Chiayu Hsu
Chiayu is an active composer of contemporary concert music. Chiayu has been interested in deriving inspirations from different materials, such as poems, myths, and images. Particularly, however, it is the combination of Chinese elements and western techniques that is a hallmark of her music.
Her career has been burgeoning with a remarkable number of commissions. In March 2014, her Shank Ko, received its Asia premiere by the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra. Shan Ko was the winning work of Lynn University’s international call for scores and premiered under the baton of Maestro Gunther Schuller. The piece was also selected by the EarShot program and read by the Nashville Symphony under the baton of Maestro Giancarlo Guerrero in April 2010.
In August 2011, Xuan Zang for horn and orchestra was premiered by soloist, Kristin Jurkscheit, and Cabrillo Festival Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Marin Alsop. Of Chiayu’s Zhi [for violin and Piano], Ivan Hewett of the London Telegraph wrote, "...Zhi, a set of four miniatures...Each fixed a completely distinct world of feeling, compounded of Ligeti-like 'mechanisms' and a keen lyricism. I reckon she's the one to watch."