Lines From The Vegetarian
LINES FROM THE VEGETARIAN (2026)
for viola and piano · ca. 8 minutes
Instrumentation: Viola, Piano
PROGRAM NOTE
I wrote this piece around four images from Han Kang’s novel The Vegetarian, a story about two sisters (Yeong-hye and In-hye) trapped by societal expectations despite making opposite choices. Unlike much of my other work, which often conveys a specific external narrative, this piece is an intimate, personal musical reflection on a book I find deeply powerful.
The work begins with Yeong-hye’s confession: the piano enters sparingly as the viola’s monologue-like melody emerges from a single central pitch. This quickly darkens into a nightmare texture where the piano repeats obsessively and the viola alternates between high and low registers (contrasting lyrical singing with gritty resistance) to create a disjointed atmosphere too visceral to dismiss, yet too surreal to resolve.
The instruments then move into near-unison; the piano occasionally breaks away to mimic veins extending from leaf buds while the viola’s arpeggiated harmonics imitate petals unfurling. Struck by the central imagery of painted flowers and its paradoxical beauty, the music reflects this through a texture that is rhythmically hollow yet harmonically lush.
In the final section, the opening motif attempts to return, but like In-hye’s trailing words, it is unable to sustain itself — gradually fracturing and disappearing into silence.
PREMIERE & PERFORMANCES
World Premiere: April 8, 2026 at Viola Premieres 2026 (Carol Rodland Studio), Paul Hall, The Juilliard School
Additional Performance: April 23, 2026 at Juilliard Composers’ Concert, Paul Hall
Performers: Sam Anderson (viola), Haoran Cui (piano)
