• Malen Cheung

    – Experiments in Max –

    Compositions, instruments, and other projects in Max:

    Reef Songs – Program Note:

    Reef Songs is an interactive composition consisting of six performers organized into three duets playing three different “songs.”

    The composition is largely inspired by my experiences scuba diving and snorkeling the coral reefs of Aruba (March 2026). During these aquatic expeditions I was struck by the immense and specific sonic landscapes above water (waves, wind, crustaceans, and shellfish) and below (pistol shrimp, parrot fish, scuba gear, other organisms, and human activity).

    Each section of the composition captures a unique realm of sonic activity blending together the submerged and above-water landscapes and ecosystems.

    Performed at the 2026 Toneburst Electroextravaganza concert as part of Wesleyan University’s Laptop Ensemble organized and conducted by Professor Paula Matthusen:

    Gabe Barnett, Malen Cheung, Allen Li, Orlando Osgood, Katia Michals, Thomas Groff-Barragan

    Waves – Program Note:

    Waves is a visual audio composition using pitch detection of the electric bass guitar to generate wave forms and a playful conversation between instrumental input and programmed output with random variations.

    The composition utilizes a quad surround sound system with white noise generators acting as ocean waves. These pan across the room alongside layers of synthesized sound.

    The visual content focuses on the natural aesthetic of the ocean’s waves, manipulated and overlayed with sound-responsive layers.

    Together, the visual and audio material combine to form a looping, evolving, and intermingled system of waves.

    Performed at the 2026 VIVA la AV concert as part of Wesleyan University’s Professor Paula Matthusen’s course, Live-Electronics for Composition, Improvisation, and Sound Art.

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  • Malen Cheung

    – Between Animals –

    The Boundaries of Sound

    A score composed for and alongside the choreography of Malia Detar Cheung’s senior dance thesis, Between Animals (Wesleyan University, 2025). 

    Between Animals explores what it means to “dance with horses.” The composition consists of field recordings of Malia’s horse Violet alongside recorded and live instrumentation.

    The compositional process of both the choreography and sonic world bridge dance and music in a conversation of movement and sound across bodies and interspecies relationships.

    Dancers

    Adam Cyzner, Ry De Guzman Jr., Eleanor Kanengiser, Sana Lee, Violet Detar (“Five-Mile Fortune”)

    Live Musicians

    Ellis Carter (trumpet), Xavier Samuel (saxophone), and Gavin Cui (Flute)

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  • Malen Cheung

    – Manresa Birdsong –

    Manresa Birdsong
    (8:10; 2025)

    Manresa Birdsong is a site-specific cello and recorded composition installed at the previously abandoned Manresa power plant in Norwalk, Connecticut. The composition directs listeners to reflect on the liminal stage of the power plant during its reconstruction into a recreational park.

    Program Note

    Now decommissioned, the sonic soul of Manresa is one of eerie silence, which conjures the “noise” of its industrial past and the polluted ecosystems and wildlife that remain in its toxic wake.

    Manresa Birdsong brings cello to a sonic exploration of the turbine hall to share stories and observations of geese, herons, gulls, and ospreys attempting to survive among the heavy metals and metallic mountain that dominate life at Manresa.

    The composition imagines the birds calling throughout the power plant and the surrounding environments, conveying their despair and symbolizing the shared fate of all life at Manresa.

    Thank you to Austin and Allison McChord for support and access to the Manresa Wilds, and professor Courtney Fullilove and visiting professor Ari Benjamin Meyers at Wesleyan University (Fall 2025)

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