Smile

for woodwind quintet
ca. 8’30”

Smile (2019) is a piece for woodwind quintet which was written in the midst of the Hong Kong protests. Every day since June of 2019, I have been bombarded by the heart-wrenching and devastating news of casualties. This soon resulted in pretty frequent mood swings that would regularly alternate between anger and sadness. I would often try to smile through these negative emotions and feign optimism, especially when I am in the United States, but these fleeting feelings of forced joy would soon inevitably descend back into rage and resentment.

Performances:

24 Jan 2020 (world premiere)
University of Michigan Audition Day Showcase
Room 2058, Earl V. Moore Building, University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, USA
Aurora Winds; Adrian Wong, conductor