Mavis Chung

Sea of Okhotsk, 44°06'N 144°14'E, II

viola and electronics

2026

world premiere

Violist: Denis Valishin

This piece is inspired by Hiroshi Sugimoto’s photograph The Sea of Okhotsk, Hokkaido from his Seascapes series. Looking at the image, I sense stillness, calmness and peace, but at the same time solitude, uncertainty and a feeling of suffocation. The photograph shows only the sea, sky and horizon, yet it seems to contain countless stories and histories that remain beyond our understanding. 

Sugimoto has spoken about how mountains and rivers have changed dramatically over millions of years, while the sea seems to remain almost unchanged. This led him to ask whether people today might see the same sea as prehistoric humans once did. Yet perhaps this sense of continuity also comes from how little of the ocean we can truly perceive. We see its surface, while its depth remains hidden. 

The sea appears quiet and almost motionless, while beneath its surface there is constant movement, sound and noise. This contrast makes me think about the world we live in, surrounded by endless information, voices and emotions. We constantly try to express ourselves, but how much of what we feel truly reaches another person? Can we ever fully understand others, or even ourselves? 

In the piece, a condenser microphone and a contact microphone are used to capture different layers of the viola’s sound. The sound captured from the contact microphone reflects the hidden depth of the ocean and our inner world. The electronics interact with the viola like a dialogue, as if trying to communicate with something that can be heard and felt, but never fully understood.

Bios

CHUNG Ching Lam, Mavis (b.2003), was born and raised in Hong Kong. Mavis is  currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Music Composition at Frankfurt University of  Music and Performing Arts, under the guidance of Orm Finnendahl and Ulrich Alexander  Kreppein.  

Mavis’s music thoughtfully explores timbre, transforming ordinary sounds into  unexpected auditory experiences. Her compositions discover the beauty of melancholy  as she creates a unique sonic landscape that reflects her philosophy and experiences.  She received third prize in the 2nd NC Wong Young Composers Award and  She participated at the ICMC 2026, ZKM next generation XI, Delian Academy 2024,  iISUONO Contemporary Music Week 2025, the Internationales Digitalkunst Festival,  URTIcanti contemporary music festival and the South China Contemporary Creative  Music Institute. Her compositions have been performed in Greece, Germany, Italy and  Hong Kong.

She studies Bachelor music composition at Hong Kong Baptist University, under the  guidance of Eugene Birman, Camilo Mendez, Stylianos Dimou and Ka Shu TAM.

SC https://on.soundcloud.com/OTOOoiGGrvx6UfoUvZ

Denis Valishin is a Berlin-based violist with a strong focus on stylistic versatility. His  artistic work moves naturally between the classical repertoire, intensive chamber music  activity, and an active engagement with contemporary music. He understands musical  interpretation as a dialogical process and as an open, continuously evolving artistic  practice.  

A central element of Denis Valishin's artistic profile is his commitment to contemporary  music, which he approaches both as an interpretative practice and as an expanded  artistic dialogue. He is a co-initiator of the Munich-based festival and concert series  Senus Novus, whose first edition took place in November and was dedicated to  contemporary positions, experimental formats, and interdisciplinary approaches. 

As violist of the exclusively contemporary Trio Aether, he works intensively with new  ensemble repertoire and unconventional instrumentations, including works for viola,  accordion, and saxophone. In this context, he participated both in the Darmstadt  Summer Course for New Music and at the Sonus Novus Festival, performing works  composed specifically for this ensemble. 

A particular focus of his work lies in the expansion of the viola repertoire and the  promotion of interdisciplinary communication within the arts, especially through close  collaboration with composers and artists from other disciplines. In addition, he has taken  part in projects with Ensemble Okterus and has performed solo and chamber music  world premieres by composers such as Shadi Kassaee Rachel Seawalker Sungtae  Paek, Yoshin Gim, Filippo Leerce, Daniel Satanoysky, and Johannes Burgert, often in  direct exchange with the composers.

web https://denisvalishin.com/