Portfolio
Recent Projects and Compositions:
Partial Men (2020; rev. 2022)
The Dancing Moonlight (2017; rev. 2023)
Pattern (2024)
Invisible Portals (excerpt) (2022)
How the Stars Vanish... (2021)
Honeycomb (2023)
Mando-Pop Music Demo & Release:
Demo of Departure (Chu Zou), Dai Wei
Departure (Chu Zou), Aska Yang
Demo of The Unspoken You, Dai Wei
The Unspoken You, Rainie Yang
Partial Men
for string quartet, voice, and electronics
Words and music by Dai Wei
Performed by Dai Wei and Aizuri String Quartet.
Towards the end of 2019, my mother underwent her second kidney transplant surgery. In that moment of receiving the news, a whirlwind of emotions enveloped me: gratitude for the continued life bestowed upon my mother, and a heavy sorrow for the person who had bequeathed this life-altering gift. Through this piece, I came to realize that I had forged an indescribable connection with a stranger I had never met. This ten-minute composition unfolds the countless moments of that singular act—the moment when the surgeon transplants the organs from one body to the other. Partial Men is dedicated to two deceased men who donated their kidneys to my mother in 2004 and 2019, and to many other unsung heroes who extended other people’s life.
The Dancing Moonlight
for orchestra
Conner Gray Covington, conductor
Curtis Symphony Orchestra
The Dancing Moonlight is largely a piece about my infatuation with a type of traditional dance music that originated from an ethnic group called Yi in Yunnan, China. With the capture and blending of the style and timbre in Jazz and Rock music, I want to express that we are always looking at the same moon regardless of where we are, who we are, and where we come from.
Pattern
for multichannel voices
Performed and produced by Dai Wei
Video by Dai Wei, Sha Tao
This composition is anchored in a repetitive pattern that gradually blossoms into a whimsical world centered around my voice. With influences drawn from folk, pop, post-minimalist, and electronic music, I strive to push the boundaries of the human voice in multiple directions. By interweaving these diverse elements, my goal is to evoke a sense of familiarity tinged with resonances from various musical genres. Through ongoing processing, improvisation, and manipulation of the repetitive motif, I hope this one-person a cappella piece create rich layers of voices that lead an immersive and adventurous journey, interacting and evolving with each nuanced twist and turn.
Invisible Portals
for chamber orchestra, vocalist, and electronics
Conducted by Marin Alsop
Performed by Dai Wei and American Composers Orchestra
Video by Skillman Music
When I was in Tibet, I was told that there was a legendary realm of peace and prosperity, governed by wisdom and passion. This place is called Shambhala. It is said that at the bottom of the Potala Palace, there is a secret tunnel to Shambhala. This immediately reminds me of the mandala thangka, where the geometric patterns are constructed on a series of concentric squares or circles with numerous entrances. Invisible Portals involves musical elements such as throat singing, traditional ethnic dance music, contemporary resonance, and propulsive rhythms of pop music. My hope is to open up an adventure to Shambhala——a place that does not come only from the West or the East; a place where multicultural and multidimensional conversations interweave beyond time and space. Ultimately it takes me to the Shambhala I carry inside.
How the Stars Vanish...
for flute, clarinet, violin and cello
The title How the Stars Vanish… came from a phrase of a poem written by the Persian poet Rūmī. This piece is based on my observation and imagination of the stars. I think stars always try their best to be stable in their whole life. When a massive star runs out of fuel, it swells, suddenly collapses, and a very dense core will be left behind, along with the expanding nebula. Looking at stars sometimes can be a very personal thing. It doesn’t require this knowledge to create an intimate, poetic conversation between you and the stars. When it comes to dark, I look up at the sky. We are just a mote of dust floating among the vast and tranquil Milky Way. Suddenly, a shooting star glides down the sky, while Orion and Pegasus are silently sharing their stories. Some of the stars are coming towards us, while some of them are vanishing.
Honeycomb
for sinfonietta
I had the idea for this piece back at the end of 2021, a year I had the opportunity to reunite with my family in China because of the pandemic travel ban. I did not know when there was a beehive hanging outside the window of my bedroom. The honeybees constantly came and left and buzzed around all the time. Later I found out that when a honeybee returns to its hive, it passes the nectar to another bee by regurgitating the liquid into the other bee’s mouth. They keep repeating this process until the nectar finally settles into the honeycomb. I looked at that giant beehive and thought to myself: these repeating hexagonal cells can be turned into such a fruitful, beautiful, and powerful honeycomb. So I started the piece with an imaginary "hexagonal unit" that, through repetition, built it into a "honeycomb"——all great moments are worth remembering, but so are every little moment.
Mando-Pop Music:
Demo & Release
Demo of Departure (Chu Zou)
produced, recorded, sung by Dai Wei (November, 2007)
Departure (Chu Zou)
Aska Yang, Universal Music Group. (March, 2013)
Demo of The Unspoken You (Bu Gan Shuo De Huai Nian)
produced, recorded, sung by Dai Wei (December, 2010)
The Unspoken You (Bu Gan Shuo De Huai Nian)
Rainie Yang, Sony Music. (August, 2012)