, guan; Lenny Bretton, saxophone; Eric Hewitt, saxophone; Conrad Kline, saxophone; Shyen Lee, saxophone; Chien-Kwan Lin, saxophone; Samuel Lorber, saxophone; Ken Radnofsky, saxophone; Greg Ridlington, saxophone; Oliver Schneller, saxophone; Van Weng, electric guitar; Feng Hew, cello; Jung Mi Lee, piano; Jon Sakata, piano; Lei Liang, piano, harpsichord; Christopher DeChiara, percussion; Jeremy Friedman, percussion; Phillip Kiamie, percussion; Matthew Masie, percussion; Eric Millstein, percussion; Mei-Ying Ng, percussion; John Spirtas, percussion; Gary Wallen, percussion; Tamara Brooks/New England Conservatory Chamber Singers (Encounter Records, 2000 [partially reissued as New World Records: 80715-2])
Some Empty Thoughts of a Person from Edo. Takae Ohnishi, harpsichord (Opal Records: ORH-1311, 2001)
Gobi Gloria. Ying Quartet (Telarc Records: 80690, 2008)
Parts for a Floating Space. Yesaroun' Duo (GM Recordings: GM2077CD, 2008)
Memories of Xiaoxiang (concert version). Eliot Gattegno, alto saxophone (Spektral Records: SRL4-08039, 2009)
Serashi Fragments; Some Empty Thoughts of a Person from Edo; Memories of Xiaoxiang (concert version); Trio; In Praise of Shadows; My Windows; Brush-Stroke. Paula Robison, flute; Chien-Kwan Lin, alto saxophone; Aleck Karis, piano; Takae Ohnishi, harpsichord; Arditti String Quartet; Stephen Drury/Callithumpian Consort (Mode Records: mode 210, 2009)
Lake (original version). John Fonville, flute, alto flute; Kathleen Gallagher, flute, bass flute (Einstein Records: EIN 021, 2010)
Ascension; Winged Creatures – A Cadenza for Harpsichord; A Journey into Desire; YUAN; Lake; Concerto; Milou. John Fonville, flute; Jane Rigler, flute; Lenny Bretton, saxophone; Eric Hewitt, saxophone; Conrad Kline, saxophone; Shyen Lee, saxophone; Samuel Lorber, saxophone; Greg Ridlington, saxophone; June Han, harp; Pablo Gómez, guitar; Van Weng, electric guitar; Kate Hatmaker, violin; Jeff Zehngut, violin; Chia-Ling Chien, cello; Jon Sakata, piano; Lei Liang, harpsichord; Takae Ohnishi, harpsichord; Christopher DeChiara, percussion; Jeremy Friedman, percussion; Phillip Kiamie, percussion; Matthew Masie, percussion; Eric Millstein, percussion; Mei-Ying Ng, percussion; Gary Wallen, percussion; Radnofsky Quartet; Meridian Arts Ensemble; Tamara Brooks/New England Conservatory Chamber Singers; Jeffrey Milarsky/Manhattan Sinfonietta (New World Records: 80715-2, 2011 [partial reissue of Encounter Records])
Verge; Aural Hypothesis; Five Seasons; Tremors of a Memory Chord. Wu Man, pipa; Chen Pi-hsien, piano; Shanghai Quartet; Stephen Drury/Callithumpian Consort; Steven Schick/Palimpsest Ensemble; En Shao/Taipei Chinese Orchestra (Naxos Records: 8.572839, 2012)
Serashi Fragments; Gobi Gloria; Lakescape; Lakescape II; Lake (version for flute, alto saxophone); Listening for Blossoms; Bamboo Lights. Tony Arnold, soprano; Thomas Rosenkranz, piano; Aiyun Huang, percussion; Awea Duo; Rootstock Percussion; JACK Quartet; Cicada Chamber Ensemble; Stephen Drury/Callithumpian Consort (Bridge Records: 9425, 2014)
Cuatro Corridos. Susan Narucki, soprano; Pablo Gómez, guitar; Aleck Karis, piano; Ayano Kataoka, percussion (Bridge Records: 9473, 2016)
Verge Quartet; Trans; The moon is following us; Inkscape; Luminous. Mark Dresser, double bass; Aleck Karis, piano; Daniel Schlosberg, piano; Steven Schick, percussion; Formosa Quartet; Michael Lewanski/Third Coast Percussion; Steven Schick/Palimpsest Ensemble (New World Records: 80764-2, 2016)
Xiaoxiang (revised version); Five Seasons (second version); A Thousand Mountains, A Million Streams. Chien-Kwan Lin, alto saxophone; Gao Hong, pipa; Gil Rose/Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP/sound: 1061, 2018)
Inheritance. Susan Narucki, soprano; Kirsten Ashley Wiest, soprano; Hillary Jean Young, soprano; Josué Cerón, baritone; Steven Schick/ensemble (Albany Records: TROY 1819, 2020)
Hearing Landscapes Hearing Icescapes. Teresa Diaz De Cossio, flute; David Aguila, trumpet; Maya Hinrichs, violin (New Focus Recordings: FCR360, 2023)
Six Seasons (original version). Mivos Quartet (New World Records: 80840-2, 2023)
Six Seasons (second version). Marco Fusi, violin, viola d'amore (Kairos: 0022054KAI, 2024)