OSSIA New Music presents, the 30th season opener:
Monday, October 19th, 2026 - 7:30pm in Kilbourn Hall
1, 2, 3, 4!
Nattakon Lertwattanaruk & Matthew Lam, artistic directors
Join us for an evening of varied music for incrementing instrumentations, from one saxophonist to four! Opening with the humorous and energetic work for solo saxophone (1) and electronics, ‘Jouer,’ by Leah Reid, followed by Call for Works winner Samuel Hong-yu Leung’s ‘Flux’ for flute and viola (2), the concert also features our very own Matthew Lam’s string trio (3) ‘Destabilization’ and closes with Singaporean composer Yan Ee Toh’s ‘restless meditations ii’ for saxophone quartet (4).
concert overview
*world premiere
Leah Reid (b. 1985)
Jouer
Samuel Hong-yu Leung (b. 1999)
Flux
intermission
Matthew Lam (b. 1999)
Destabilization
Yan Ee Toh (b. 2001)
restless meditations ii
program
Nattakon Lertwattanaruk & Matthew Lam, artistic directors
assisted by Ko Muramatsu, OSSIA technical director
Jouer
5’ - 2023, for saxophone and electronics
Leah Reid (b. 1985)
Ben Small, saxophone
Flux
2026-27 call for works winner
5 ’ - 2026, for flute and viola
Samuel Hong-yu Leung (b. 1999)
Genevieve Skatoff, flute
Rachel Liu, viola
intermission (10’)
Destabilization
from the 2025-26 season OSSIA student commissions
8’ - 2025, for string trio
Matthew Lam (b. 1999)
Sascha Burhop, violin
Ricky Chui, viola
Tyler Brown, cello
restless meditations ii
10’ - 2024, for saxophone quartet
Yan Ee Toh (b. 2001)
Songyue Ge, soprano saxophone
Cole Moorhead, alto saxophone
Yunfei Xie, tenor saxophone
Jonah Kulick, baritone saxophone
program notes / artist biographies
Jouer
5’ - 2023, for saxophone and electronics
Lead Reid (b. 1985)
Jouer is an immersive composition for amplified soprano saxophone and electronics that explores sounds associated with “play”—sports, balls bouncing or being hit, playground and amusement park sounds, sounds of various children’s toys, balloons, video games, swimming pool games, trampolines, casinos, racetrack sounds, and much more. The electronics lead the listener through various soundscapes associated with the theme, while the saxophone part interacts with the evolving timbres and unifies the various sound worlds.
—Leah Reid
Leah Reid is a composer, sound artist, researcher, and educator whose work ranges from opera, chamber, and vocal music to acousmatic, electroacoustic, and interactive sound installations. A Guggenheim Fellow, she has been honored with awards from the American Prize, the International “New Vision” Composition Competition, the KLANG! International Electroacoustic Composition Competition, Musicworks’ Electronic Music Competition, Sound of the Year’s Composed with Sound Award, and IAWM’s Pauline Oliveros Award, among others. She has received fellowships from the Hambidge Center, MacDowell, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Ucross Foundation, and Yaddo.
Reid has collaborated with and received commissions from ensembles including Accordant Commons, Blow Up Percussion, the Boston New Music Initiative Ensemble, Excelsis, Guerilla Opera, Neave Trio, and the Piedmont Duo. Her music has been presented at major international festivals and venues across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Australia, including IRCAM’s ManiFeste, BEAST FEaST, MUSICACOUSTICA-HANGZHOU, Prix Russolo, and ICMC. Most recently, she was awarded a Barlow Commission for a forthcoming work with the Grossman Ensemble.
Reid currently serves as IAWM’s Vice President, Vice President for Projects and Programs for SEAMUS, and as an Assistant Professor of Composition and Computer Technologies at the University of Virginia.
Find more about Leah at www.leahreid.com
Flux
2026-27 OSSIA international call for works winner
5’ - 2026, for flute and viola
The music gives perpetual movement, change, and flow - nuanced and violent. It rejects staticity, hence the title “Flux”.
—Samuel Hong-yu Leung
Samuel Hong-yu Leung (b. 1999)
Samuel Hong-yu Leung is a Hong Kong-born composer currently studying Master’s composition with Fabien Lévy and Mauro Lanza at the Conservatoire of Music and Theatre Leipzig. Formerly, he graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong with first-class honours. His first orchestral piece - …then, “he wrapped his face in his mantle” - has just premiered by the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra in July and will be broadcasted by MDR Klassik in Fall.
His works have been internationally recognized: Representing Hong Kong sector with Variations for string quartet in International Society of Contemporary Music (ISCM 2025, Portugal), and Excursion II was recommended in the under-30 category at the International Rostrum of Composers (2024, Lithuania).
