Trained side-by-side in Beijing at the Central Conservatory, and in New York at Columbia University, Chen Yi, the first woman to receive a master’s degree in composition in China, and Zhou Long are now partners on the faculty at the University of Missouri—Kansas City. Despite the close ties, their compositions enjoy distinct identities, frequently bringing into fascinating juxtaposition Western and Eastern instruments as well as traditional and contemporary compositional techniques. The Beijing New Music Ensemble is the only independent music ensemble dedicated to new music in China. This is its début recording.