Tibetan Dance (2000)

Program Note

Tibetan Dance was written in 2000. The work was commissioned by Michigan State University for the Verdehr Trio, to whom the work is dedicated.

The first two movements of the work are in reminiscence; as if one is hearing songs from a distant memory. The work is anchored on the last movement, when the music gradually becomes real. Here, the music is based on a Tibetan folk dance motive from Qinghai, a Chinese province bordered with Tibet, where I lived during my teenage years.

—Bright Sheng