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Exchange Student Accomplishments

Du Rui—2nd year Peabody GPD program

Du Rui is currently in his second year in the Peabody GPD Program. Among his many accomplishments, he holds a contract with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, was a Concertmaster at the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, and played in the Aspen Music Festival as an Associate Concertmaster. He was also named Winner of the 2012 Baltimore Music Competition and won an Aspen Fellowship to play as a Soloist at the Festival.

Chen Zhangyi—DMA Candidate

Peabody composer, DMA Candidate Chen Zhangyi (MM Composition '11, Former YST Student) conducted the Japan premiere of his orchestral work Rain Tree with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra at the Aspen Music Festival 2011. Prior to that, Rain Tree was read by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra by Marin Alsop. A graduate of the National University of Singapore (NUS), Zhangyi studied with Kevin Puts during his MM in Composition and is currently in the studio of Michael Hersch.

In 2009, Zhangyi's piece Toward Dawn was commissioned by Dr. John Boyd, Director of Bands at Indiana State University, and was premiered by the ISU Wind Orchestra in February, 2010. Toward Dawn also won the Singapore Compose! competition, which led to another performance by Singapore's Philharmonic Winds. On February 15, 2012, the Peabody Wind Ensemble will perform his work under the baton of Dr. Harlan Parker.

BBC Radio 3 broadcast Ariadne's Love by Peabody composer Chen Zhangyi. It was recorded by London Symphony Orchestra and Eric Whitacre Singers conducted by Eric Whitacre. Dubbed by BBC Radio 3 as "Music from a choral voice of the future", Ariadne's Love was one of the winning pieces of the worldwide Abbey Road Studios Anthem Competition. It culminated in the recording at Abbey Road Studios with sound engineer Jonathan Allen and the airing of the pre-release track on "The Choir" with BBC Radio 3 presenter Aled Jones.

LSO and Eric Whitacre Singers recording of ARIADNE on Soundcloud:
http://soundcloud.com/abbeyroad/ariadnes-love-zhangyi-chen

Abbey Road Studio's video on Ariadne:

Chen Zhangyi's Commentary on His Latest Work:

"The winning work of the Abbey Road Studio's Anthem Competition ARIADNE'S LOVE started life as ARIADNE'S LAMENT. An A capella work for SSAATB, it was commissioned by the Philadelphia-based Chamber Singers of Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges and it's interim director Tianhui Ng. I had showed the score to a close friend (violinist and musicologist) who commented on it's potential as a string orchestra work. With curiously perfect timing, the Singapore-based string orchestra re: mix approached me, commissioning a string orchestra work celebrating the season of "Love", to feature an obbligato solo violist (Janice Tsai). Thus, the string version of ARIADNE'S LAMENT - LOVE was created with the limelight cast upon the solo violist signifying the "title-role".
 
The premiere of both versions fell on the same day on 1st May 2011, albeit in different time zones. What I have done for the Anthem Competition was taking a leaf from Luciano Berio by creating yet another version of the same work, this time combining the choral and string textures yielding ARIADNE'S LOVE. Before long, the composer/conductor Eric Whitacre and producer Jonathan Allen called me at about 6 or 7am, a week before I began my doctoral studies at Peabody, prompting an immensely jet-lagged response from me.
 
Winning the worldwide anthem competition culminated in a recording session at the famed Abbey Road Studio One with London Symphony Orchestra and Eric Whitacre Singers conducted by Eric Whitacre. Thereafter, BBC Radio 3 broadcasted the pre-release recording of ARIADNE'S LOVE and dubbed it "Music from a choral voice of the future, Zhangyi Chen..."

At the Asian Composer's League (ACL) 2011 held in Taiwan, Peabody composer CHEN ZHANGYI (MM '11, Composition) represented Singapore and was awarded the Second Prize of the 18th ACL Young Composer's Competition. The winning work ECHOES for String quartet was performed by students of the National Taiwan Normal University. A graduate of the National University of Singapore, CHEN studied with Peabody faculty Kevin Puts and is currently a DMA candidate in the studio of Michael Hersch.

 

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