Mandy Leung: Women Make Music
Two New Compositions for Brass Band Exploring Cross-Culturalism
Mandy Leung is an early-career composer, music teacher and classically-trained pianist, clarinettist and percussionist from Hong Kong. Her composition career began to emerge in 2019 when she started her Masters degree in Composition. Since then, Mandy has received commissions from BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Ty Cerdd, National Eisteddfod, Operasonic, and European String Teachers Association. As one of the shortlisted composers in Composition Wales 2021, her piece ‘Funeral March’ has been workshopped and premiered by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales at Hoddinott Hall earlier this year.
For this project, the Wales-based composer is due to compose two new pieces for City of Bristol Brass Band for public performance in summer 2022, in the hope of raising the profile of female composers in the brass band community. As a former percussionist with COBBB (2013-15), Mandy is elated to combine her Chinese heritage with the Brass Band tradition in the first piece, and to dedicate the second piece to Margaret Boyles in commemoration of her husband Peter Boyles, the secretary and flugel player at COBBB, who sadly passed away last year.
Mandy is hopeful that this project will inspire more female composers to write successfully across boundaries and reflect on their origins and personal experiences.