Victor Zheng

The first two pieces of Images were my first collaboration with Liann. It started when I heard some of the fixed media tracks she was making and wanted to try replicating the effects with live processing on the saxophone on stage. I didn’t expect it to go anywhere beyond a fun little experiment, but as she continued to compose, she began conceiving aspects of the work around live electronics, and I couldn’t help but follow along.

Working on Blue Air and Traces came at a significant time for me creatively – at a time where I felt my compositional output was bottlenecking, I found a new calling in studying live electronics and their role in the form of live-performed electroacoustic music. My role of designing the live electronics of both works allowed me to conceive of music from that perspective and the unique formal considerations that it could bring.

Of course, none of this would be possible without the incredible artistry of Jack Thorpe, who commissioned both works and rose to the occasion with an expressive range that seems constantly to swallow one whole.