Charles Amirkhanian, Executive and Artistic Director of Other Minds Inc. (OM), San Francisco's most dedicated and resourceful leader in generating, nurturing, and preserving 20^th and 21^st century music, has announced the release on 8 February 2011 of Since When Has the Bright Moon Existed? (OM 1018), a collection of world premiere recordings of works by Chinese-American composer Kui Dong (pronounced Kway Dong). The composer draws inspiration from old forms, employs unusual instrumental combinations, and even commingles four languages within her compositions. The major work on the CD, "Shui Diao Ge Tou and Song," is performed brilliantly by San Francisco's adventurous choir Volti, led by conductor Robert Geary, who also presents the heartfelt "Let Frogs and Crickets Carry It On" with the Piedmont Children's Choir. Pianists Sally Pinkas and Evan Hirsch perform a stark set of three works, "Miniatures V-VII," and the bold pairing of the Chinese music ensemble Melody of China with the Del Sol String Quartet bears arresting results on Dong's seasons cycle, inspired by both Vivaldi and Cage, titled "Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter."

Born in Beijing, China, Kui Dong began her music education with piano lessons at age 4. She ultimately obtained her master's degree with honors in theory and composition in 1989 from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, where she was trained in Western and Chinese classical music, as well as Chinese folk music. She started her career as a composer of scores for film, television, and ballet while still in China. In 1991, she moved to the United States and obtained a doctorate in composition at Stanford University. Since immigrating to the U.S. her compositions increasingly show a unique synthesis of influences from the greater variety of musical styles she has encountered, from avant-garde experiments to jazz, electro-acoustic, and world musics. She sometimes incorporates traditional Chinese instruments and musical ideas into contemporary settings. Ms.Dong, on the faculty of Dartmouth College, also occasionally performs free improvisation on piano with fellow faculty members Christian Wolff and Larry Polansky. Ms. Dong has received commissions and prizes from a wide spectrum of prestigious institutions, including The Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation, the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University, Meet the Composer, Central Ballet Group of China, ISCM, and ASCAP. Her music is featured on recordings issued by New World Records (Pangu's Song, 80620) and Other Minds (Hands Like Waves Unfold, OM 1011).

The 25-year old mixed choir Volti, conducted by Robert Geary, works with some of the most creative and original established and emerging American composers, and is devoted to a diverse repertoire including multiple premieres and commissions each season. With over 500 performances to its credit, the group has become one of America's renowned choirs, recognized as a pioneering force of contemporary choral performance. In June of 2009 Volti was awarded the ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music for an unprecedented sixth time. Critics have praised Volti's "stunning performances" of "unique and ambitious program[s]." The San Francisco Classical Voice called the group "an important and formidable local asset, immensely rewarding to hear in repertoire that no one else seems to be taking on." In 2008, SFCV's Georgia Rowe called the group "one of the Bay Area's most consistent musical treasures."

The Del Sol String Quartet, two-time national winner of the Chamber Music America/ASCAP First Place Award for Adventurous Programming, has for over 15 years served as a champion of innovative interactions with audiences, composers, and fellow artists. The group has collaborated with choreographers and visual artists as well as such composers as Tan Dun, Chinary Ung, Peter Sculthorpe, Gabriela Lena Frank, and Daniel Bernard Roumain. The Quartet's recordings include Marc Blitzstein: First Life (OM 1017), Ring of Fire (OM 1016) featuring music by eight Pacific Rim composers, and the ground-breaking George Antheil: The Complete Works for String Quartet (OM 1008). The Quartet's active involvement in community engagement has touched the lives of over 30,000 people over the last decade, in programs conducted in California, New Mexico, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Arkansas. Current members of the Del Sol String Quartet: Kate Stenberg and Rick Shinozaki, violins; Charlton Lee, viola; Kathryn Bates Williams, cello.

Melody of China (MOC), founded in 1993, is a San Francisco-based Chinese chamber ensemble whose mission is "to provide rich musical entertainment through the synergy of ancient Chinese tradition with youthful... American culture; and... to promote classical and modern Chinese music." MOC is dedicated to taking on new works in addition to traditional material. The organization's co-founders, Hong Wang and Yangqin Zhao, have succeeded in bringing Chinese instruments out of obscurity and into the mainstream of Bay Area culture. MOC has commissioned over 40 new works and has mounted concerts featuring Songs from Mongolia and the innovative Young Composers series, where young Bay Area composers are asked to compose for Chinese instruments. MOC has performed with the Berlin Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, and at Lincoln Center.

The Hirsch-Pinkas Piano Duo (Evan Hirsch, Sally Pinkas) is dedicated to an exploration of new music. They have given concerts, masterclasses and workshops throughout the U.S. and at festivals and concert halls in such countries as Italy, Nigeria, China, Israel and Russia. Naxos is in the process of releasing their five-volume compilation of the complete piano works of George Rochberg. They teach at Brandeis University (Hirsch) and Dartmouth College (Pinkas).

Founded in 1992, Other Minds Inc. is a leading proponent for new and experimental music in all its forms, bringing together artists and audiences of diverse traditions, generations and cultural backgrounds. By fostering cross-cultural exchange and creative dialogue, and by encouraging exploration of areas in new music seldom touched upon by mainstream music institutions, OM is committed to expanding and reshaping the definition of what constitutes "serious music." From festival concerts, film screenings, and the commissioning of new works, to producing and releasing CDs, to archival preservation of thousands of concerts and composer interviews (which OM distributes free on the internet), OM has become one of the world's major conservators of new music's ecology.

Repertoire on Kui Dong: Since When Has the Bright Moon Existed?

Shui Diao Ge Tou and Song (2001, rev. 2003)

Miniatures V-VII (2003)

Let Frogs and Crickets Carry It On (2005-2006)

Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter (2006)