Galactic Railroad: Prof. Yunze Mu and UofL Electro-Acoustic Ensemble Bring Live Electronic Innovation to Carnegie Hall

On Friday, October 2, 2026, at 8:00 PM, composer, sound artist, and music programmer Yunze Mu, Assistant Professor at the University of Louisville, will perform his live electronic work Galactic Railroad at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. The performance is a featured highlight of Voices Unbound: A Benefit Concert of New Chamber Works, presented by the Meng Wang Music Academy.

Joined on stage by his students Trexler Cook and Myles Hayden in the UofL Electro-Acoustic Ensemble, Prof. Mu will realize Galactic Railroad using custom data-driven instruments. The piece imagines steam trains crossing the Milky Way, their paths converging and separating as they travel toward unknown destinations. Combining storytelling, computer music, and interactive performance, Galactic Railroad explores the fleeting connections that shape our lives and the deeper meaning found along the way.

The live performance brings the work’s reflective world into a shared concert setting, connecting its imagery of encounter and departure with the physical presence of three musicians on stage. The use of data-driven instruments reflects Mu’s broader interest in how technology can expand musical expression and create new relationships between performers and electronic sound. His work connects the composition of music with the design of the tools through which it is performed, treating programming and instrument development as integral parts of a unified artistic practice.

Working across electroacoustic music, interactive systems, and immersive media, Mu brings together the sensibilities of a storyteller and the technical perspective of a programmer. In Galactic Railroad, these interests serve an intimate subject: the uncertainty of a journey, the significance of companionship, and the experience of continuing onward after paths diverge. The collaboration with Cook and Hayden also brings Mu’s artistic practice into direct conversation with his role as an educator. Performing alongside his students connects experimentation and learning with the shared responsibility of realizing a work on stage. Together, the ensemble presents Galactic Railroad as both a reflection on human connection and an expression of the possibilities of contemporary electronic performance.

Presenting this electroacoustic exploration alongside traditional acoustic chamber works, the broader Voices Unbound program also features ineo, an accordion solo work by Prof. Reiko Füting, Dean of Academic Core and Head of Composition at the Manhattan School of Music, as well as nine world premieres by emerging composers. Bringing this ambitious evening to life is an extraordinary roster of international performers, including violinist Qianwen Shen (Metropolitan Opera Orchestra), cellist Yi Qun Xu (Juilliard Pre-College Faculty), pianist Ying Li (Young Concert Artists), avant-garde pianist Jiacheng Xiong (Curtis Institute of Music), contemporary clarinetist Hector Noriega (Juilliard & Colburn), flutist Guilherme Andreas and soprano Yvette Keong (Metropolitan Opera Competition Winner).

Beyond its artistic scope, Voices Unbound honors the motto Facta Non Verba (“deeds, not words”), with ticket proceeds and charitable donations directly supporting Facta Non Verba in constructing new classrooms for École Fihavanana in rural Madagascar. Tickets and event details are available on the official Carnegie Hall website at https://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2026/10/02/Voices-Unbound-A-Benefit-Concert-of-New-Chamber-Works-for-Facta-Non-Verba-0800PM. We warmly invite electronic music creators, electroacoustic composers, sound designers, creative coders, and music technology practitioners across the New York metropolitan area to join us for this special evening as we gather to celebrate the evolving boundaries of live electronic performance.