Justine F. Chen Orchestral and Chamber Works 1982-2005
T.
212-875-8025 F. 212-595-1528 E-mail: Justine@chen.net
2005 The
Maiden
Tower, chamber opera for actress, soprano, tenor, and bass, chamber
orchestra, and MAX/MSP computer. Music and Libretto by Justine F. Chen. Book by Liam O’Rourke, Gabriel Leif Bellman,
and Justine F. Chen (ca. 45 min.)
Commissioned by The
Premiere: Semi-staged- Matt Boehler, Abraham; Elizabeth Raetz, I.A.G.A; Jennifer Zetlan, Miranda; Douglas McCormick, Mason; conducted by Ryan McAdams;
produced by Juilliard; September 16 2005, Bruno Walter Auditorium, The
In
excerpts at the
deconstruction, for
string trio (ca. 1 min)
Commissioned by the
World Premiere:
2004 Inside-Out,
for drum set and piano (ca. 7
min.)
Commissioned by Primary Duo:
Aaron Trant and Sara Bob
World Premiere: Aaron Trant, drum set and Sarah Bob, piano;
scorrevole-ville, for violin, bassoon, cello, and percussion
(20 sec.)
Commissioned by the
Premiere:
Also scorrevole-ville.1, for violin,
viola, cello, and percussion
Premiere:
Addiction Speaks: Welcome Back, Mister
Cabico,
for high voice and piano trio. Text by Regie Cabico (ca. 10 min.)
Commissioned
by ComposersCollaborative for the Non Sequitur 2004 Festival,
Premiere:
August 24 at The Flea Theater. Kamala Sankaram,
soprano; Marija Ilic, piano, Rubin Kodheli, cello; Justine F. Chen, violin.
Melodramandadaries, for
string quartet (ca. 8 min.)
Commissioned by the New York Choreographic Institute (affiliated with NYCB) and The Juilliard School. Collaboration with Adam Hougland.
Premiere:
(private viewing)
2003 Ancient
Airs and Dances, for
string quartet (ca.
6 minutes)
Commissioned
by the Elements String Quartet for the Snapshots project.
Premiere:
2002 Six, for string sextet. (ca. 12 min.)
Premiere:
Testing
World Premiere: Justine F. Chen, violin, Eduard Laurel,
piano; The Taiwan Center, New York
Subsequent performances:
Radio Premiere: WNYC, with David Garland.
European Premiere:
David Sonton-Caflisch, violin; Jed Distler, piano.
2001 Trilemma, (animation score) for scored for violin, viola, cello,
double bass, and djembe. (ca. 3 min.)
Commissioned
by digital artist Ye Won Cho, The School of Visual Arts, NY.
Premiere: Justine F. Chen, violin, Kenji Bunch, viola, Ariel
de Wolf, cello, Kathryn Kovanen, double bass, Kenji Bunch, djembe (all
pre-recorded); 02/25/02 New York: Paul Hall, The Juilliard School “Juilliard
Composers Concert”.
Subsequent performances:
Asian Premiere:
South American Premiere: Anima
Aria Ex Machina, for 5-string electric violin and interactive computer (ca.
8 min.)
Commissioned by Kenji Bunch, faculty, The
Juilliard School.
Premiere: Kenji Bunch, 5-string electric violin, Justine F.
Chen, computer;
Subsequent performances: Kenji Bunch, 5-string electric
violin, Justine F. Chen, computer;
Kenji Bunch, 5-string electric violin, Justine F. Chen,
computer;
Industrial Landscape Study, No. 1, tape piece, electronics. (ca. 11 min.)
Commissioned
by Iyun Harrison, Alvin Ailey Dance Company.
Premiere: May 2002, Interdisciplinery Show organized by
Louis Schwadron, Elisabeth Motley, and Justine F. Chen, The Juilliard School,
rm. 305.
The Special Prisoner (Incidental music), a
reading and staged production. Jim Lehrer’s novel adapted
and directed by James Glossman. [scored for erhu, percussion and
electronics/sound design] (ca. 2 hrs.)
Commissioned by the Playwright’s Theater
of New Jersey.
