Israel Lai | composer

Israel Lai | composer

“Israel Lai's thought-provoking ‘BOU6’

a visceral work... unreservedly powerful”

About

Israel Lai is an award-winning composer, collaborative pianist, and conductor from Hong Kong. His music, rich in harmony, deeply personal, and acclaimed as ‘thought-provoking’, ‘visceral’, and ‘unreservedly powerful’ in The Oxford Student, has been widely performed in Hong Kong and the UK, as well as abroad in Taiwan, Italy and North America....
Full biography "About"

What's on

Latest happenings and exciting music stuff.

Western Hemisphere Debut!

Having won the Musicus Society Call for Scores in 2024, I'm fortunate to be able to take my music to a whole new part of the world, to meet new audiences. In just a month and a half, I'll be in Canada as Composer in Residence at Biglake Arts to join up... Read More "Western Hemisphere Debut!"

the flock — Manchester’s brand-new composing-performing new music collective

Over the past year, I have convened the flock, a new musical collective in Manchester that puts the focus on the creative process. We create our works by regularly workshopping our ideas with each other, and playing each other's unfinished and finished works, before presenting them to the public. Our debut concert... Read More "the flock — Manchester’s brand-new composing-performing new music collective"

Music Salon II with Mivos Quartet

I'm very excited that my string quartet out to tolo will be performed in an online concert ‘Music Salon II’ by the world-renowned Mivos Quartet. I previously worked with Mivos at a 2018 reading session on the piece Playwright, when they visited the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The work out to... Read More "Music Salon II with Mivos Quartet"

Workshopping with the Trio Anima in Cardiff

I'm very excited that I'll be presenting my new work Porthladd at a workshop with Trio Anima, as part of the BFE/RMA Research Students' Conference in Cardiff in January. This work is inspired by harbours, a geographical feature that connects Cardiff and my hometown Hong Kong. Harbours embody contrasting things: they're always... Read More "Workshopping with the Trio Anima in Cardiff"

Performances / Appearances

There are no upcoming events at this time

Four Walls, with the Dior Quartet

Four Walls, commissioned by Musicus Society and Biglake Arts, will be premiered by the amazing Dior Quartet in Wellington, Ontario, Canada. The piece is a …

$55
Find out more
Drake Devonshire, 24 Wharf St
Wellington, K0K 3L0 Canada
+ Google Map

Contemporary and Experimental Ensemble, University of Manchester

My piece, Clash (2017, new version 2024) will be premiered by students of the University of Manchester, as part of their contemporary ensemble course.

Free
Find out more
Cosmo Rodewald Concert Hall, Martin Harris Centre for Music and Drama, Bridgeford Street
Manchester, M13 9PL United Kingdom
+ Google Map

Music From Home – Sounds of the Homelands

Lakewold Gardens is pleased to present Sounds of the Homelands, its 2024 Music from Home season. Each concert program features the music of a particular …

US$39.19
Find out more
Lakewold Gardens, 12317 Gravelly Lake Drive Southwest
Lakewood, Washington 98499 United States
+ Google Map

Flock Descending: The Flock’s Debut Concert

Our Manchester-based Hongkonger composer collective is finally in motion! Come see our first concert and check out the cool things we can do when we …

£9
Find out more
International Anthony Burgess Foundation, 3 Cambridge St
Manchester, M1 5BY United Kingdom
+ Google Map

Music Salon II with Mivos Quartet

My work, out to tolo (movements 'source' and 'retrospect'), will be performed at a virtual concert by the renowned Mivos Quartet.

Free
Find out more
Online,

Latest works

“Best of the bunch” — Abingdon Music Festival

Vocalise from the Abyss

2024 For Voice, Viola, and Cello The inverse-square law in gravity means that as two objects get closer to each other, the attraction between them get exponentially stronger. As in a black hole, once you get past a point of no return, you fall head-first, straight into your own demise. Vocalise from... Read More "Vocalise from the Abyss"

鍊 / lin6-2

2024 For Piano Solo Thirty years ago, three nations stood in a chain to show the world that they were united in their desire for peace and freedom. Thirty years later, a fourth connected to that legacy — a desperate cry for the dark history not to repeat itself. One chain connects... Read More "鍊 / lin6-2"

First Impressions

2024 For Piano Quintet First Impressions was written as a musical response to early 20th-century French works, featured in PlayMud's concert of the same name. It juxtaposes the ideas behind Impressionism with our personal experience of forming first impressions. Day in and day out, we are constantly forming and reforming our impressions... Read More "First Impressions"

Porthladd

2023 For flute, viola, and harp Porthladd is an ode to two harbours, one in my hometown Hong Kong, and one in Cardiff, where the piece is premiered. It responds to the theme of 'identities', a theme that strikes a chord with me, as someone who's frequently pondering dynamics between identities in... Read More "Porthladd"

out to tolo

2022–2024 For String Quartet out to tolo outlines the flow of Shing Mun River in Shatin, Hong Kong, towards the Tolo Harbour. It portrays the diversity of landscapes and architecture that the river passes by, and the sudden widening towards the sea. cranes among chickens follows the flow of the river and... Read More "out to tolo"

Mind the Gap

2023 For Symphony Orchestra Mind the Gap is a semi-autobiographical work that captures my current identity and state of mind as an immigrant. ‘Please mind the gap’ is a sonic element shared between the soundscapes of my hometown, Hong Kong, and famously of my adopted homeland, the UK. The ‘gap’ in the... Read More "Mind the Gap"

Gallery