The UW Composition program presents a year-end concert of works by student composers Ryan Baker, Taylor James Bellamy, Nicholas Mendosa, Eddie Mospan, Amelia Matsumoto, Inyoung Seo, and Tabarak Abosabaa.
Program
Not Too Heavy, Mostly Okay Music — Ryan Baker
Ryan Baker, Simon Harty, Abigail George, percussion
Cliff's Edge — Taylor James Bellamy
Taylor James Bellamy, electronics
A Light Left Unlit — Nicholas Mendonsa
Kaisho Barnhill, piano; Nicholas Mendonsa, electronics
What They Had to Say (untwisting) — Eddie Mospan
for fixed media
One Dragon’s Day — Amelia Matsumoto
Tabarak Abosabaa, piano; Amelia Matsumoto, double bass; Inyoung Seo, piano, violin; William Dougherty, piano
Une cantilène brumeuse — Inyoung Seo
Tabarak Abosabaa, conductor; Amelia Matsumoto, double bass; Inyoung Seo, piano; William Dougherty, melodica, trombone
A Series of Unpredictable Events — Tabarak Abosabaa
Tabarak Abosabaa, piano; Amelia Matsumoto, double bass; Inyoung Seo, violin; William Dougherty, melodica, trombone
Program Notes
One Dragon’s Day — Amelia Matsumoto
Despite what the title may suggest, this piece is not programmatic. This piece started with me improvising on the piano, exploring just the black keys, eventually leading me to anchor the piece in the pentatonic scale. I move away from the pentatonic scale as the piece goes on through the gradual additions of non-scalar notes, first in the accompanying contrapuntal lines, and eventually in the main melody. A more absolutist approach in composition. Only when I finished the piece did I imagine the story that the title is based on. A story about a dragon, going about the many interesting events throughout its day, like popping in and out of fluffy clouds, or flying through the karst landscape comprised of grassy rock towers. Though you are welcome to listen for the story, like I did when I finished the piece, you are also invited to listen to just the music. Focusing on the gradual addition of non-scalar notes, as well as the contrapuntal texture that present in the whole piece.
Une cantilène brumeuse — Inyoung Seo
The original inspiration came from another piece that I was writing at the time, a piano concerto that was planned to be a depiction of a flower blooming in a snowfield. So, this piece originally started as a slow, descriptive, meditative, and evocative one. The original aim was to depict an early spring morning, with dense, frozen mist. The scene is very cold and pale, yet with optimism and liveliness. However, as the piece progressed and gained its final shape, the association with the clear landscape became very vague. The resulting piece is cast in a very rough sonata-like outline, with recurring motifs and textures. The outer sections carry the remnants of the initial idea, with crystalline and transparent texture. However, the middle section gradually becomes more and more tense and grey. Nevertheless, it resolves to the initial pale and florid texture, into a quiet, soft, and optimistic conclusion.
A Series of Unpredictable Events — Tabarak Abosabaa
The idea behind this piece is to create a space where the ensemble moves through a series of unpredictable musical events together, responding to one another in real time. When I first began working on it, my original concept felt too loose. There were too few instructions, and the improvisational elements made it difficult for the group to sound cohesive. I decided to simplify the structure using boxes so that each performer could focus on listening and reacting. Throughout the process, I worked on finding the right balance between giving too much freedom and not enough. I revised the instructions to guide the performers without limiting their interpretive choices. Each section invites a different kind of interaction. Some encourage sparse textures and patience, while others move with more energy or density. The shape of the piece is flexible, but ideally, it flows from scattered beginnings to more unified motion, eventually slowing down and resolving together. In the end, this piece became an exploration of group cohesion and how spontaneous moments can build toward a shared musical experience, one that allows for both individuality and connection.
Cliff's Edge — Taylor James Bellamy
Cliff's Edge is a sonic representation of being on the edge of something intimidating yet freeing, like cliff diving into the ocean, or being about to bravely leap into the uncharted waters of future possibility. Inspiration for this piece is derived from the artist's own experience skydiving in Hvar, Croatia and cliff diving from over 80 feet. Thank you for listening.