Premiere: Justine F. Chen (erhu, drums, laptop, sound
design); 5/19-20/2001
Subsequent performances: Justine F. Chen (erhu, drums,
laptop, sound design); 2001-2002 season [Feb 8-24],
Reviews:
“… A distinct asset is the atmospheric original score,
performed by composer Justine Chen, who uses a Japanese shamisen and
traditional kabuki sound effects.”—Robert L. Daniels, Variety.com, posted
02.20.02
“Justine F. Chen’s musical motifs and sound
effects add the necessary tension and her presence on the stage provides a visual
third dimension that suits the stark atmosphere.” – Liz Keill, Independent
Press, 02.13.02
“The production is enhanced by the Japanese
music and sound effects composed and played by Justine Chen. The effect is surreal and effectively evokes
Watson’s memories.” – Ruth Ross, drama critic, Out and About, Recorder
Community Newspapers, 02.14.02.
“Justine Chen’s music and sound effects
using traditional instruments punctuated with efficient lighting to create
really effective theater support flashbacks and a trio of actors playing a
myriad of roles.”—Pat Ferro, Entertainment section of Suburban News-East,
02.20.02
“Justine Chen’s original shamisen score and
sound cues, which she plays on stage, help to bridge the gap between the past
and the present in this complicated story.”—Debra Scacciaferro, Theater section
of the Daily Record, 02.15.02
Incidental
music to Luigi Januzzi’s Night of the
Foolish Moon, directed
by James Glossman. [scored for violin solo]
Commissioned by The Playwright’s Theater
of New Jersey.
Good Ol’ Smoke and Mirrors, for 5-string electric violin and
interactive computer (ca. 14 min.)
Premiere: Justine F. Chen
(electric violin);
2000 Stand
Nine, for 2 violins, viola, double
bass, percussion, and 4 dancers. (ca. 20 min.)
Commissioned
by The Juilliard School and An Appalachian Summer Festival for a performance by
the Juilliard Dance Division and members of the Broyhill Chamber Ensemble
Premiere: Gil Morgenstern, violin, Justine F. Chen, violin,
Carol Cook, viola, Rob Falvo, percussion, Pete Donovan, double bass; Elisa
Clark, Tobin Delcuore, Brian Letendre, Hope Miller, dancers;
One,
Two, Three, for midi
violin and interactive computer (ca. 7
min.)
Premiere: Justine Chen (violin/computer);
Subsequent
performances: Justine Chen (violin/computer);
Justine
Chen (violin/computer);
1999 In
the Company of Men, for full
orchestra [2/2/2/2 4/3/3/1 Piano, harp, timpani, percussion (2), and strings]
(ca. 18 min.)
Commissioned by The Juilliard Dance Division for the 2000 Spring Dance Concerts.
Premiere: The Juilliard Orchestra;
Reviews: “Justine Fang Chen, a Juilliard student composer,
blended popular dance rhythms into the kind of propulsive, emotionally resonant
score that choreographers tend to dream of.” – Jennifer Dunning, The New York
Times, 2.23.00.
Duel, for strings, piano, guitar, and whistler. Film score to Jennifer Fieber’s The Upper
Hand (1998). (ca. 3:40)
Premiere:
recorded performance
Subsequent
performances:
The
Stolen Breath of Angels, for
woodwind quintet. (ca. 10 min.)
Premiere: The Ariel Woodwind Quintet,
Circean
Circles,
for chamber ensemble. (ca. 15 min.)
Commissioned by Joel Sachs and
the New Juilliard Ensemble.
Premiere: New Juilliard Ensemble:
1998 In
the Company of Men, for
piano quintet and percussion (1). (ca.
18 min.)
Commission/collaboration with Iyun Harrison (BFA ‘99), Choreographer, The Juilliard School Dance Department. Written for the Senior Dance Production , “Taking Off” 4/1999.
Premiere:
Justine Chen, Aaron Boyd, Kelly Dylla, Clancy Newman (string quartet), David
Shimoni (piano), and Haruka Fujii
(percussion); [recording: David Eggar (producer). 11/4/98, The Juilliard School Recording Department];
4/15/99 in New York, NY (the Clark Studio Theater)
Subsequent
performances: Justine Chen, Aaron Boyd,
Kelly Dylla, Clancy Newman (string quartet), David Shimoni (piano), and Haruka
Fujii (percussion); [recording]; 4/16-18/99 in New York, NY (the
Clark Studio Theater)
Justine
Chen, Aaron Boyd, Kelly Dylla, Clancy Newman (string quartet), David Shimoni
(piano), and Haruka Fujii
(percussion); [recording]
[Orchestral
version, 1999]
The
Juilliard Orchestra, 2/00, programmed in The Juilliard School’s annual Spring
Dance Concert
Transient
Dances,
for string quartet. (ca. 6 min.)
