String Quartet N. 1

for string quartet | 16’ | 2026

Winner of the green mountain chamber festival quartet composition contest (2026)

Instrumentation - Violin I | Violin II | Viola | Cello

Premiered at The Juilliard School, February 18th 2026 (Grace McKenzie [vln I], Emma Milian [vln II], Josh Liu [vla], Sarah Ghandour [vc])

Repeat performance at The Juilliard School, April 27th 2026 (Bright Johnston [vln I], Makenzie Hart [vln II], Bill Ko [vla], Melanie Chen [vc])

GMCF Performance, July 14th 2026 (Mei Liu [vln I], Eunbee Cho [vln II], Brian Jennings [vla], Grace Jugyeong Kim [vc])

difficulty

Advanced

MOVEMENTS

I. Tapisserie dans la nuit (Tapestry in the night)

II. Lumière scintillante (Glinting light)

III. Saut d'étoile (Star-hopping)

IV. Poussière d'étoiles (Stardust)

V. Traînées de comètes (Comet trails)

VI. Dans le sillage du ciel (In the wake of the sky)

Program Note

The culminating work of my time at Juilliard, this work derives inspiration from many fronts, though at its core is an homage to a favorite composer / composition of mine: Charles Koechlin’s Vers la Voûte étoilée. His symphonic poem, quite aptly titled “Toward the Starry Vault” is a work that has genuinely molded my biggest source of inspiration, the stars and sky beyond them. This quartet is not a quotation, or even a derivation of his work, but my response to the thought it brings in me. My title, “Beyond the Starry Vault” furthers the exploration and thought that Koechlin’s work instilled in me some years ago. The various movements of the work are effectual descriptions of the spacial ideas I wanted to portray, while the final movement is here - where we are. As I look past our physical space with this piece, I felt some grounding was necessary, so I look back. I like to think of it as my musical “Pale Blue Dot”, in a sort of way. We are simply one in a trillion-trillion things left in the wake of the sky, and what a pleasure that is.