Free Concert - Semblance Project: Multiplicity/Presence

Semblance Project: Multiplicity/Presence is an evening of new music for soloists and electronics conceived and curated by award-winning composer Daniel (Jingyang) Cui, exploring Asian presence in contemporary classical music as an active, generative force.

The program features premieres of four new works for solo or duo and electronics by Cui, each created through close collaboration with the performers and shaped by their own cultural backgrounds, personal histories, and artistic experiences. Rather than presenting a single narrative of identity, the concert foregrounds multiplicity and examines how layered identities take form through sound, gesture, and performance practice.

The electronics and human machine interaction elements are designed in collaboration with Qianyi Rose Sun, whose work engages questions of technology, agency, and co creation in performance. The concert also includes excerpts from Mongolian Suite for solo cello and My Windows for solo piano by Lei Liang, a leading figure in contemporary music whose work has played a significant role in expanding how Asian histories and sonic traditions operate within global new music contexts. Together, the program brings emerging voices into dialogue with an established lineage, framing Asian presence as something that reshapes the concert space from within.

The concert is free and open to the public, with a post concert reception where audience members are invited to meet the performers and composers.

Date and Time: Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, 7 p.m.

Location: Conrad Prebys Concert Hall, UC San Diego

Admission: Free