Chin Ting Chan
*9 May 1986
Works by Chin Ting Chan
Biography
The music of composer Patrick Chin Ting CHAN (b. 1986) is motivated by a search for an expression of the free minds that cannot be described, but imagined. It stems from a distrust of the human senses. It is often inspired by abstract patterns he discovers in daily objects, as well as imaginary landscapes and human interactions, but it depicts the subjects from unexpected perspectives, allowing listeners to reimagine their surroundings.
Chan grew up in Hong Kong and came to the United States in 2003. He has been featured at festivals including Ars Electronica, IRCAM's ManiFeste, ISCM World Music Days, and UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers, among others. He has held residencies and commissions from organizations such as Charlotte Street Foundation, Hong Kong Composers' Guild, Music Teachers National Association, and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. He has worked with ensembles such as City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, Ensemble intercontemporain (France), Ensemble Metamorphosis (Serbia), eighth blackbird (U.S.), Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Mivos Quartet (U.S.), and New York New Music Ensemble, with performances in venues such as Staatstheater Darmstadt, Seoul Arts Center, DiMenna Center for Classical Music, National Sawdust, and in more than thirty countries.
Awards and other recognition include those from the American Prize, ASCAP, Association for the Promotion of New Music, Foundation Destellos, The EAR Classical, Foundation for Modern Music, Interdisciplinary Festival for Music and Sound Art – Shut Up and Listen!, Lin Yao Ji Music Foundation of China, loadbang, MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music, newEar, New-Music Consortium, Semaine international de la musique électroacoustique, Soli fan tutti Composition Prize, Utah Arts Festival, WOCMAT International Phil Winsor Computer Music Competition, and others. His recordings appear in albums with ABLAZE, Darling, Empirica, Navona, New Focus, Phasma-Music, Ravello, and RMN Classical labels. His scores are published through BabelScores and Universal Edition.
Chan is also an active performer and improviser of accordion, guqin, as well as live electronics via a Eurorack modular system and other custom interfaces on the computer. He is currently an Associate Professor of Music Composition at Ball State University. He holds degrees from the University of Missouri–Kansas City (D.M.A.), Bowling Green State University (M.M.), and San José State University (B.M.). His primary teachers include Chen Yi, Zhou Long, James Mobberley, Paul Rudy, Marilyn Shrude, and Brian Belet.
The music of composer Patrick Chin Ting CHAN (b. 1986) is motivated by a search for an expression of the free minds that cannot be described, but imagined. It stems from a distrust of the human senses. It is often inspired by abstract patterns he discovers in daily objects, as well as imaginary landscapes and human interactions, but it depicts the subjects from unexpected perspectives, allowing listeners to reimagine their surroundings.
Chan grew up in Hong Kong and came to the United States in 2003. He has been featured at festivals including Ars Electronica, IRCAM's ManiFeste, ISCM World Music Days, and UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers, among others. He has held residencies and commissions from organizations such as Charlotte Street Foundation, Hong Kong Composers' Guild, Music Teachers National Association, and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. He has worked with ensembles such as City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, Ensemble intercontemporain (France), Ensemble Metamorphosis (Serbia), eighth blackbird (U.S.), Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Mivos Quartet (U.S.), and New York New Music Ensemble, with performances in venues such as Staatstheater Darmstadt, Seoul Arts Center, DiMenna Center for Classical Music, National Sawdust, and in more than thirty countries.
Awards and other recognition include those from the American Prize, ASCAP, Association for the Promotion of New Music, Foundation Destellos, The EAR Classical, Foundation for Modern Music, Interdisciplinary Festival for Music and Sound Art – Shut Up and Listen!, Lin Yao Ji Music Foundation of China, loadbang, MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music, newEar, New-Music Consortium, Semaine international de la musique électroacoustique, Soli fan tutti Composition Prize, Utah Arts Festival, WOCMAT International Phil Winsor Computer Music Competition, and others. His recordings appear in albums with ABLAZE, Darling, Empirica, Navona, New Focus, Phasma-Music, Ravello, and RMN Classical labels. His scores are published through BabelScores and Universal Edition.
Chan is also an active performer and improviser of accordion, guqin, as well as live electronics via a Eurorack modular system and other custom interfaces on the computer. He is currently an Associate Professor of Music Composition at Ball State University. He holds degrees from the University of Missouri–Kansas City (D.M.A.), Bowling Green State University (M.M.), and San José State University (B.M.). His primary teachers include Chen Yi, Zhou Long, James Mobberley, Paul Rudy, Marilyn Shrude, and Brian Belet.
About the music
My music is motivated by a search for an expression of the free minds that is beyond words, of which cannot be described, but imagined. It shows an impossibility to the listeners, guiding them to forget about the presenting medium, or even that it is music, to ultimately reach eternity in a state of mind that exists not beyond the borders of the universe or in the unknown, but within ourselves.
Stemmed from a distrust of the human senses, my music manipulates perceivable musical time and space to depict the subject matter from unexpected perspectives. It fluctuates between symmetry and asymmetry, while fully embracing the idea of fault as a focal point. It does not merely present, but suggests, allowing listeners to reimagine their surroundings and discover new meanings. It also allows the unconscious mind to express itself through spontaneous imagination.
The music’s construction centers on the idea of emergence, where large entities of musical phrases arise through continuous mutation of smaller cells. It emphasizes the use of gestural and timbral shifts as primary musical devices. Like the movements of the brushes in Chinese Shanshui paintings, my music creates a seamless connection of the opposition between stasis and movement, by allowing individual sonic events to morph in and out, blurring the boundaries in between, all within a complex multi-layered texture, resulting in a non-linear listening experience.
The materials are often inspired by my impressions of the visual world consisting of abstract shapes in motion–shapes that are derived from concrete daily objects to form patterns, as well as imaginary landscapes. I believe one can find beauty in the most ordinary objects, scenes, and people in the world. These impressions transform into a unique complexity in my music that helps me explore fresh combinations of color and timbre.