About the Piece
“In History, in Memory“ was written as a score to a script that I created, which included detailed camera movements and scene cuts as if I were a film director. The piece marks an important point in my transition from being a concert music composer to a film composer. It was one of the very first works where the music specifically aimed to tell a story. The piece is greatly inspired by Isao Takahata’s film set during WWII, Grave of the Fireflies. Even without visuals, the music serves as a film score, conveying to the audience the story of how a Korean soldier–Soo-Chung Lee–and an American soldier–David Wilson–formed an unbreakable bond while fighting together during the Korean War.
(P.S The script is attached in the pdf file of an excerpt from the piece below)
Instrumentation:
Violin solo
1.2(1.Eh)2.2 – 3.1.1.1 – timpani – percussion – harp – piano – strings
About the Composer
Ching-Shan Chang is a composer for multimedia and concert music originally from Taiwan but currently residing in Los Angeles. She holds a bachelor’s degree in composition from Eastman School of Music and a master’s degree in Screen Scoring from New York University.
In 2016, she started collaborating with filmmakers, animators and game designers. One of the films she scored, The Glassmaker, directed by Maria Elias was officially selected by several film festivals including Best Action/Thriller/Sci-Fi Student Short film in Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards in 2017. The soundtrack also won numerous awards such as silver medal for original score and soundtrack for film & television at Global Music Awards. Moreover, short film, Elsewhere directed by Guilherme Pedra, was screened in the Short Film Corner in the 71st International Cannes Film Festival, and other festivals. From 2018-2019, Ching-Shan also excelled in Film Music Competitions as she was selected as one of the finalists in the 2nd International Berlin Film Scoring Competition for her score in Wrapped and was the youngest and first Asian female winner in history in the 8th International Zurich Film Music Competition to accept the Golden Eye for her score in Danny and the Wild Bunchfrom film composer Don Davis.
She has also been heavily participating in film scoring programs such as NYU/ASCAP Film Scoring Workshop with Women in Music Scholarship from Sorel Organization, The Mentor Program from The Society of Composers and Lyricists, and the ASCAP/ Columbia Film Scoring Workshop. In 2019, she started her training under the mentorship of Hollywood composer, Junkie XL’s (aka. Tom Holkenborg) at his SCORE Academy and will become his official assistant in 2021. On top of Holkenborg, Ching-Shan has also worked for composers such as Carter Burwell, Jon Everist and Karim Elmahmoudi.
In addition to her film scoring career, her career writing concert music has also been blooming. She won The 7th International Antonín Dvorák Composition Competition and premiered her orchestral work, In History, in memory, with Prague Symphony Orchestra in 2017. Since 2019, she has became a frequent collaborator with National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra has commissioned her 10 orchestral arrangements as part of their “Restoration of 120 Folk Songs” project; arrangements for their grand 75th celebration for the orchestra and an original musical “Once Upon An Island“ that will be premiered in December, 2020. (taken from Ching-Shan Chang)
Performance Materials
Performance materials are available by contacting the composer through the composer’s website: