Lei Liang crafts multi-disciplinary works that bridge scientific research, electroacoustic composition, and contemporary improvisation to create a cohesive message of holistic symbiosis. Partnering with musicians from Ensemble Dal Niente, Mivos Quartet, loadbang, [nec]shivaree, and pianist Stephen Drury, Lei Liang’s newest release is am ambitious snapshot of his current aesthetic direction.
Tyler J. Borden recorded October 12, 2022
Ty Bouque, Andrew Kozar, William Lang & Adrián Sandí recorded May 21 and 22, 2024 at Studio A, UC San Diego
Recording engineer: Andrew Munsey
Stephen Drury recorded April 15, 2024 at Conrad Prebys Concert Hall, UC San Diego
Recording engineer: Andrew Munsey
Jesse Langen, Ben Melsky, & Ben Roidl-Ward (Dal Niente) recorded June 5, 2025 at Studio A, UC San Diego
Recording engineer: Sam Dunscombe
[nec]shivaree recorded October 1, 2024 in Jordan Hall, Boston
Recording Engineer: Ryan Dozer
Producer: Lei Liang
Editing, mixing and mastering: Sam Dunscombe
The Creative Team:
Lei Liang: Composer / Artistic Director
Joshua Jones: Oceanographer / Principal Scientific Advisor
Theocharis Papatrechas: Audio Engineer / Sound Designer
Zachary Seldess: Audio Software Developer
Nicholas Solem: Sound Designer
Gabriel Zalles Ballivian: Audio Engineer
Cover image: Albert Liang
Design & layout: Marc Wolf, marcjwolf.com
Chinese-born American composer Lei Liang is the winner of the Rome Prize, the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Koussevitzky Foundation Commission, a Creative Capital Award, and the Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His concerto Xiaoxiang for saxophone and orchestra was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music in 2015. His orchestral work, A Thousand Mountains, A Million Streams, won the prestigious Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition in 2021.
Lei Liang was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic and Alan Gilbert for the inaugural concert of the CONTACT! new music series. Other commissions came from the Fromm Music Foundation, Meet the Composer, Chamber Music America, among others. Lei Liang’s ten portrait discs are released on Naxos, New World, Mode, Albany and Bridge Records. He has edited and co-edited five books and editions, and published more than forty articles.
Lei Liang studied with Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Robert Cogan, Chaya Czernowin, Mario Davidovsky, and received degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music (B.M. and M.M.) and Harvard University (Ph.D.). He is Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of California, San Diego. His catalogue of more than a hundred works is published exclusively by Schott Music Corporation (New York).