Collaboration with Jason Reed (BFA 2000), Choreographer.
Premiere: Dance: Circadian Rituals; Aaron Boyd, Amy Kauffman, Anthony Devroye,
and Clancy Newman;
Music:
Cornelius Dufallo, Amy Kauffman, Kenji Bunch, Alberto Parrini (string quartet);
Awakening, for high soprano and piano. (ca. 25 min.)
Collaboration
with Michael Winn, Playwright/Poet and Kenneithia Redden-Mitchell, Soprano.
Reflections, for violin and piano. (ca. 6 min.)
Premiere: Justine Chen (violin), Benjamin Loeb
(piano);
Subsequent
performances: Justine Chen (violin),
Michael Tan (piano);
1997 Perpetual
Flux, for string quartet (ca.
Collaboration with Katarzyna
Skarpatowska (BFA ‘99), Choreographer.
Premiere: The Flux Quartet [Tom Chiu, Cornelius
Dufallo, Kenji Bunch, David Eggar];
Subsequent
performances: The Flux Quartet [Tom
Chiu, Cornelius Dufallo, Kenji Bunch, David Eggar] recording; The Juilliard Theater
The
Flux Quartet [Tom Chiu, Cornelius Dufallo, Kenji Bunch, David Eggar] recording;
June 1998, on a Juilliard Dance Division Summer tour of New York City Public
Schools.
The Flux Quartet [Tom
Chiu, Cornelius Dufallo, Kenji Bunch, Darrett Adkins]
lovesongs, for soprano and piano [texts by Paz,
Premiere: Shelly Watson (soprano), Stephen Gosling
(piano);
Subsequent
performances: Shelly Watson (soprano),
Stephen Gosling (piano);
Lauren
Skuce (Soprano) and David Shimoni (piano);
Sexton
Songs,
for soprano and piano [texts by Sexton]
(ca. 9 min.)
Premiere: Shelly Watson (soprano), Michael Tan (piano);
Subsequent
performances: Shelly Watson (soprano), Stephen Gosling (piano);
Shelly
Watson (soprano), Stephen Gosling (piano);
Six
Who Strayed from the S.S. Carnival, for double bass, piano, and optional narrator [Texts by
Ogden Nash] (ca. 10 min.)
Commissioned by Bret Simner
(double bass)
Premiere: Bret Simner (double bass/narrator), Grace
Kwon (piano/narrator);
More
Strangers on a Train, for full
orchestra (based on Sir Alfred Hitchcock’s movie Strangers on a Train)
(ca. 12 min.)
(piano
movement), for piano
Premiere: Claudia Rüegg (piano);
1996 Touch, for soprano and piano (later incorporated into lovesongs)
Her
Kind,
for soprano and piano (later
incorporated into Sexton Songs)
Macbeth
(Incidental music), for violin and viola (ca. 1 hour)
Commissioned by the Luna Stage
Company for a production directed by James Glossman.
Premiere: Carol Bartholomew (violin) and Sally Fillmore
(viola)
Subsequent
performances: Carol Bartholomew (violin) and Sally Fillmore (viola); 11/1-24/96
in
Strunk
and White, for
violin and viola (ca. 5 min.)
Premiere: May 1997, in a festival of
new music in
1995 Sonata for Unaccompanied Violin,
for solo violin (ca. 12 min.)
Premiere:
Tobias Ringborg (violin);
Subsequent
performances: Cornelius Dufallo (violin);
Cornelius Dufallo
(violin); 12/98,
The
Night Thoreau Spent in Jail (incidental music), for
multiple violins and piano (ca. 20 min.)
Commissioned by
the
1994 Tarantella, for chamber orchestra (ca. 9 min.)
1992 Quartet No. 4 “The Ballad”, for string quartet (ca.
Selected by
competitive process for a performance in the National Concert Hall in
Premiere:
Ming Shan Quartet, 2/93,
Second
Wedding Present, for
violin and violoncello (ca. 6 min.)
