9 May 2024
Taipei, Taiwan

Taiwan is, simply put, a fascinating place. Taipei itself doesn’t look much like anything- take out Taipei 101, that iconic super-skyscraper, and it could be pretty much any major city in Japan (not so much China, in fact), enclosed by a very scenic ring of impossibly lush, green mountains: nondescript mid-rise buildings, wide streets, clean sidewalks, brilliant food on every corner. I’m not trying to focus on the cityscape, really, but it is a very interesting place to arrive to, because it straddles cultures and geographies, even eras, for few places get the mix of tradition and modernity quite as effortlessly as here. But this is not a sightseeing trip- today, I feel quite fortunate to get to hear the first notes of a really miniature String Quartet (2024), my second, written for, and commissioned by, the Paris-based Quatuor Arod.

Interesting to meet in Taiwan, then, when Europe would be rather more logical, but then, Arod is an incredibly international ensemble, with performances spanning continents on a weekly basis. I can take some credit for inviting them to Hong Kong two years ago, their first time in the city, but the rest of the credit lies entirely with them and the interesting initiative to commission ‘encore’ works inspired by their ever-changing repertoire. In my case, I chose an especially unusual piece, the Szymanowski Second String Quartet and created what might be called a reconnection of the entire thing: the same materials, even the same melody, but simultaneously different, maybe even unrecognisable. But paired on the same concert, with the brilliant musicianship of this ensemble, it might just connect in some unexpected ways.

Next week, I was meant to be already on the way to the UK for a residency on the large-scale project with Manchester International Festival, but this is temporarily, or perhaps indefinitely, now postponed, no fault due to the festival whatsoever. It is commonly accepted practice in the music world not to bite the hand that feeds you, and perhaps not even the hand that doesn’t- in this case, we’ll just have to see how it goes.