The flower mantis (2020) by Chengjin Koh
for violin, cello, and piano
West Coast premiere; 2023 Earplay Donald Aird Composers Competition winner

Hunting among flowers, the flower mantis attracts its prey in the most discreetly fatal manner. With its beautiful camouflage as disguise, it is incredibly dangerous and easily lures its prey into irreversible and regrettable peril.

The Indolamantis diabolica, or the devil's flower mantis, is the largest of this species, and my projected imagination of its preying activity treads the entire structure of the piece. Four consecutive parts constitute the backbone of the music, namely Blooming, Stalking, Waiting, and The Kill. In Blooming, the flower mantis displays its colors quietly but confidently, before it spots the enticed prey nearby and follows its movements around it with all five of its eyes in Stalking. After moments of unsettling and irritated gestures poured in a rather romantic fashion, the mantis continues to lie patiently in wait, before pouncing on the unsuspecting prey and locking it down with its extremely strong, spiked forelegs. The eventual kill proceeds faster than all the preparation involved, filled with a menacing and relentless disposition forged by strong rhythmic momentum and joyous ecstasy.