music/Maker with Tyler Kline // Episode 47

Unlearning Restriction and Expanding into Creative Freedom with Shuying Li

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On today's episode of music/Maker with Tyler Kline, Tyler is joined by composer Shuying Li.

Praised by the San Francisco Chronicle as "vivid, dramatic" and described by The Seattle Times as "a real talent," Shuying Li writes bold, emotionally charged music that blends rich colors with compelling storytelling. Originally from China, she began her training at the Shanghai Conservatory before earning a scholarship to the Hartt School and going on to complete her master's and doctoral degrees at the University of Michigan. Her works have been performed by the San Francisco Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Alarm Will Sound, and many others worldwide. She is currently on the faculty at California State University, Sacramento.

In this conversation, Shuying and Tyler trace her unlikely path to composition — from a medical family in China, to a spontaneous cross-country audition tour, to the culture shock of arriving at the Hartt School and hearing for the first time that she could simply write whatever she wanted. They talk about the long, slow process of unlearning the need to impress and finding music as a means of connection instead, the universal stories that anchor her work, and how founding the Four Corners Ensemble reshaped her understanding of collaboration. They also get into her compositional process, her recent push to fold jazz, blues, minimalism, and EDM into her concert music, and her belief that a finished score is only about half the piece — the rest belonging equally to performers and audiences.

Learn more about Shuying and her work at https://www.shuyingli.com/

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