声乐套曲.四季诗谣: Song cycle : seasons (twenty-four solar terms)

This project introduces the newly composed Chinese art song cycle “声乐套曲.四季诗谣” (Song cycle–Seasons [Twenty-Four Solar Terms]) by two renowned Chinese cultural figures, composer Cong Liu and poet Yajuan Li. The song cycle consists of twenty-four art songs for soprano and piano, each representing one of the twenty-four solar terms. This project includes the recordings of this song cycle and a thesis exploring the song cycle.

Along with presenting the work of Cong Liu and Yajuan Li to American audiences, this project depicts the traditional twenty-four Chinese solar terms and their representative agricultural folk traditions. These twenty-four short Chinese poems describe the human activities and cultural changes to the landscape during the twenty-four solar terms. After introducing the cultural background, the thesis considers some musical excerpts from the composer and discusses the performer’s experience in creating this newly composed art song cycle.