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Info: composer (at) angellam.com




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"Between the music and literature there
is a vast whiteness, like the ancient poem
drawings of the Sung period, there lies a
meaning, or a question, only the listener's
imagination can complete.

Music, like poetry, stems from an inner
force; it comes, and it goes, like flowers,
bloom and fade."
Angel Lam is a music composer and writer who uses the beauty of soundscape, instrumentation and language to express refined definitions and her passion for life. Her compositions reflect not only her own life, but are also evidence of humanity where time and space interfere with each other in an uncertain, timeless manner. In her firework festivals in In Search of Seasons (for orchestra), or the mysteries of life and death in Empty Mountain, Spirit Rain (for shakuhachi, violin, cello, double bass and percussion), or the purity of a love affair in Love Memo, all these are real, and will exist and forever be alive in the mind.

Her composition is praised as "an otherworldly, dreamily poetic short story...rich, singing tone and sense of drama...fanciful music" (New York Times), "an unusually affecting piece, filled with luxuriant chords, tender string songs and sensuous glissandos" (TwinCities Pioneer Press) and "mesmerized..."(Financial Times). Miss Lam's compositions feature a blend of evocative expressiveness and East Asian sensitivity and femininity. Her music ranges from the delicate depiction of a drop of water for an unconventional instrumentation--guitar, harp, vibraphone, crotales and double bass, to the telling of a forgotten hero for narrator and orchestra, or an age of darkness where Emperors committed acts of evil that to this day, haven't been confronted by any serious criticism. She writes her own short stories that form an inseparable component of her creative process.

In 2010, she is interviewed and featured on Best Buy Inc.'s "Creative Minds", which filmed her In Search of Seasons performed by the Minnesota Orchestra. In 2009, she was voted "Artist of the Month" by Musical America and "Yalie of the Week" by Yale University Yale Alumni Magazine.

Her compositions have been performed throughout the United States and in major cities around the world. She has received three Carnegie Hall commissions, two as emerging composer and most recently a large concerto commission dedicated to solo cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Carnegie Hall's China Festival "Ancient Paths, Modern Voices: A Festival Celebrating Chinese Culture". Her recent collaborations include the annual Yale Cellos event directed by Aldo Parisot, Yale Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Minnesota Orchestra Inside the Classics Series (2010) and Composers Institute (2009), Colorado Symphony Orchestra and Earshot, Hong Kong Arts Festival 2010, among others.

She first received a Carnegie Hall commission in 2005-06 working with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Project, then again in 2006-07, where she worked with Grammy Awards-winning composer Osvaldo Golijov and renowned soprano Dawn Upshaw. Her composition Empty Mountain, Spirit Rain is on the touring repertoire of Yo Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble performing in Britain, Canada, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, Switzerland's Lucerne Festival and throughout the United States. This work was released by Sony/BMG on Silk Road Ensemble's CD "New Impossibilities"* in 2007, and recorded again in the new CD "Off the Map" in 2009. "Off the Map" was nominated for a 2011 GRAMMY for Best Classical Crossover Album.

Her other collaborations include performance by Greenwich Village Orchestra (New York), NYU Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta and Grainger Quartet (Australia), Houston Chamber Choir, Orange County Women's Chorus (Los Angeles), Loyola High Men's Chorus and Orchestra (Los Angeles), Symphony of Oak Park and River Forest (Chicago) and a theater composition created under the mentorship of renowned theater artist Martha Clarke and Peabody Dance director Carol Bartlett.

Miss Lam grew up in Hong Kong and the United States. She received her doctorate degree from the distinguished Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, and is also the recipient of a Henry and Lucy Moses full scholarship Artist Diploma from Yale University. She is also the recipient of the prestigious Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund Scholarship, Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong Scholarship for Overseas Studies, and Peabody Conservatory graduate assistant full scholarship. Her teachers are Christopher Theofanidis, Aaron Jay Kernis, Martin Bresnick, Ezra Laderman, Robert Sirota, Law Wing Fai, Clarence Mak and Lo Hau Man.

*exclusively sold at Barnes and Nobles
Honors and Awards: (show) (hide)
Notable Performances: (show) (hide)
Attended Masterclasses and Lesson with:
George Crumb, Poul Ruders, Christopher Rouse, George Tsontakis, Detlev Glanert, Ingram Marshall, James Primosch, Joel Hoffman, John Harbison, Brian Ferneyhough, Marc-Dalbavie
Scholarships and Grants: (show) (hide)
Higher resolution headshots:    Photo 1    Photo 2   (right click to download)

Contact: composer (at) angellam.com