Think about the idea of “family”, for a moment. How do you define it? What benefits, memories, or maybe even traumas do you associate with “family”? The answers to those questions are, of course, different for every individual, but for one composer, an exploration of these ideas resulted in a groundbreaking orchestral score. Hi, I’m Loki Karuna, and on this edition of Noteworthy I’d like to explore the idea of family by way of a work by composer Oswald Huỳnh.
Oswald, like many composers, has been largely inspired, artistically, by his heritage, which for him, is Vietnamese. This 2022 composition that he called Gia Đình, or “family”, in English, is an exploration of intergenerational trauma, cultural inheritance, and what is lost between eras.
Thanks to ensembles like the American Composers Orchestra, which is featured here, the emotions and ideas behind Gia Đình have come to life, showcasing not only Oswald’s ability to create music inspired by Vietnamese histories and aesthetics, but also to shine a light on what’s at the cutting edge of orchestral composition. Oswald Huỳnh musically creates what very few others have, earning him a spot among the family of Noteworthy composers.
Noteworthy is a production of WDAV classical public radio.