Leung has been commissioned by the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra and Hong Kong Composers’ Guild, and his music has been performed by ensembles including the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, Dissolution Ensemble, Metropolitan String Quartet, Mivos Quartet, the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra and the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble.
Find more about Samuel at samuelleung.com
Destabilization
2025-26 OSSIA student commission
8’ - 2025, for string trio
Matthew Lam (b. 1999)
Destabilization explores different ways of distorting and filtering ‘noise’ in the context of string instruments or/and string ensemble, and to a certain extent reflects the current state of our society. I categorized three destabilizing ‘processes’ in the piece - physical, pitch, and spectral. Physical instability deals with articulation – very slow/quick bow speed, tremolo, bow pressure all alter the outcome of the timbre. Pitch instability is mostly created through pitch interpolation, by (irregular) glissandi and vibrato. Spectral destabilization is achieved by distorting the instrumental spectra by various instrumental techniques, including altering bowing position and the use of overpressure. Different sections of the piece focus on different types of destabilization processes, in times with very extreme parameters.
—Matthew Lam
Born and raised in Hong Kong, Matthew Lam is an active composer of acoustic and electroacoustic music and an enthusiast of contemporary music style. His music experiments on a wide array of sounds and timbre with contemporary instrumental techniques and electronics, and integrates electroacoustic elements into acoustic music. His recent interests include saturation in music and ambisonics. Winning multiple awards, his works were featured in numerous events, including ACO Earshot (USA), June in Buffalo (USA), International Rostrum of Composers (Netherlands), TagTEAMS (Thailand), Espacios Sonoros (Argentina), Paysages | Composés (France), and International Review of Composers (Serbia). Groups such as the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Toledo Symphony, Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Mivos Quartet, and [Switch~ Ensemble] are among the many who have presented Lam’s music. He is currently pursuing his doctoral studies at Eastman School of Music and serves as a teaching assistant at Electroacoustic Music Studios at Eastman.
Find out more about Matthew at matthewlamcomposer.wixsite.com/composer
restless meditations ii
10’ - 2023, for saxophone quartet
Yan Ee Toh (b. 2001)
Inspired by my past experiences with meditation and yoga, this piece for saxophone quartet forms part of my ongoing series restless meditations, exploring the pursuit of calmness and stillness amidst an ever-increasingly fast paced society filled with distractions and instant gratification. The form of the piece follows the narrative of one's attempts to find stillness in meditation, progressing through countless mental and physical obstacles, learning to let go, and expanding one's awareness.
—Yan Ee Toh
Yan Ee Toh is a Singaporean composer whose music fuses elements of spontaneity and organicity. Her works explore gestures through the amalgamation and morphing of timbres and harmonies.
Yan Ee’s recent interests in interdisciplinary work and traditional instruments have led to performances at the Courtauld Gallery, collaborations with Duo Nessi and School of the Arts Ethnic Ensemble, and the curation of the ‘Landscapes//Atmospheres’ concert series championing new works for the transducer piano.
Yan Ee’s music has been performed in 11 countries, with notable performances at Wigmore Hall, Cockpit Theatre, Victoria Concert Hall and Esplanade Recital Studio. She has worked with RIOT Ensemble, CHROMA, Onyx Brass, TACET(i), Orkest de Ereprijs, Salastina, found sound nation, Les Percussions de Strasbourg, Quartetto Maurice, ensemble chromoson, and Singapore Chinese Orchestra, amongst others.
Her accolades include The Musicians' Company's Priaulx Rainier Composition Prize, Boston New Music Initiative Young Composer Competition (Winner), and Runner-Up Prizes at the Black Bayou Composition Award and the International Composition Institute of Thailand.
Having completed her undergraduate studies at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music (Singapore), Yan Ee recently graduated with a Master of Music from the Royal Academy of Music (London), and was awarded the DipRAM in recognition of an exceptional portfolio.
Find out more about Yan Ee at tohyanee.com
personnel / the ensemble
the 2026-27 OSSIA core
Ty Taya Promreuk, executive director // piano
Nattakon Lertwattanaruk, artistic co-director // electronics, keyboards
Matthew Lam, artistic co-director // electronics, keyboards
Peiwen Zou, music director
Aidan Chase, secretary // percussion
Yimei Liang, treasurer // piano
Cyrus Kuester-Ha, personnel co-manager // double bass
Sascha Burhop, personnel co-manager // violin
Ethan Resnik, PR manager // technical assistant, keyboards
Ko Muramatsu // head technician
tonight’s featured performers
Ben Small, saxophone
Genevieve Skatoff, flute
Rachel Liu, viola
Ricky Chui, viola
Tyler Brown, cello
Songyue Ge, soprano saxophone
Cole Moorhead, alto saxophone
Yunfei Xie, tenor saxophone
Jonah Kulick, baritone saxophone