Rita Ueda: Hummingbird Lovers (commissioned work, Taiwan premiere)
Violin: Domagoj Ivanovic, Mary Sokol Brown / Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra, Turning Point Ensemble / Chih-Sheng Chen / National Recital Hall, Taipei, Taiwan. 2018.6.7.
Rita Ueda is a composer, sound designer, and music teacher in Vancouver, Canada. Her recent works include “forty years of snowfall will not heal an ancient forest” for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, “Escape from the Evil Alien Surfblasters” for 8 hand piano ensemble, and “Still Shaking from the Latte”, a piano solo for Misuzu Kitazumi-Burns, a member of the LA Piano Unit.
Rita was born in Hakodate, Japan, to a family of musicians, poets, dancers and engineers. She moved to Vancouver, Canada with her family in 1971. Rita studied composition and sound design at Simon Fraser University and the California Institute of the Arts. Her teachers include Rudolf Komoros, Rodney Sharman, Wadada Leo Smith, Morton Subotnick and Stephen L. Mosko.
A concerto grosso for Chinese ensemble and chamber orchestra
For Turning Point Ensemble and Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra
In Hummingbird Lovers, the tiny lovebirds with their colourful feathers fly all around the garden, sipping nectar from one flower to another. Sometimes they fly together, and at other times, they fly apart – but they always manage to find each other against a backdrop of an entire garden full of beautiful plants, birds and insects. Perhaps this is why the hummingbird is often the symbol of love, joy, and beauty.
