— PRE-PROFESSIONAL COMPOSER —
Athena is included in our series highlighting works by
young, pre-professional composers.
Recipient of the 2020 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award
According to a Chinese Folk tale, there was a Monster that came out once a year to eat crops, living stock and people. The Chinese people celebrate Lunar New Year after they defeated that monster. The people of the village are content and peaceful, farming and working. The monster comes out of his den and storms through the village. The people flee to safety, and he eats all their food and destroys the buildings. When he is satisfied, he lumbers back to his den. The people emerge out of their hiding spots and restore their village and think of ideas to drive away the monster, envisioning how it would be. When time came, the monster appeared, ready to cause havoc again, but was taken by surprise, and was defeated by the people’s wisdom. The people of the village are happy, rejoicing and celebrating the victory over the monster. [Program note by the composer]
Instrumentation:
Flutes 2
Oboe 2
Clarinets 2
Bassoons 2
Horns 4
Trumpets 2
Trombones 3
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion (Tam-tam, woodblocks, marimba, vibraphone)
Strings
Perusal score:
Athena is currently an 9th grade student living in Massachusetts. She began her music composition journey with Prof. Cohen when she was 6. In 2020, Athena was the youngest recipient of the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award. She was also awarded Emerging Composer at Tribeca New Music Young Composers Competition in 2018 & 2019.
Athena writes: “I totally agree with what Plato said, Music gives a soul to the Universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, a charm to sadness, gaiety and life to everything. Music is my way to express myself and I hope my music will bring hope, comfort and inspiration to people in this troubled world today.”
Besides music, Athena enjoys reading, listening to music and drawing, and is a straight A student at school. Additionally, she earned her 2nd degree Black Belt at American Taekwondo Association when she was 10, and is a Junior Olympic Synchronized Swimmer (Her team ranked 7th at the National Junior Olympics in 2019). Finally, she loves to do community services and has learned a lot from underprivileged people locally and globally.
PRE-PROFESSIONAL COMPOSER
Athena is included in our series highlighting works by
young, pre-professional composers.
Performance materials are available by contacting the composer:
zhangathena138@gmail.com