Tiny Forests (2021)

‘Tiny Forests’ is a Jury Prize winner in the Sydney International Piano Competition's "Composing the Future" initiative, generously supported by Creative Partnerships Australia.

Tiny Forests is inspired by the urban planning concept of breaking up a city's concrete-and-glass jungle with plots of miniature forests. While small in scale, they still adhere to the principles of how forests form and grow: a nourishing layer of soil, above which lies (in ascending order) the shrub, sub-tree, tree, and canopy layers.

Musically, the piece presents three tiny forests interacting within a city environment, and charts their growth as they extend root networks, to connect with each other, and eventually remake their urban contexts into an ideal "garden city."

Performance history:

4/2025: Fort Wayne, IN
Andrew Nesler, piano

10/2024: Houston, TX
Han Sol Jeong, piano

7/2023: Sydney, Australia
Andrea Molteni,
Dennis Linnik,
Jun Lin Wu,
Pedro López Salas,
Shunta Morimoto,
Xuehong Chen,
Yuanfan Yang, piano
competing in the Sydney International Piano Competition

6/2023: Beijing, China
Xuehong Chen, piano

6/2023: Changsha, China
Andrea Molteni, piano

2/2023: Bloomington, IN
Lyndon Ji, piano

10/2022: Bathurst, Australia
Tamara-Anna Cislowska, piano

9/2022: Houston, TX
James Palmer, piano