Award-winning composer Alain Chiu’s 趙朗天 music has been performed in concert halls and festivals throughout the world, including performances in the USA, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Portugal, Greece, Italy and France.
Chiu’s music displays a kaleidoscope of influences from Takemitsu, Cage, Ades and Bach to mainstream music like King Crimson, the Beatles, Laurie Anderson and Bill Evans. The combination of insights he gained as a modern-day flâneur and his multi-cultural musical influences results in what he calls an “urban existentialist” approach to classical music.
Alain Chiu has received commissions by the West Kowloon Cultural Distract Authority, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Hong Kong Arts Festival Society and by numbers of musicians and groups: “Under the Twinkle of a Fading Star,” commissioned by Louis Siu and the Afiara Quartet is one of the first pieces ever written for the new tenor timpani. Chiu’s music was performed at the 40th, 41st and 42nd Hong Kong Arts Festival, WKCDA Freespace Micro 2013, 2012 Hong Kong Week at Taipei, Jumping Frames Italy Tour and Cannes Film Festival 2013.
Chiu has also written for various unconventional media including “In a Silent Sense,” a major work for amplified piano and Tibetan percussion instruments; “Urban Meditation,” a commissioned work featuring multiple percussion instruments for solo percussionist and “for Lydia,” a 10-minute duet for a broken shoe and an old vinyl player. His music has been performed by the Ives Quartet, the Afiara Quartet, William Lane, Kung Chi Shing, Louis Siu and Jonathan Kim among many fine musicians.
Chiu received his Bachelor of Music degree in composition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music with Samuel Clarke Scholarship, where he studies composition with Conrad Susa and David Garner, and electronic music with Alden Jenks. In the summer of 2008, Mr. Chiu received a scholarship to study at the European American Musical Alliance in Paris directed by Dr. Philip Lasser. He participated in masterclass conducted by Jo Kondo. His former teachers have included Cui Shi-Guang and Lane Harder.
Alain Chiu is the recipient of the prestigious Schulich Scholarship offered by McGill University. He is also the Finalist of the International Music Prizes for Excellence in Composition 2009. Chiu’s music was recorded by the Grammy Award winning ensemble Orchestra of Our Time in 2011.
Along with choreographer Max Lee and dramaturge Frankie Mcnugget, Chiu is one of the creators of the experimental theatre group Trilateral which founded in 2013. With the mission to incorporating live music, drama, dance and visual arts from the very beginning of the creative process in order to create a total theatrical experience. Trilateral also performed at the 2013 People’s Fringe Festival.
Chiu is working on a multimedia opera that deals with class issues in Hong Kong.
April 2014
Alain Chiu | Composer 