Join us for an evening featuring the work of composer Huang Ruo, including the NY Premiere of "A Dust In Time" performed by members of the National Sawdust Ensemble and "Song of Everlasting Regret" performed by mezzo-soprano Kelly Clarke and pianist Joanne Kang. Huang Ruo’s "A Dust In Time" traces a meditative journey inspired by Tibetan Buddhist sand mandalas. The one-hour palindromic passacaglia grows towards ecstasy from silence before returning to its source.
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Composer's Note:
Symbolizing the cycle and circle of an hour the piece is to be performed live without a break. Its structure is like a Tibetan sand mandala, created slowly from the central essence point expanding outward into its colored fullness, and then to be subtracted from it inwards back to the central essence point, fulfilling the
spiritual and life cycle and journey of traveling from nothing (emptiness) to something (fullness), and then back to nothing (emptiness). A colorful perfect world created by sands, although beautiful, yet it will eventually return back to dust. By going through this entire journey, what will remain afterwards is the fulfillment and internal peace laying in the heart...
This is a seated performance. If you require accessibility accommodations, please email boxoffice@nationalsawdust.org.
// This program is generously supported by Clarke Endowment for the Arts.
ABOUT HUANG RUO
Composer Huang Ruo has been lauded by The New York Times for having “a distinctive style.” His vibrant and inventive musical voice draws equal inspiration from Chinese ancient and folk music, Western avant-garde, experimental, noise, natural and processed sound, rock, and jazz to create a seamless, organic integration using a compositional technique he calls “Dimensionalism.”
Huang Ruo’s diverse compositional works span from orchestra, chamber music, opera, theater, and dance, to cross-genre, sound installation, architectural installation, multimedia, experimental improvisation, folk rock, and film. His music has been premiered and performed by the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, National Polish Radio Orchestra, Santa Fe Opera, Washington National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, LA Opera, Seattle Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Royal Danish Opera, Asko/Schoenberg, Ensemble Modern, London Sinfonietta, and conductors such as Wolfgang Sawallisch, Marin Alsop, Andrew Davis, Michael Tilson Thomas, and James Conlon. His opera An American Soldier (with libretto by David Henry Hwang) has recently received its world premiere at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis in June 2018, and was named one of the best classical music events in 2018 by The New York Times. His installation opera Paradise Interrupted was premiered at the Spoleto Festival USA in 2015 and was performed at the Lincoln Center Festival in 2016. Another opera, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, premiered at the Santa Fe Opera in 2014.
His recent new opera M. Butterfly (with libretto by David Henry Hwang) received its world premiere with the Santa Fe Opera in 2022. His future opera commissions will be for the Met Opera and the San Francisco Opera. He served as the first composer-in-residence for Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and was the visiting composer for the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra in Brazil. Huang Ruo was born in Hainan Island, China in 1976 - the year the Chinese Cultural Revolution ended. His father, who is also a composer, began teaching him composition and piano when he was six years old. Growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, when China was opening its gate to the Western world, he received both traditional and Western education at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. As a result of the dramatic cultural and economic changes in China in the 80s and 90s, his education expanded from Bach, Mozart, Stravinsky, and Lutoslawski, to include the Beatles, rock and roll, heavy metal, and jazz. Huang Ruo was able to absorb all of these newly allowed Western influences equally.
After winning the Henry Mancini Award at the 1995 International Film and Music Festival in Switzerland, he moved to the United States to further his education. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in composition from the Juilliard School.
Huang Ruo is a composition faculty at the Mannes School of Music in NY, and is the artistic director and conductor of Ensemble FIRE. He was selected as a Young Leader Fellow by the National Committee on United States–China Relations in 2006. Huang Ruo’s music is administered exclusively by European American Music Distributors Company (ASCAP).
ABOUT KELLY CLARKE
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Kelly Clarke is an American mezzo-soprano, philanthropist and social impact advocate whose artistry spans opera, oratorio, and contemporary performance. Known for her rich tone and commanding presence, Kelly brings a nuanced emotional depth to her interpretations, earning acclaim on stages across the country.
As a performer, commissioner, and creator, she combines her experience of years on the operatic stage with a passion for community, innovation and interdisciplinary cross-pollination to evolve and disrupt the status quo classical music and arts world on a global level.
As a community builder, Clarke often engages in cross-disciplinary projects and lectures in salons and global venues.
ABOUT JOANNE KANG
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Joanne Kang is a New York–based Australian pianist praised for her “fleet-fingered virtuosity” and stylistic versatility. She has performed internationally as a soloist, chamber musician, and recording artist, collaborating with artists and ensembles including The American String Quartet, the American Modern Opera Company, members of the Silk Road Ensemble, and the late Kaija Saariaho in the world premiere of Semafor. From 2020–2023 she was pianist of Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect, hailed as “one of the strongest ensembles in the city” (New York Classical Review).
She has appeared in venues across the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Guggenheim Museum, the Sydney Opera House, Seoul Arts Center, and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, among many others. A prizewinner of numerous national and international competitions, she holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Manhattan School of Music, where she received the Harold Bauer and Helen Cohn Awards.
Her multimedia work includes performances and recordings for Carnegie Hall, as well as albums such as the genre-crossing 1Q84 (ODDSOUND, 2024) with cellist Sahara von Hattenberger and jazz artists Jim Doxas and Adrian Vedady, and Duo Étrange’s forthcoming ATMA Classique release (2026) featuring works by Luna Pearl Woolf, Airat Ichmouratov, and Laurence Jobidon.