A Light Left Unlit — Nicholas Mendonsa
Timber absorbing rain
Acceptance as corruption
The tempo of the live piano fits into the tempo of the recording as a quintuplet. The recording uses the electronic instrument bitKlavier, which allows the user different tunings and temperaments, indexed to any of the 12 western tones. In this case, a just intonated piano indexed to F is juxtaposed against a Pythagorean tuning indexed to Ab. Snippets were also then extracted and slowed to further warp pitch and time. The live aspect takes inspiration from late period Franz Liszt, Pärt’s “Für Alina,” and Scelsi’s “Un Adieu.” It’s another attempt at thematic development, though the relationships with the aforementioned works are aesthetic and emotional and don’t necessarily employ those composers’ methods.
What They Had to Say (untwisting) — Eddie Mospan
I wrote this piece as a response to the political attacks and growing climate of social hostility that my loved ones and I face under the current administration in the year 2025. I have felt a deep sense of dread and powerlessness this year, a sense that there is nowhere that we will be welcome and nowhere that we can be sure of our safety. This year, I started to question the promises of visibility and representation. If so many earnestly shared stories of trans, genderqueer, and nonbinary people could not soften enough hearts to protect us, is there any sense in being so dangerously vulnerable?
A few times on my way to orchestra rehearsals, I have walked past a young man who sits near one of the most traversed areas of campus with a microphone, a camera, and a sign that says “men can’t be women.” A smaller sign promises snacks to those who debate him. Each time, I have thought about some of the people that I love most. I have thought about my most recent flight across the country, when I was a man in Maine, a woman in Washington, and neither all along in truth. Each time, I have thought about all the things I could explain, and I have kept walking. It pains me, but I do not wish to have my words chopped up and twisted into a weapon to be used against my own community. Vulnerability does not serve me here. Neither, however, does silence. In a time where my loved ones and I and so many others are losing so much agency, I refuse to let silence sap my and our collective strength. This piece is a protest against the burden of silence.
I interviewed some of the trans musicians in my life for this piece. I recorded several hours of discussion. We laughed, we argued, we sat in quiet contemplation, but you will not hear any of that here. So often, our words are twisted, chopped up, and repeated until they lose their meaning. This piece is a gradual unfolding of two phrases that carry many meanings in their various forms. I took the words of two people who I care for and appreciate. With their permission, these words are chopped up, repeated, and untwisted. Instead of fashioning them into a weapon, I fashioned them into art.
“I think we are an easy social pariah and so there are a lot of places where things are just as bad, if not worse, or getting worse… but I also think that we’re also very easy to understand - for those who are willing.” — Brooke White
“They have to create the illusion of separation between groups of people that are actually very united and that experience the world in very similar ways.” — Jai Kobi Kaleo’okalani
Composer Biographies
Amelia Matsumoto is a junior at UW, studying double bass performance with Jordan Anderson (principal bassist of the Seattle Symphony). She has been playing double bass since 5th grade, though only decided to pursue it professionally in university. Though playing double bass is her main musical pursuit, she enjoys singing and composing when she has free time.
Inyoung Seo is a fourth-year student in the Department of Bioengineering at UW. He is capable of playing multiple instruments including piano, violin, flute, and trumpet. He also enjoys composing in his free time. He often gains inspiration from the landscape and sceneries and translates those inspirations for a diverse range of musical voices, in styles inspired by composers such as Sergei Prokofiev, Béla Bartók, Nikolai Kapustin, Carl Vine, and Toru Takemitsu.
Tabarak Abosabaa is a third-year student majoring in Drama: Performance with a minor in music. She plays piano and guitar, and is always curious about learning new instruments and experimenting with different sounds. In her free time, she enjoys singing, songwriting, and composing, and is always interested in learning new things and expanding her creative horizons.
Taylor James Bellamy is a 32-year-old autistic Music Composition student on the precipice of graduating and deep-diving into the infinite world of music. He spent 14 years as a chef working up to fine dining and even sushi, and has since switched careers into the music industry.
Due to certain synaptic stream crossings, Nicholas Mendonsa is always mildly hallucinating. He comes by it honestly, though. Bear that in mind when engaging with any of his work.