Breaking Boundaries (2025) - ca. 6.5'

full orchestra

Commissioned by the La Jolla Symphony

Premiere performance
La Jolla Symphony on Jan.31 and Feb.1 2026, @ UC San Diego, CA

Program Note
Breaking Boundaries began with a simple inspiration: the jelly beans in my grandparents’ candy cabinet. Every time we visited, we made a beeline for those colorful candies, eager to taste each flavor (well except for the buttered popcorn and black licorice). I decided to bring that memory to life by using real jelly beans in mason jars as percussion instruments - “jelly bean shakers.” Over time, the idea of jelly beans took on a deeper meaning, symbolizing childhood itself: bright and full of joy. From there, the piece grew into a reflection of my own journey from childhood to adulthood, and exploring how those two worlds clash, blend, and ultimately coexist.

The opening fanfare foreshadows the conflict between child and adult with the adult (the brass fanfare) announcing itself and then the child (the jelly bean interludes) arguing back. The fanfare then gives way to a bouncy, klezmer-influenced, and jelly bean featured section about happy childhood memories. Gradually, the music turns nostalgic and stubbornly resistant as the reality of growing up and leaving childhood takes hold. Eventually, this bittersweet feeling of growing up morphs into a grand moment of realization, a breaking of boundaries: that the happy moments of childhood can still be present as I become an adult. The piece concludes with an epic return of the fanfare, this time working together with the jelly beans, symbolizing how the sweet memories of childhood can still exist throughout our life.