Composer’s ‘Angry Birds’ pleases violin prodigy

Musician Jeff Myers found inspiration on a trip to Kauai — and won a major online contest as a result.

Thanks to virtuoso violinist Hilary Hahn, his composition "The Angry Birds of Kauai" will be getting some major exposure on the classical music scene in the next year.

Myers, a composer who recently completed a one-year teaching position at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, spent a weekend on Kauai and was struck by the cacophony of bird songs that emanated from the island’s forests.

"The variety of birds is what’s interesting," said Myers, a native of the San Francisco Bay Area. "You don’t have calm, tweeting birds; you have all kinds of things happening at the same time: big squawking birds, little tiny birds with these high-pitched songs, and then some kind of weird gestural, repeating sounds from other birds, and it’s all happening at the same time. It’s kind of like an assault by all these different birds."

Add that sense of "assault" with the title of a popular video game, express it in a challenging work for violin and piano, and you get "The Angry Birds of Kauai." It is a set of variations, with a big climax. Myers said he was "trying to capture the contours (of bird songs) and a lot of the time the repetition of a certain note."

The piece intrigued Hahn so much that she selected it for "27 Pieces: The Hilary Hahn Encores," a project in which she commissioned 27 short works to be composed as encores at her recitals. (Hahn’s birthday is Nov. 27.)

Hahn selected composers to write 26 of the pieces but chose Myers’ work through a blind contest in which she received scores and audio clips but did not know the composers’ names. She chose "Angry Birds" over more than 400 other pieces submitted.

Hahn will perform "Angry Birds" during the 2012-2013 concert season and will record it with the other 26 works in the project. In a news release she called Myers’ work "smartly and efficiently structured, with soul and humor in the notes." 

"The instruments are equals, and the violin’s capabilities are exercised," said Hahn, a prodigy who at age 32 has already won two Grammys. "The way the piano and violin trade ideas is something I had been curious to try in upcoming repertoire."

Myers, who is spending the summer working with the local music organization Ohana Arts, said he feels at home in Hawaii’s multicultural society. He is part Japa­nese and is married to a Filipino woman, and has composed music based on Asian genres and for Asian instruments. He plans to relocate to New York and is having an opera performed in Philadelphia next year.

"It was cool to be in this mixed-up Asian culture here," he said.