Composer and vocalist Liann J. Kang’s composition L’amour pur won the Marcelle Deschênes Prize in Electronics Music / Prix Marcelle Deschênes pour la Musique Électronique in the 2025 Musicworks Electronic Music Composition (EMC) Contest. This donor-supported annual prize awards $300 to a self-identified female or non-binary composer with an entry in the annual contest. Kang’s piece also won second place in the 2025 contest.
The jury praised the piece, describing it as “captivating” and “genre defiant” and remarking on its effective use of processing and effects. One juror said the piece “really felt like another realm was portrayed by this music.”
Born in Seoul, South Korea, Kang is currently based in the United States. Her work has been featured and performed internationally, and she has received numerous awards, including the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC) Best Student Music Award and the twenty-third annual 21st Century Piano Commission Competition at the University of Illinois. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees in Composition Theory from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and a Bachelor of Music in Composition from Yonsei University.
Here’s what Kang told us about L’amour pur:
L’amour pur explores a distinctive approach of vocal writing that can bring out pure, vulnerable, sensual, and delicate traits and timbres of the human voice. The melody in this piece presents, both subtly and prominently, the flowing in and out of the electronics textures, like dolphins jumping out of the ocean. Paying attention to the expressivity of the human voice, the piece presents an unrefined and intimate experience of embodiment that blurs and extends the live performer’s identity via electronics.
To that end, the textual material is comprised entirely of individual phonemes while avoiding forming words. By having vocal lines mimicking the essence of singing in a language yet without semantic meaning, they can create their own sonic narratives.
This compositional approach derives from childhood experiences listening to classical vocal music mostly in foreign languages foreign, which allowed me to pay close attention to sound itself. The audience is invited to follow narratives and expressive qualities of music free from the constraints of linguistic understanding, which creates a shared experience of foreignness that transcends cultural or linguistic boundaries and fosters inclusivity for listeners of all backgrounds.
Live performances of this piece are assisted by long-time collaborator, composer, and sound designer Victor Zheng, implementing his SuperCollider software qFlo.
The 2025 Musicworks EMC Contest received 127 composition entries from 17 countries. Read the media release with the full list of 2025 winners.
Learn more about Liann J. Kang and her work here.
Audio: L’amour Pur (2024) by Liann J. Kang. Studio recording, November 2024. Performance, mixing, and mastering by Liann J. Kang.
