Lydia Ayers (1952-2022) was a composer, flutist, educator, and puppeteer. Starting in 1996, she permanently resided in Hong Kong, where she taught at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Predominantly working in Csound on the NeXT computer, Lydia Ayers composed computer music with unlimited just intonation, re-creating numerous Indonesian, Native American, Australian, and Chinese instruments digitally. She also wrote acoustic music, including over 30 solo and ensemble works for flutes. Ayers performed on a wide range of flutes from various cultural traditions, utilizing extended vocal and woodwind techniques: quarter tones, multiphonics, buzz tones, and other unusual flute timbres.
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1 to 10 of 60 Results
Ombres des Toiles d'Araignées
Oct 9, 2024
Ayers, Lydia, 2024, "Ombres des Toiles d'Araignées", https://doi.org/10.14711/dataset/OR2JLS, DataSpace@HKUST, V1
Ombres des Toiles d’Araignées (Shadows of Spider Webs) is a whimsical piece inspired by the beauty of light and shadow on spider webs, and the sort of peek-a-boo quality of these delicate filaments which can seem to disappear when viewed from new angles.
Étude détempérée
Oct 9, 2024
Ayers, Lydia, 2024, "Étude détempérée", https://doi.org/10.14711/dataset/DWDPK5, DataSpace@HKUST, V1
Étude détempérée is a very delicate piece that requires the guitarist to play on the “wrong” side of the strings, which defeats the tempered fretting system of the guitar. It was inspired by discussions with French guitarist Jean-Luc Mas, in which he showed me the technique of pl...
Yazi’s Dream
Oct 9, 2024
Ayers, Lydia, 2024, "Yazi’s Dream", https://doi.org/10.14711/dataset/BBUNB5, DataSpace@HKUST, V1
Yazi's Dream celebrates the life of Yazi, my first cat. In Looking at Birds, the recorded birds represent the birds Yazi watched and tried to talk to through the window. The synthesized trills on the bang di, a Chinese flute which resembles a keyless bamboo piccolo, represent Yaz...
Wild Herons
Oct 9, 2024
Ayers, Lydia, 2024, "Wild Herons", https://doi.org/10.14711/dataset/PTMGOF, DataSpace@HKUST, V1
A. Fast, Excited, Jazzy B. Very Expressive C. Two Birds Call and Respond D. Endangered Birds Wild Herons, for flute duet and recorded computer music soundscape, is inspired by my mother’s work in the environmental movement in the ‘60's. Imagine a scene of moving water, bird calls...
Why Ask Questions?
Oct 9, 2024
Ayers, Lydia, 2024, "Why Ask Questions?", https://doi.org/10.14711/dataset/Z4NM7T, DataSpace@HKUST, V1
Why Ask Questions? was commissioned by Danny Yung as background music for an installation art exhibition. At the time, the 1997 Handover was on the horizon, and many in Hong Kong were questioning what the future would bring. Others asked, "Why ask questions? Why not just accept f...
Time's Graffiti: Lucky Calligraphy
Oct 9, 2024
Ayers, Lydia, 2024, "Time's Graffiti: Lucky Calligraphy", https://doi.org/10.14711/dataset/8VLMUQ, DataSpace@HKUST, V1
Petroglyphs The Dancing Figure Blue Rain Raining on the Dancing Figure Time's Graffiti: Lucky Calligraphy is inspired by Hawaiian petroglyphs and Australian rock paintings. It is in four continuous sections with an environmental soundscape in the background throughout. The first...
Theme and Improvisations for Woodstock Gamelan
Oct 9, 2024
Ayers, Lydia, 2024, "Theme and Improvisations for Woodstock Gamelan", https://doi.org/10.14711/dataset/YW31AA, DataSpace@HKUST, V1
Improvisations using quasi-Balinese themes.
The Chalky Desert Where Nothing Grows
Oct 9, 2024
Ayers, Lydia, 2024, "The Chalky Desert Where Nothing Grows", https://doi.org/10.14711/dataset/ZPCYSV, DataSpace@HKUST, V1
The title, The Chalky Desert Where Nothing Grows jumped out of a sentence in an environmental magazine and inspired me to write this piece, which has the character of the subtle shimmer of the heat of the desert and motion within motionless. The magazine article referred to the d...
Temple of the Dancing Cascade
Oct 9, 2024
Ayers, Lydia, 2024, "Temple of the Dancing Cascade", https://doi.org/10.14711/dataset/AZQCHL, DataSpace@HKUST, V1
In the Temple The Fire Spirit The Wind Spirit The Demon of Destruction Inspired by the beautiful landscapes of Zion, Bryce and Yosemite national parks in the southwest United States, Temple of the Dancing Cascade is a story of four spirits representing a waterfall, fire, wind and...
Tala Malika Jak
Oct 9, 2024
Ayers, Lydia, 2024, "Tala Malika Jak", https://doi.org/10.14711/dataset/2VNOLI, DataSpace@HKUST, V1
Tala Malika Jak is loosely inspired by the Indonesian Kecak (monkey chant) and the Indian tala malika (garland of talas). I asked each of the students in my Exploring Music class to record one sample of the sound "jak." I then had a group of more than 100 samples to use for the s...
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