Zhou Long is a Chinese-born American composer whose music is widely performed throughout the world. He’s recognized for his unique body of music combining the aesthetics and musical elements of East and West. And it’s deeply grounded in his Chinese heritage, including folk, philosophical, and spiritual ideas. Zhou has pioneered transferring the sounds and techniques of ancient Chinese musical traditions to modern Western instruments and ensembles. His vision has produced new music that “stretches Western instruments eastward, and Chinese instruments westward”.
His work Spirit of Chimes was inspired by the sounds of chime-stones, bone-whistle, and chime-bells from ancient China. Zhou says, although early Chinese music (pre Tang Dynasty) has disappeared, I can still imagine the real sound of ancient instruments. I translated my impressions of this sound into a piano trio in the hope that my music can give new life to ancient chimes.
