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Mr. YOUNG, Samson 楊嘉輝
Position: Assistant Professor
Phone:
3442 5305
E-mail: SKFYOUNG@cityu.edu.hk
Bldg Rm:
IC-SCM14
Personal URL:
http://www.samsonyoung.com
   
Academic Qualifications:

Ph.D. (Candidate), Music, Princeton University, USA

M.F.A., Music, Princeton University, USA

M.Phil., Music, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

B.A., Majors in Music, Philosophy and Gender Studies, University of Sydney, Australia

Background:

My disciplinary training is in music and sound. But for more than a decade now, I have sought to combine my formal training in classical music, electro-acoustic music, and musique concrète with interests in new technology, site specificity, and moving images. By locating a point of convergence between these disparate artistic geographies, I have created a body of work that is at once strongly timed and highly ritualized, yet at the same time subversive of the default code of conduct that is inherit in the performative / exhibitory situations that these works engender. The use of technology and new media resources often play a crucial role in these acts of subversion.

Within and beyond the concert stage, my creative output spans a wide range: from composition for symphony orchestra that features Nintendo Gameboy as a solo instrument – a work that received its premiere by the Hong Kong Sinfonietta at the 2009 Hong Kong Arts Festival; to headphone-mediated sound walk that utilizes text-to-speech technology to render highly-politicized texts into mumbling non-sense; to coin-operated amusement ride that is modified into an interactive peep show. Despite the variety of media in which my creative outputs manifest, they share a common strategy in juxtaposing childhood memorabilia and elements of play with intensely violent gestures, thus creating experiences of light-hearted darkness and densely perverted poetry.

While a dedicated artist, I am also committed to scholarship, and my research and creative activities inform each other in fundamentally important ways. My research interests are interdisciplinary, with a focus on the history and politics of sound art and contemporary musical practices, China studies, cultural studies, critical theories, and the analysis of multimedia.

My compositions, installations and multimedia works have been presented in such festival as the Sydney Springs International New Music Festival (Australia 2001) and Canberra International Music Festival (Australia 2008); Bowdoin International Music Festival (US 2004) and Bang on a Can Music Summer Music Festival (US 2005); Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt (Germany 2006); Dark Music Days (Iceland 2008); Microwave International New Media Arts Festival (HK 2004), October Contemporary (HK 2007), Le French May Arts Festival (HK 2009) and Hong Kong Arts Festival (2009). My concert music received performances by Hong Kong Sinfonietta, City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Bang on a Can Summer Institute Fellows, the London NASH Ensemble, Network for New Music, New Millennium Ensemble, So Percussion, Sydney Song Company and Grenzenlos, among others.

Fields of Concentration / Research Interests:
 
  • Creative: application of new media resources in the concert hall; multimedia performance; audio-visual improvisation; video art and sound art; installation.

  • Research: the history contemporary music and sound art in China; minzuxing in contemporary musical and sonic practices; cultural politics in music and sound; post-colonialism; the music of Tan Dun, analysis of multimedia.

Selected Festival Performances:
 
  • 2009 Kuala Lumpur Contemporary Music Festival
  • 2009 Le French May Arts Festival - with City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong
  • 2009 Hong Kong Arts Festival - with Hong Kong Sinfonietta
  • 2008 Canberra International Music Festival, Australia
  • 2008 Dark Music Days Contemporary Music Festival, Iceland
  • 2007 October Contemporary, Hong Kong
  • 2006 Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt, Germany
  • 2005 Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art
  • 2004 Bowdoin International Music Festival, Maine USA
  • 2004 Microwave International Media Art Festival, Hong Kong
  • 2004 Le French May Arts Festival, Hong Kong
  • 2003 Cattle Depot Arts Festival, Hong Kong
  • 2000 The 11th Sydney Springs International Music Festival, Sydney Australia
  • 1999 C21 New Music Festival, Sydney Australia

Selected Exhibitions:
 
  • 2009 "Box of Revelation," Hong Kong Arts Center, Hong Kong
  • 2009 "Re-animating," JCCAC, Hong Kong
  • 2008 "Eric Ayotte and Samson Young," Red Tin Shack Gallery, New York
  • 2008 "Emerging Artists from the Chinese Diaspora," Deutschebank, New York
  • 2008 "Sonic Fragments," Princeton University, New Jersey
  • 2008 "Intersections - 9 artists from 3 places," Benten 17 Gallery, Hong Kong
  • 2007 Shenzhen-Hong Kong Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture
  • 2007 "14QK," Para/site, Hong Kong
  • 2007 "Bloomberg Emerging Artist Exhibition," Sino Hong Kong Art Gallery, Hong Kong
  • 2007 October Contemporary, Osage Kwun Tong, Hong Kong
  • 2004 Microwave International Media Art Festival, City Hall, Hong Kong
Selected Publications:
 
     Refereed Journal Articles
  • "The Voicing of the Voiceless in Tan Dun's The Map." Asian Music 40:1, pp. 83–99.

  • "Re-considering Cultural Politics in the Analysis of Contemporary Chinese Music: The Case of Ghost Opera." Contemporary Music Review 26: 5, pp. 605–18.

  • "Horizon of Expectations and the Rhetoric of National Style." Kunstmusik 8, pp. 256–66.
     Book Chapter in Edited Volume
  • "重新審視當代中國音樂分析中的文化政治:以《鬼戲》為例." In Edward Green and Lei Liang (eds.), China and the West: the Birth of a New Music. (Shanghai: Shanghai Conservatory Press, 2009).

     Score and Compact Disc Recording
  • "Efflorescenentric Rave for chamber ensemble, video and electronics." The SCI Journal of Music Scores, Vol. 41.

  • Compact Disc: Society of Composers, Inc. "Journeys." (Capstone-8809, 2008).

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