Preferred Name
Sicheng He
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
ORCID
https://orcid.org/0009-0008-6434-2997
Date of Graduation
5-15-2026
Semester of Graduation
Spring
Degree Name
Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA)
Department
School of Music
First Advisor
Paulo Steinberg
Second Advisor
Will Dabback
Abstract
This research presents a new path in the development of Chinese music by aiming to incorporate both modern Western and ancient Chinese influences in form, texture, tonality, topic, and other dimensions of style and structure. Two Chinese composers whose recent compositions for the piano share similar characteristics: Zhao Zhang (b. 1964; Nature no. 2, 2013) and Xiaoxuan Xu (b. 1990; An Unusual Feast of East, 2022). The research will discuss how Zhao Zhang and Xiaoxuan Xu accomplish this fusion of old and new in their recent piano works Nature no. 2, (2013) and An Unusual Feast of East, 2022. The compositions are similar in that they honor elements of the Chinese natural world and employ Chinese tonal structures while using Western form. Zhao Zhang pays further homage to China. Xiaoxuan Xu, on the other hand, turns to Chinese poetry for inspiration. Each composer accomplishes an effective and distinctive fusion of Western and Chinese elements.
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