Symphony Orchestra

About the Program

Minoo Dixon
Sinsa
Born December 8, 1999
Composed 2024 (rev. 2025)
Premiered October 5th, 2024, The University of Texas Lab Orchestra, Jared Sierra, conductor
Duration 10 minutes 

The mind travels thoughts …
recklessly
thumping
on the wall of its inhabitant
screaming
at itself to be
peaceful.

Sinsa is the first work of mine where I adopted the practice of meditation into my habitual compositional process. I started this process due to me harboring immense loads of anxiety before, during, and after my writing process. It was one that was affecting my daily creative life in such an unhealthy way that I became desperate to find a solution. Before every session, I would meditate for a minimum of ten minutes. An important facet of Sinsa, is that it was not intended to be programmatic in nature, instead I truly wanted to steer the musical energy that was possessing the piece. As the piece began to come to fruition, I noticed that subconsciously I was composing in such a way that it was reflective to how my 10-minute meditation would go. The more I meditated and composed, the more the subconscious became my conscious, which in the end mended my relationship with composing. The other substantial underpinning relates to the title Sinsa (신사), a word that can mean “shrine” in Korean. I chose this title for two main reasons. First, it reflects my meditation practice, symbolizing the structure of my inner mental shrine that I inhabit. Second is that my recent works and research have been in the field of Korean traditional music. Rather than taking a direct approach of making this apparent, I let it course through my writing subtlety. Throughout the work there are numerous subtle nods to the traditional medium, such as synthetic scales that incorporate Korean melodic modes, underlying rhythmic patterns of Samul-nori practices, and melodic features subtly reminiscent of Pansori singing. The most important factor however, is that this piece incorporates the feeling of Han (한), a nuanced emotion of resentment, regret, and injustice that permeates all of Korean society, and is by far the most common emotion expressed in Korean traditional music.

– Minoo Dixon 

Dmitri Shostakovich
Violin Concerto in A Minor, Op. 77
Born September 25, 1906, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Died August 9, 1975, Moscow, Russia
Composed 1947-1948
Premiered October 29, 1955, Leningrad Philharmonic, David Oistrakh, violinist, Yevgeny Mravinsky, conductor
Duration 40 minutes

In September 1946, a Soviet war hero—and Stalin mouthpiece—Marshal Andrei Alexandrovich Zhdanov delivered two violent speeches attacking two of the most revered writers then working in Russia: Mikhail Zoshchenko and Anna Akhmatova. He would go on to excoriate anything that could have been seen as remotely Western, bourgeoise, or democratic. In February of 1948, Zhdanov committed Stalin’s wishes to policy with a written document now known as the Zhdanov Decree, which sought to purge music that had been considered gems in the crown of Soviet life. This included Shostakovich’s music (despite him having participated in crafting several soundtracks for highly propagandized films). It was during this time that Shostakovich had begun crafting a concerto for the violinist David Oistrakh. Although it was completed in 1948, there was no possibility for a public performance, and the work went unheard until 1955—after the deaths of both Stalin and Zhdanov.  Shostakovich himself described the work as ‘a symphony for violin and orchestra,’ not least of all for its unusual four-movement structure. A slow nocturne opens the work, which Oistrakh called “a suppression of feelings,” which is followed by a virtuosic “demonic” scherzo. The third movement—a passacaglia—is built on a seventeen-bar ground bass, which is first heard in the orchestra before it is repeated eight more times ahead of a truly mammoth cadenza. The finale is labeled a Burlesque, which the composer is said to have described as “a satirical picture of the dictator, deliberately hollow but dressed up as exuberant adulation.”