Premiere:
Andrea Oey (violin) and Mary Oey (Cello), 6/92
Medley, for solo violin
A
Short Piece for Solo Violin, for solo violin
A
Short Piece for Two Violins, for two violins
Music
for H.T.,
for solo violin
Commissioned by H.T. Chen for a
performance at the Fourteenth Anniversary of Chen and Dancers.
Premiere: Justine Chen (violin);
“Young
Persons’ Day” Present, for solo
violin
1991 Christmas Present, for violin and piano
In
G Major,
for string quartet
Premiere: Justine Chen (violin), Eugene Park (violin),
Kelly Tseng (viola), Grace Lin (Cello);
Three
Skits,
for full orchestra
Selected by competitive process
for a performance by the Juilliard Pre-College Orchestra Graduation concert.
Won Honorable Mention at the
Premiere: The
Wedding
Present,
for solo violin
Trio, for violin, flute, and marimba
The
Crucible (incidental music), for flute and string trio
Written for the
Premiere: Justine Chen (violin), Sarah Anderson
(violin), Emily Sinclair (Cello), and Meghan O’Rourke (flute)
Subsequent
performances: Justine Chen (violin), Sarah Anderson (violin), Emily Sinclair
(Cello), and Meghan O’Rourke (flute) 5/8-10/91
1990 A
Short Piece, for
violin and piano
Aurora
Borealis,
for full orchestra
1989 The
Bridge Game, for
string quartet
Monologue, for solo violin (ca. 6 min.)
Premiere: Justine Chen (violin);
1988 A
Day at the Circus, for
string quartet (ca. 9 min.)
Won First Prize of the First
International Competition for Young Composers sponsored by
Won Second Prize of the
Premiere: Amy Mattson (violin), Kirstin Greenlaw
(violin), Roy Rasera (viola), Alicja Dutkiewicz (cello);
Subsequent
performances: Justine Chen (violin),
Lyris Hung (violin), Peter Kim (viola), Catherine Stephan (cello) Spring 1989 in
Justine
Chen (violin), Lyris Hung (violin), Peter Kim (viola), Catherine Stephan
(cello) for the Tenth Anniversary concert of the Aaron Copland Composition
Competition for Young Composers; 11/5/89 in Rye, NY (The Wainwright House)
Justine
Chen (violin), Lyris Hung (violin), Peter Kim (viola), Catherine Stephan
(cello) for the Si-Yo Music Society’s Fundraising Party; 1/90 in
Butterfly’s
Air,
for solo violin
Premiere: Justine Chen (violin) Spring 1989 in
Haiku, for
orchestra
1987 An
Afternoon in
Premiere: Justine Chen
(violin) Spring 1988 in
Calliope, for
solo violin and orchestra
Won an ASCAP Grant to Young Composers, 1987.
1986 Pink Pierrot, for piano trio
Won First Prize in the
Premiere: Justine Chen (violin), Noah Hoffeld (cello),
Wendy Chen (piano), February 1987, in
Subsequent
performances: the Brooklyn Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble;
Fireflies
at Night,
for solo violin
Premiere:
Justine Chen (violin), April 1987, in
Mid-Winter
Blues,
for violin and piano
Premiere: Justine Chen (violin) and Wendy Chen (piano),
January 1987, in
1985 Aubade
de l’Ocean, for orchestra
Won an ASCAP Grant to Young Composers, 1986.
Fatigueness
Strikes the Fools, for
violin and piano
Premiere:
Justine Chen (violin) and Wendy Chen (piano) 5/85 in
1984 Postcard
Collection, suite for multiple violins and
piano
Won Honorable Mention from the BMI Awards to Student Composers, 1984.
Won First Prize of the National
Federation of Music Clubs’ Composition Competition, 1985.
Won First Prize of the
River
in Winter, for solo
violin
Won the Junior IMPS Competition
of the National Federation of Music Clubs, 1986.
Premiere: Justine Chen (violin), January 1984 Cable TV
in SUNY, Purchase.
Other
performances: Justine Chen (violin), January 1984 Concert Hall at SUNY,
Purchase.
1983 Two-Teeth Prelude, for violin and piano
Won the Fourth International
Aaron Copland Composition Competition
Premiere: Justine Chen (violin) and Andrew Thomas
(piano); 4/84
1982 The Slowest Wagon in the West, for solo piano