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| Samson Young | |
|---|---|
| Name | Samson Young |
| Birth date | 1979 |
| Birth place | Hong Kong |
| Occupation | Composer, sound artist, scholar |
| Years active | 2000s–present |
| Notable works | "Nocturne", "Songs for Disaster Relief", "A Small Man in a Big Room" |
| Awards | Turner Prize (nominee), M+ Sigg Prize (recipient) |
Samson Young Samson Young is a Hong Kong-born composer, sound artist and academic known for interdisciplinary work that bridges composition, performance, acoustic studies and visual art. He operates at the intersection of contemporary music, sound art, performance art, visual art and experimental music, engaging institutions such as M+, Tate Modern, Museum of Modern Art, Hong Kong Arts Centre, and festivals including Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Aarhus Festival, and MUTEK. His practice links histories of war, technology, and colonialism through installations, compositions and lectures presented internationally.
Born in Hong Kong in 1979, he studied at the Chinese University of Hong Kong before moving to the United Kingdom and the United States for advanced study. He earned degrees from the Royal College of Music and a doctorate from the Cornell University School of Music, where mentors included composers connected to experimental music and electroacoustic music lineages. During his formative years he engaged with local scenes at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and participated in workshops at institutions like the Bang on a Can Marathon and the Tanglewood Music Center.
Young’s early career encompassed commissions and collaborations with ensembles and institutions such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, and the International Contemporary Ensemble. He has composed for soloists associated with Bang on a Can, for contemporary music venues including Wigmore Hall and Conservatoire de Paris series, and for interdisciplinary collaborations with choreographers linked to Royal Ballet–adjacent companies and experimental theater groups in Berlin and New York City. He has held academic posts at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and delivered lectures at Princeton University, Columbia University and the Royal College of Art.
Young’s compositional approach draws on traditions from experimental music, electroacoustic music, soundscape studies, noise music, and avant-garde practices pioneered by figures from the Fluxus movement, John Cage, Pierre Schaeffer, and Karlheinz Stockhausen. He incorporates techniques associated with acousmatic music, field recording, and musique concrète, referencing histories such as World War I and World War II through sonic research. Influences include composers linked to spectral music, practitioners from the Lower East Side scene, and academics from institutions like IRCAM and the Centre Pompidou. His writing and lecturing engage with the legacies of postcolonial theory figures exhibited at university departments and museum symposia.
Working across galleries and concert halls, Young produces installations that combine archival material, custom electronics, and performance. Projects have incorporated recorded broadcasts from BBC World Service, field recordings from sites like Victoria Harbour, and reinterpretations of materials from military archives such as those held by the Imperial War Museums and the National Archives (United Kingdom). He has developed multimedia pieces involving collaborators from film and architecture practices, partnering with institutions including Centre Pompidou, Serpentine Galleries, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt. His projects often interrogate histories associated with Hong Kong’s colonial past and transnational networks involving British Empire archives and US Navy communications.
Young’s solo and group exhibitions have been staged at major venues such as Tate Modern, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), M+ Museum, Serpentine Gallery, Whitechapel Gallery, Kunsthaus Zurich, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea. He has presented sound works and concerts at festivals including Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Bang on a Can Festival, MUTEK, Art Basel (sound program), and the Venice Biennale collateral events. Collaborative performances have involved ensembles affiliated with Nimbus and Aleph labels, soloists from Royal College of Music networks, and experimental collectives from Berlin and Tokyo.
Young has received awards and nominations from institutions such as the Asian Cultural Council, the Arts Council England, and the Hong Kong Arts Development Council. He was shortlisted for the Turner Prize as part of wider recognition within contemporary art circuits and received prizes including the M+ Sigg Prize and residencies supported by DAAD, Cité Internationale des Arts, and Yaddo. His work has been featured in critical surveys by publications linked to Frieze, Artforum, The Guardian, The New York Times, and journals connected to contemporary musicology and sound studies.
Category:Hong Kong artists Category:Contemporary composers