![\"Sam](\"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/bimf-composers-concerts\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/572\/2022\/07\/thumbnail_Sam-Wu-Photo.jpg\")
<\/a>Sam Wu \/\/ Melbourne, Australia \/\/ Age 27 \/\/ Composition: \u201cAcadiana\u201d \/\/ played by: Lauren Conroy, violin<\/b><\/p>\nSam Wu\u2019s composition, <\/span>Acadiana<\/span><\/i>, made its inaugural debut to the public on July 30 at the Bowdoin College Museum of the Art. Wu grew up passionate about the visual arts but later transitioned to a musical focus, training professionally in violin and piano. This long-standing passion for the visual arts usually acts as Wu\u2019s starting point when creating many of his original pieces, hence why the \u201cComposers at the Museum\u201d was such an appropriate program for him to partake in.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This summer, Thomas Cole\u2019s <\/span>House, Mount Desert, Maine<\/span><\/i> (1845), currently shown in the Bowdoin College Museum of Art\u2019s <\/span>At First Light: Two Centuries of Artists in Maine<\/span><\/i> was the originating inspiration for Wu\u2019s creative process. Both Wu\u2019s music and Cole\u2019s painting touch on the serenity and beauty the Maine landscape has to offer to visual and musical artists alike. The beauty of Cole\u2019s piece prompted Wu to think more creatively about one of his favorite expeditions embarked during his time in Maine: visiting Acadia National Park. Acadia offers a special point of connectivity to Wu, as he received a \u201cscratch-off-map\u201d of all the national parks as a child, and aims to complete the map in his lifetime. Sam Wu\u2019s solo violin composition is divided into three movements that depict his favorite aspects of Acadia. The first movement is inspired by the mist surrounding the porcupine islands, the second inspired by the beehive trail, and the third inspired by the sense of zen he felt at Jordan pond.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This is the second summer Wu has participated in the Bowdoin International Music Festival, and he currently acts as a teaching fellow for his peers. Wu speaks passionately about this festival offering a point of community building through the great equalizer of music. The festival gives him, as well as many other talented musicians, the privilege of making new friends and coexisting in the same spaces as many great performers. Collaborating with great musicians also offered Wu important critiques on his work \u201cI am <\/span>always trying to narrow the gap between what we imagine inside our minds and how it is actually perceived collaborating with others\u201d. <\/span>Wu will continue his work by pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Composition from Rice University\u2019s Shepherd School of Music.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Xiaofeng Jiang \/\/ China \/\/ Age: 25 \/\/ Composition: \u201c…As The Reflection of the Green Ripples in the Water\u2026\u201d \/\/ played by: Lauren Conroy, violin \u2022 Yunwen Chen, cello<\/b><\/p>\n Composer Xiaofeng Jiang spent her summer at the Bowdoin International Music Festival working on a duetted Cello and Violin piece based on Ashley Bryant\u2019s <\/span>Spruce, Soli Deo Gloria<\/span><\/i> (1950) and Alex Katz\u2019s <\/span>Untitled (Skowhegan, Maine landscape) <\/span><\/i>(1960), both currently featured in the Bowdoin College of Art\u2019s exhibition <\/span>At First Light: Two Centuries of Artists in Maine<\/span><\/i>. These two paintings, displayed side-by-side in the gallery, demonstrate two different responses to the Maine landscape. Katz\u2019s <\/span>landscape is expressed through flat shapes and loose brush strokes, illustrating <\/span>a large tree reflected at the edge of a pool of water. Ashley\u2019s piece, by contrast, is a fluid collection of lines and colors that come together in the form of an abstract tree.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Jiang\u2019s creative interpretation offers a comparison of Katz\u2019s and Bryant\u2019s paintings as two parts of a whole: Katz\u2019s piece representing a tree, Bryant’s representing a reflection of said tree. Jiang\u2019s work is one movement divided into three parts, aiming to encapsulate the meaning of reflections and shadows. In the first section, the strings create sounds that mimic the rustling of branches and leaves in the landscape, hoping to provide a sense of the atmosphere to the listeners. The second section aims to replicate Bryant\u2019s intertwined lines, creating a sound difficult for the viewer to differentiate between individual instruments. The third and final section of Jiang\u2019s composition is about chasing the movement of the aforementioned reflections and shadows in the landscape.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n While Jiang is familiar with creating musical compositions, this project presented a different kind of challenge than her previous experiences. Jiang\u2019s musical interests are to explore the relationship between the musical and natural world, as well as to create a bridge between auditory and visual arts. New work like this composition motivates her to continue diving deeper into the difficult task of appropriating and responding to other artists\u2019 work with intent and truth.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Zihan Wu \/\/\u00a0 China \/\/ Age: 20 \/\/ Composition: \u201cMovement, Grey and Blue\u201d \/\/ played by: Tianyu Liu, violin \u2022 Judy Hu,\u00a0 percussion<\/b><\/p>\n Zihan Wu, a current student at the Eastman School of Music, worked this summer on a violin and percussion piece inspired by and named after John Marin\u2019s work <\/span>Movement, Grey and Blue <\/span><\/i>(1952), currently on view at the BCMA. Wu\u2019s composition envisions the musicality within Marin\u2019s art, imagining a scene in which a Siren uses her voice to attract surrounding boatmen. Wu was first enthralled by the abstract, loose lines of the painting, translating that sense of abstraction into her own musical composition.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The structure of Wu\u2019s piece echoes the structure of John Marin\u2019s work. Where Marin\u2019s use of loose lines created a seemingly circular space, Wu\u2019s piece similarly begins with an atmospheric and loose sound. Where the lines in Marin\u2019s piece begin to create recognizable patterns and subjects, Wu\u2019s piece similarly forms a gradual tension which explodes in the middle section, then recedes back to nothingness. In Zihan Wu\u2019s music, the sounds of the violin, percussion, and human voice represent the diverse lines and brush strokes interacting with each other naturally, creating a unified yet unique sonority, echoing the abstract style of the painting.<\/span><\/p>\n Wu works to compose a diverse repertoire of musical sounds, instruments, and ideas. Combining the different elements of the instrumentation, violin, and percussion was a challenge due to the difficulty of balance and the incompatibility of timbre. Wu\u2019s peers describe her piece as \u201cnew, engaging, and special\u201d and say that the addition of a human voice adds a ghost-like feeling. Wu\u2019s work goes beyond the typical confines of instrumental composition, creating a wholly original piece. \u201cI like that I tried something new in this project, especially in a short amount of time,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n