wind ensemble (flute, oboe, 2 clarinets, tenor sax, trumpet, horn, trombone, bass trombone)
Duration: 2’30, Arrangement of Elgar’s piece
Written for A Little Night Music Orchestra
Performed by A Little Night Music Orchestra, June 3 and 5, 2023
conducted by Alana Chan
for soprano, mezzo, tenor, flute, viola, cello, speaking pianist
Duration: 10’, text by Barbara Black
Written for Erato Ensemble
Premiered by Erato Ensemble, January 19, 2020 at Silliness
for mezzo and piano
text by Kate McKabe
An art song exploring one woman's experience undergoing radiation therapy cancer treatment.
for soprano and piano
text by Sajia Sultana
written for Art Song Lab 2016
The 6th instalment of Art Song Lab was a collaboration with Vancouver's Queer Arts Festival. Just weeks after the shootings in Orlando, it became evident during the week just how pertinent some of the pieces were to the queer community, especially those queer people of colour involved.
The text I worked with was by Sajia Sultana, exploring the process of coming out to Indian parents. While Canada is regarded as progressive country, queer people of colour often fear the loss of culture and community in addition to family concerns that are universal in the coming-out process.
One of the experiences Sajia and I shared was a sense of not being really heard within certain family dynamics, and so, miscommunication became a starting point for our collaboration.
Unicorn (2016) for solo speaking cellist
duration: 4’
written for Marina Hasselberg
As the first piece I'd written after completing my doctorate, this fulfilled my need to write something lighthearted and quirky, to contrast the rigour of academia and the seriousness of writing an opera about diabetes.
When I spent Christmas 2015 in Mexico city, I visited a number of museums and had the pleasure of seeing a number of works of art I recognized as definitive works from art history books. On of those works was Dali's Unicorn. I was inspired by the piece itself, but also the way myself and other visitors engaged with sculptures: hands off, yet oh, so close! The three dimensionality of the experience made me want to musically explore a community sense of the experience, and I also saw a parallel between the wall mounted descriptions and program notes we use in the classical music world.
Diagnosis: Diabetes (2015)
An Interactive Chamber Opera in One Act
duration: 60 minutes, 7 scenes
for 5 singers (Soprano, 2 Mezzo-Sopranos, Tenor, Baritone) and small ensemble (Flute doubling alto, Clarinet doubling Bass, Violin, Cello, Piano)
After the idea for an interactive opera about diabetes was workshopped in 2011, the one-act opera later became my doctoral thesis project, completed in Spring of 2015. In Fall of 2015, the piece was premiered as an un-staged workshop performance by Vancouver's Erato Ensemble.
Much more information is available on the dedicated Diagnosis: Diabetes page.
Program Note:
This is the story of Charlie, a boy like any other. But this story is not an opera like any other.
As Charlie goes through life with diabetes, you too will experience the onslaught of information that comes with diagnosis, the sensation of low blood-sugar, facing your own mortality...
But don't worry. This is a fun opera. And you just might learn something too!
i wana cry with u (2014)
written for
Cor Flammae
with text by
Steve Roggenbuck
i wana cry with u
but we cant
because if we were together we
wouldn't be sad
Initially, I interpreted the poem through the lens of queer love. While that worked well enough, it soon became clear that the scope of this poem's meaning couldn't be limited by one narrative. I opted for a format that allows each singer to discover their own interpretation as part of singing the piece.
Moonless Night
(2012)
for Erhu and Piano
Written for Corey Hamm and Nicole Ge Li.
Pianist Corey Hamm has joined forces with Erhuist, Nicole Ge Li in an exciting project that will see the premiere of twenty new pieces by January 2014. Those pieces will then be recorded and toured across Canada and China in Spring of 2014. I was thrilled to be one of the first composers Corey asked to join this project. Moonless Night was an amazing project to work on, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to work so closely with Nicole. The erhu is a gorgeous instrument, and not one that western classical composers often get to write for.
When I showed a draft of the piece to Nicole and described the opening section as a sleepless night, she shared with me the importance of the moon in Chinese culture, and a title was born. Reflecting on moon imagery in erhu repertoire, the move to include quotations from Liú Tiānhuá's Moon Night was a welcomed addition.
Here is the program note for the world premiere:
The sun sustains us through the evening, and long after its last rays have dissipated. It keeps us moving forward, looking forward.
In the hours before slumber, the moon slows our forward momentum. Dulling the stresses of waking hours, the cool light reflects on the day from a different angle.
But what happens when we go right from daylight to sleep, without the moon's repose.
Lying in bed, tormented by restless ruminations, there is no sleep on a moonless night.
Faces in a Crowd (2011)
for Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello, and Percussion
This dynamic chamber piece attempts to musicalize a sense of facial identity, relations, and recognition through the rhythmic perspective of the percussionist.
Click here for a PDF of the Score.
Diabetes: Question Time (2011)
chamber opera for six voices and piano
Commissioned by The University of Manitoba’s Contemporary Opera Lab, under the direction of Mel Braun, this 20-minute chamber opera explores internal conflicts and concerns relating to type-one diabetes.
Following the success of the COL commission, Diagnosis: Diabetes will be developed into a one-act opera which will serve as Michael’s doctoral thesis. More information about that project can be found here.
Click here for a PDF of the Score.
Songs of Ray (2010)
It's Cold in here
In the cliff-light
for SATB Chamber Choir
text: Ray Hsu
This set of two songs, uses texts by Vancouver poet, Ray Hsu. Commissioned by Charissa Bagan and Jake Funk for The UBC Chamber Choir.
Premiered by the UBC Chamber Choir Spring Concert, 2010.