By JOEL SACHS

The New Juilliard Ensemble concert on November 22 again consists entirely of music composed for the group. In itself, that is not much of a story. But four of the five composers share a crucial biographical detail: they had to leave their homelands to flourish.

Miguel Del Aguila

In 1998, when I programmed a piece by Chinese composer Guo Wenjing, I had a call from Liu Sola to say that Guo hoped I would consider her for the vocal solo, which he wanted sung in Chinese style. We became friends instantly: her exuberance, talents, and off-the-wall wit were irresistible. I soon learned the roots of her unorthodox character. Her distinguished family had suffered badly thanks to Chinese politics. One uncle had been a general in the Red Army until his mysterious death in 1936; Mao denounced her mother's book on political history; her father, a high-ranking officer, was jailed for eight years during the Cultural Revolution, and she was banished to a remote region. When that brutal epoch concluded and the Beijing Central Conservatory reopened, Liu entered its first post-revolution composition class, which included most of today's best-known Chinese composers—Tan Dun, Zhou Long, Chen Yi, Qu Xiao-song, and Guo Wenjing. Liu Sola, however, established herself as China's first female rock star and a celebrated writer. Her early novella, You Have No Choice—which describes her class at the conservatory and won the 1988 Chinese National Novella Award—introduced the notion of "hip" into Chinese writing, and gave voice to the new generation. As a result of her portrayals of her colleagues, however, she could not set foot in the conservatory for a decade. Chaos and All That, a darkly hilarious portrayal of China before and during the Cultural Revolution, has been published in English by the University of Hawaii Press.

In 1988, Liu left China to live in London and New York, working as a composer, singer, writer, and painter, and collaborating with artists from rock, jazz, blues, traditional Chinese music, and western classical music. She regularly sings at festivals worldwide, combining free jazz and blues with Chinese traditional styles. One of her seven American albums, Blues in the East, held a Top 10 position on the charts in the U.S. and Great Britain. Her band Liu Sola & Friends, which features celebrated Chinese instrumental soloists, is the first Chinese ensemble with a repertory ranging from classical Chinese to contemporary jazz, fusion, and modern music. She also composes for film, TV, theater, modern dance, and commercials. Two years ago she and her husband moved back to Beijing, where her creative life continues unabated. In Corporeal, which she wrote in 1998 for the New Juilliard Ensemble, was her first "classical" piece in many years. Premiered in 1999, it will be heard again on November 22.

Agustín Fernández (Photo by Grover Hinojosa, La Paz – Bolivia)

Bolivian composer Agustín Fernández's story has a different ending. He was a public figure early on. At 13 he was a virtuoso on the charango (an indigenous 10-stringed instrument); at 17 he won a national composers' competition; at 20 he made his conducting debut. After studying at the Bolivian Catholic University, Fernández began a period of travels that continues to this day. In Japan he studied with Takashi Iida and Akira Ifukube, supporting himself by working at the Bolivian Embassy and teaching Spanish. In the U.K. he received his M.M. and Ph.D. degrees; became composer-in-residence at Queen's University, Belfast; taught at Dartington College of Arts (where we met in 1994); and now is senior lecturer in composition at Newcastle University. Fernández regularly visits his impoverished Bolivia to teach, and would gladly return there if it did not lack the infrastructure needed for a composer (performers, publishers, good copyright protection, etc.). He wrote Peregrine for the New Juilliard Ensemble, which premiered it in 1996.

Miguel Del Aguila did not have much choice about leaving Uruguay. He was born in Montevideo in 1957 and trained as a pianist and composer. During the military regime of the 1970s his family was forced to leave, and he describes his own final years there as "horrible. I wasn't allowed to perform in public and was actually jailed twice for protesting against them." Finally he came to the U.S., studying at the San Francisco Conservatory. He then spent 10 years in Vienna, studying, performing, composing, and teaching; he returned to southern California in 1992. Del Aguila conducted the California-based Ojai Camerata from 1996 to 2000, and is founder-director of the West Coast composer's group Voices. Since 2000 he has been commuting between New York and California. He says, "I fantasize sometimes about going back but in 28 years I haven't returned yet ... Things have changed ... it is now a moderate socialist government but that place I left is no longer there ... Montevideo is a beautiful city and I do miss it sometimes." Del Aguila's Conga-line in Hell embraces Latin American popular music in a manner that he calls "a reaction against studying at Darmstadt." He wrote the chamber orchestra version for the N.J.E. in 1994.

Liu Sola

Virko Baley also had no choice about leaving home. After World War II, when Soviet and Nazi brutality pushed the Baley family out of Ukraine, they joined the millions wandering homeless in Europe until they miraculously got visas to the U.S. and settled in Los Angeles. Educated as a pianist, conductor, and composer, Baley joined the faculty of the University of Nevada, where he formed the Las Vegas Chamber Players, which presented some of the most unusual contemporary concerts in the U.S., featuring music by unknown Soviet composers. One year his bassoonist suggested increasing the audience by including some Mozart—an idea that might have been fruitful if it had been tried. (That bassoonist left at the end of the season to take a job in academic administration. He is now president of The Juilliard School.) The Chamber Players grew into the Nevada Symphony, of which Baley was music director for many years.

Few musicians have done so much for their former countrymen. In addition to bringing their music here, Baley went to Russia and Ukraine countless times to conduct and help organize concerts, festivals, and recordings. Without his efforts, most Ukrainian composers might still be unknown. His compositions for the New Juilliard Ensemble include his Symphony No. 2, which was premiered a year ago.

New Juilliard Ensemble Alice Tully Hall Tuesday, Nov. 22, 8 p.m. For ticket information, please see the calendar.

Happily, the fifth composer on the November program has not experienced such dislocation. After undergraduate education at Oberlin Conservatory, Adam Schoenberg earned his M.M. degree at Juilliard and is now enrolled in the D.M.A. program, as a student of Robert Beaser. How I wanted to list him on the program as "A. Schoenberg"—but good taste won out! He is one of two winners of the N.J.E. audition process; his Chiaroscuro will be premiered at this concert.

Joel Sachs, director of the New Juilliard Ensemble and the annual Focus! festival, has been a faculty member since 1970.