 – Mark Bilyeu

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About the Artists

Minoo Dixon

Minoo Dixon is a Korean-American composer who has been on the rise composing meaningful and exciting music meant for a variety of audiences in the concert hall. He also has been an enthusiastic supporter and aided in initiatives of bringing diversity into concert music. Throughout his years of composing, he has been awarded the Donald Martino Award for Excellence in Composition, 2024 NBA/Alfred Young Band Composition Contest Winner, two NEC Honors Ensemble Composition Competitions, and a Finalist of the ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composers Awards Competition. His compositions are available internationally and have been performed at locations such as Carnegie Hall, Busan Cultural Center, Jordan Hall, and the Midwest Clinic. Minoo earned his Bachelor of Music in Composition from New England Conservatory, where he studied under the tutelage of Michael Gandolfi.  He will earn his Master in Music in composition (2025) at University of Texas at Austin’s Butler School of Music where he is under the tutelage of Omar Thomas.

Chris Tran

Chris Tran is co-director of The University of Texas University Orchestra, graduate teaching assistant for the University of Texas Orchestras, and is currently pursuing a doctor of musical arts in orchestral conducting with Farkhad Khudyev at The University of Texas at Austin. Mr. Tran has been an invited conductor at several masterclasses and workshops in Boulder, Los Angeles, Eugene, St. Andrews (Scotland), as well as the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music with Cristian Măcelaru, Thomas Sleeper, and Leonard Slatkin, and the International Conducting Workshop and Festival with the late Larry Rachleff and Donald Schleicher. He has also worked with conductors Neil Thomson, Jeff Grogan, and Sian Edwards. Mr. Tran earned a master of music in orchestral conducting from the University of Colorado Boulder with Gary Lewis, and a bachelor of music in music education from Southern Methodist University. His conducting mentors include Nicholas Carthy and Paul Phillips. He studied violin with Charles Wetherbee, former concertmaster of the Boulder Philharmonic, and Diane Kitzman, former principal violin of the Dallas Symphony. 

Yusong Zhao

Yusong Zhao is currently pursuing a doctor of musical arts at The University of Texas at Austin. He holds a master of music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music and a bachelor of music from the Hartt School, University of Hartford. Yusong has studied with internationally renowned violinists and educators. He began violin studies at the age of four with Mingjian Liu and has since worked with esteemed teachers such as Brian Lewis, Katie Lansdale, and Stephen Rose. His performances have been highly praised, with conductor Edward Cumming describing his tone as “warm and expressive” and recognizing his unique artistic voice. An active performer, Yusong has appeared at prestigious international music festivals and competitions. In 2018, he toured Europe with the National Youth Orchestra of China (NYO-China), and in 2023, he was selected for the Pacific Music Festival in Japan, serving as concertmaster and collaborating with Maestro Thomas Dausgaard and violinist Mayumi Kanagawa. He has won multiple competitions, including first prizes at the 2018 Hartt Chamber Music Competition and the 2021 Paranov Concerto Competition, where he performed Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major with Maestro Edward Cumming and the Hartt Orchestra. Most recently, he was the winner of the 2024 BSOM Concerto Competition.

Farkhad Khudyev

Farkhad Khudyev is the winner of the Gold Medal “Beethoven 250” at the 1st International Arthur Nikisch Conducting Competition; the Solti Foundation US 2018 and 2022 Career Assistance Award; the Best Interpretation Prize at the 1st International Taipei Conducting Competition; the 3rd prize at the 8th International Sir Georg Solti Conducting Competition; and the Gold Medal/Grand Prize at the 2007 National Fischoff Competition. Khudyev has worked with orchestras worldwide including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Frankfurt Opera Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, Monterey Symphony, George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, Xi’an Symphony Orchestra and the State Taipei Chinese Orchestra. Farkhad was born in Turkmenistan, where he studied at the State Music School for gifted musicians, and then completed his studies at Interlochen Arts Academy, Oberlin Conservatory and Yale University. Khudyev serves as the Music Director of the University of Texas Symphony Orchestra in Austin, and the Orchestral Institute at the Hidden Valley Institute of the Arts in Carmel, California.

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Symphony Orchestra

Principals
1. Dixon
2. Shostakovich
 

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