Bobby Ge - Pupil of Light, for soprano, ensemble, and electronics (Khemia Ensemble) [Score Follow]

Completed April 1, 2023
Premiered April 19, 2024 by Khemia Ensemble in Music for a Great Space, Greensboro, North Carolina
Commissioned by Khemia Ensemble
I have been an admirer of Karen An-Hwei Lee’s sumptuous poetry for years now. Her profound yet transparent writings are often surprisingly prosaic, blending technical buzzwords and theological jargon together with colloquial, personal observations of the world around her. Though her works pose elemental questions about God and existence, the writing never feels pompous: her posture is always one of quiet curiosity and humility.
Selecting a text of hers to set, however, proved quite a challenge. The same features of her poetry that so appealed to me - its unwieldy vocabulary, its prose-like nature, its ambiguity - also made it decidedly tricky to conceive of as song. I was grateful, then, to discover Say If Not a Moon, an unexpectedly lyrical yet no less characteristic piece of hers.
The poem paints a familiar scene of a full moon rising over an ocean. Defying such imagery’s conventionally Romantic or Impressionistic connotations, Lee casts the moon as a coldly indifferent observer: an Eckleburgian eye, gazing out at the world with little interest in its machinations. I sought to capture this passivity in Pupil of Light using two contrasting pieces of material: bright, shimmering gestures in the percussion/piano, and insouciant melody in the voice/winds. Floating their way through such a potentially vibrant world, the singer’s lines seem affectless by comparison - as is Lee’s distant yet beauteous moon.
I am deeply grateful to the intrepid musicians of Khemia Ensemble for commissioning and realizing the piece.

[@InfiniteHappy-Music]

Such an inspiration!

[@danielgermano5026]

genius

[@ElisaHalley]

Omg a masterpiece!! I’ve been following you about 4/5 months and I really love your music and all you transmit. Greetings from Mexico 🇲🇽

[@bobbycge]

thanks! glad you enjoyed!

[@alxnmxsic]

Beautiful! 👏👏👏

[@ethanhcomposer]

Beautiful music!
Just a quick question :D --what did you do as a composer before your college years (as a high school composer)? what tips would you give to a high school composer whose goal is to get their music known and performed? thanks!!

[@bobbycge]

thank you! honestly, in high school, i wasn't really much of a composer - mostly i just listened to a ton of music! i truly do think that's maybe one of the best things anyone can do at any point, as getting to know and love a wide variety of music helps you keep an open mind and broadens the kinds of techniques you're familiar with. i attempted to transcribe some of the music i really loved in high school (mainly film music at the time), and that in retrospect was very handy! and obv if you have friends who are musicians, it might also be really fun to make music for/with them. i didn't really get to hear anything i wrote performed until college, but that was mainly because my high school didn't have a real music program. hope that helps!

[@Malcomposer]

Another amazing piece! I love the way you used sandpaper blocks. How did that idea come up?

[@bobbycge]

i think i heard that in a piece by christopher cerrone - i'm forgetting which one off the top of my head, but he has some really, really lovely percussion writing in pieces like 'don't look down,' 'meander, spiral, explode,' and 'goldbeater's skin.'