Author: Israel Lai

Exciting news!

The University of Manchester Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Robert Guy, will be premiering my upcoming piece Mind the Gap in October this year.

The piece is an intense and dynamic portrayal of being crushed between two clashing and unstoppable monoliths — an experience that a lot of people are going through.

This will be my first public appearance after a period of musical exploration, and is an unmissable opportunity to hear the outcome of this introspection.

More details to come soon.

Image: Behind the Curtain, by Price Chu: the inspiration for Mind the Gap

I’m very excited that I’ll be presenting my new work cranes among chickens at a workshop with Trio Northumbria, as part of the BFE/RMA Research Students’ Conference in Newcastle in January.

This work is a continuation and a development of my string quartet from earlier this year, out to tolo, which was workshopped by the Carducci Quartet at the Vale of Glamorgan Festival. The original quartet aimed at depicting the sights around the Shing Mun River; the new work builds on this and focuses on the upstream area of the river.

This is the start of a series of works that will further explore this idea.

On 10 Sept 2022, over two years after finishing my degree (thanks to the pandemic), I’ve finally actually OFFICIALLY graduated from the University of Oxford and received my MPhil in Composition!

As I gear up for the second year of my PhD in Manchester, I’m grateful for the multitude of knowledge, skills and (most importantly) experiences that Oxford gave me.

I’ll forever miss this place.

In August 2020, I finished my MPhil at the University of Oxford.

Due to the pandemic, I am not to be formally conferred my degree until late 2022.

Nevertheless, I have officially begun my new journey!

I am now studying for a PhD in Music Composition at the University of Manchester, with Prof Camden Reeves.

Despite the logistic hardships, UoM has been a welcoming community, and it’s been fun to explore the big city.

Stay tuned for more updates and more music!

This year has been very different and full of unexpected turns, to say the least. Amidst all the academic work, I wrote and staged an opera. I hurried to Hong Kong, while the pandemic was still beginning, for my grandmother’s funeral.

Thanks to you-know-what, my last term at Oxford was completely cancelled—the term for which, like many Oxford students, I had a bucket list planned. Now it’s all up in ashes.

This is all without mentioning the, quite honestly, history-defining changes that have been taking place in my home town, and the ripple effect that has ushered in a new cold war.

Within all of this, I submitted my dissertation and will soon be a Master of Philosophy in composition. So, no big deal.

There are many factors playing into this, but my most likely next destination from here will be developing my artistry within the UK, working with different ensembles and music lovers here.

I already miss Oxford already, so I am sure it will always have a special place in my heart.

Birmingham, August 2020