Carnegie Hall Commissions - About the Composer: Angel Lam

Composer Angel Lam expresses detailed and refined emotions in her compositions; through musical poetry, she conveys the memories and images that inspired her works. She blends the subtle and evocative expressiveness of an ancient form of East Asian aesthetic with the power and perpetual energy of her Western musical training. From a delicate depiction of a drop of water conveyed through unconventional instrumentation (guitar, harp, vibraphone, crotales, and double bass) to the telling of a forgotten hero from ancient China written for large orchestra and narration, Ms. Lam writes her own stories and prose that contribute significantly to the music itself. In her compositions, she continually seeks to retell the beauty she finds in everyday life.

Ms. Lam grew up in Hong Kong and Los Angeles, and has been an active participant in music festivals worldwide since her undergraduate days. Her compositions have been performed in Hong Kong, China, Japan, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, Austria, France, Korea, Argentina, and throughout the United States. Her recent honors include a tour of her composition Empty Mountain, Spirit Rain in the US, Switzerland, and China by Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble. In 2006 she was selected by the Carnegie Hall Emerging Composer Commission to work with the Silk Road Project under the artistic direction of Yo-Yo Ma and the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall. In 2007 she was honored with a second Carnegie Hall commission, working under the mentorship of Grammy Award-winning composer Osvaldo Golijov and soprano Dawn Upshaw. Ms. Lam's other recent projects include a theater composition of music, choreography, and visual projections (mentored by American theater artist Martha Clarke), and commissions from New York City's Greenwich Village Orchestra, the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, and Houston Chamber Choir at the American Masterpieces Festival in the 2007-2008 season.

Ms. Lam is a doctoral candidate at Peabody Conservatory and an artist diploma candidate at Yale University. Her Empty Mountain, Spirit Rain was recently recorded live at Chicago Symphony Center, performed by Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, and released as an exclusive bonus track at Barnes & Nobles on their latest CD, New Impossibilities.