When: Friday, August 28, 2026, 2:00 pm

Where: Teaching and Learning Space, U of T Music Library, or online via Zoom.

Join us for the inaugural lecture by our 2026 Ruth Pincoe Research Fellow Dr. Hippocrates Cheng. Dr. Cheng was at the University of Toronto Music Library in August 2026 for a month-long residency, conducting original research and scholarship with our John Beckwith fonds, supported by the Ruth Pincoe Research Fellowship at the U of T Music Library.

Research project: A Detailed analysis of John Beckwith's songs for voice and piano

Through the study of Beckwith’s compositional tools, different versions of sketches, the published versions of his songs, and recordings, I will analyze his songs for voice and piano, focusing on his compositional techniques. These include melodic writing, harmony, counterpoint, text setting and word painting, choice of texts, vocal idioms, pianism, and more. Throughout this project, I will also develop a comprehensive understanding of his creative process by reading and analyzing his personal notes and correspondence with performers, composers, presenters, and other collaborators. This research sits at the intersection of music theory and archival studies. I will also compare performance recordings of these songs with their published scores to examine musical interpretations of Beckwith’s compositions.

Currently, I plan to examine the following songs: Eau-forte, Old Cat Care, Five Lyrics of the T’ang Dynasty, Four Songs to Poems by Edith Sitwell, Serenade, The Formal Garden of the Heart, Four Songs to Poems by e.e. cummings, Five Songs, Bist du bei mir, A Birthday Greeting for Harry Freedman, Mais! mais! mais!, Three Songs to Poems by Miriam Waddington, Singing Synge, and Four Short Songs. These works date from 1945 to 2011 and will provide a strong foundation for exploring how Beckwith’s compositional style evolved over time, particularly in his writing for voice and piano. After fully immersing myself in the Beckwith fonds, I will select and closely analyze the most significant songs—those that best represent and illuminate his stylistic approaches and compositional voice.

Dr. Hippocrates Cheng 鄭靖楠 is a composer, theorist, ethnomusicologist from Hong Kong. He is currently an assistant professor of music theory and composition and an affiliated faculty of Asian and Asian American Studies at Binghamton University.

As a composer, he writes contemporary classical music, new music for Asian instruments, and Jazz. As a researcher, he researches the music of Hong Kong composer Doming Lam, East Asian and Southeast Asian music, piano rolls and player piano in early Jazz history and Braille music notation. He has given guest lectures, masterclasses and performances in the United States, Canada, Austria, Germany, China, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. He has presented his research at numerous national and international conferences, including those organized by AMS, AMIS, IAML, ICTMD, ISJAC, APME, and others.

In 2024 June, his Anti-Asian Hate chamber opera: “All of US” was premiered as the winning work commissioned by the Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel, Indiana. In the summer of 2025, he completed a two-month research residency in Vienna, awarded by the Arnold Schönberg Center, where he conducted in-depth research on Schönberg’s notational style.

Recently, he founded a creative-research initiative East Asian Music in the Contemporary World (EAMCW) to promote new music for East Asian instruments and to provide a dynamic platform where performers, scholars, students, and community members can experience, reflect on, and engage in dialogue about East Asian music in contemporary contexts.

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