Podcasts about Tan Dun

How has the classical music industry approached representation and how has the new music community forged new paths to embrace diverse musics? On tonight's episode of Obbligato on APEX Express, Isabel Li is joined by violinist Shalini Vijayan, who discusses her vibrant career and reflects upon the ways contemporary classical music can build community.  Violinist Shalini Vijayan, deemed “a vibrant violinist” by Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times is an established performer and collaborator on both coasts. Always an advocate for modern music, Shalini was a founding member and Principal Second Violin of Kristjan Jarvi's Absolute Ensemble, having recorded several albums with them including 2001 Grammy nominee, Absolution. Shalini was also a founding member of the Lyris Quartet, one of Los Angeles' most beloved chamber ensembles. With Lyris, she has performed regularly at Walt Disney Concert Hall on the Green Umbrella series, for Jacaranda Music and helped to found the Hear Now Music Festival in Venice, California, a festival dedicated to the music of living composers in Los Angeles.  Shalini performed for over a decade with Southwest Chamber Music and can be heard on their Grammy nominated Complete Chamber Works of Carlos Chávez, Vol. 3. She has been a featured soloist with the Los Angeles Master Chorale in Chinary Ung's Spiral XII and Tan Dun's Water Passion, including performances at the Ravinia Festival. As a chamber musician, Shalini has collaborated with such luminaries as Billy Childs, Chinary Ung, Gabriela Ortiz, and Wadada Leo Smith on whose Ten Freedom Summers she was a soloist. Shalini joined acclaimed LA ensemble, Brightwork New Music in 2019 and also serves as the curator for Brightwork's Tuesdays@Monkspace series, a home for contemporary music and performance in Los Angeles. As a teacher, she has been on the faculty of the Nirmita Composers Workshop in both Siem Reap and Bangkok and coaches composition students through the Impulse New Music Festival.  Shalini received her B.M. and M.M. degrees from Manhattan School of Music as a student of Lucie Robert and Ariana Bronne. As a member of the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida, Shalini served as concertmaster for Michael Tilson Thomas, John Adams, Reinbert de Leeuw and Oliver Knussen. She was also concertmaster for the world premiere performances and recording of Steven Mackey's Tuck and Roll for RCA records in 2000. Shalini was a member of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra for ten seasons and also served as Principal Second Violin of Opera Pacific. She lives in Los Angeles with her son, husband and two dogs and spends her free time cooking Indian food and exploring the culinary landscape of Southern California.  Check out more of her work at:  https://brightworknewmusic.com/tuesdays-at-monk-space/  https://www.lyrisquartet.com/    Transcript  Opening: [00:00:00] Apex Express Asian Pacific expression. Community and cultural coverage, music and calendar, new visions and voices, coming to you with an Asian Pacific Islander point of view. It's time to get on board the APEX Express.    00:01:03 Isabel Li  You're listening to Obbligato, which is a segment about the Asian American Pacific Islander community, specifically in classical music.  00:01:11 Isabel Li  I'm your host, Isabel Li, and today joining me is Shalini Vijayan, who is a violinist, established performer, and always an advocate for modern music.  00:01:21 Isabel Li  Shalini is also a founding member of the Lyris Quartet, one of Los Angeles most beloved chamber ensembles. With Lyris, she has performed regularly at Walt Disney Concert Hall on the Green Umbrella series for Jacaranda Music, and helped to found the Here and Now Music Festival in Venice, California, a festival dedicated to the music of living composers in Los Angeles. She joined acclaimed LA ensemble Brightwork New Music in 2019, and also serves as the curator for Brightwork's Tuesdays at Monk Space series. She currently lives in Los Angeles with her son, husband and two dogs, and spends her free time cooking Indian food and exploring the culinary landscape of Southern California.  00:02:04 Isabel Li  Well, Shalini, thank you so much for joining me in this conversation today.  00:02:09 Shalini Vijayan  I'm so happy to be with you.  00:02:11 Isabel Li  Awesome. I'd like to just get to know you and your story. How do you identify and what communities do you consider yourself a part of?  00:02:18 Shalini Vijayan  I use the pronouns she, her, and I. Um, I identify as South Asian. I grew up in an Indian family. My parents immigrated to the US in the sixties to teach at medical school. And I grew up with a great deal of Indian culture. And I've spent a lot of time going back and forth to India from the time that I was very young. You know, it's interesting because I feel like in LA, where I live and work specifically, there is so much overlap between all of our different musical communities. You know, I went to school in New York, and I feel like there I was much more, I'm very connected to the new music community in New York and felt really kind of entrenched in that at the time I was there. And after coming to LA, I realized that, um, there are a lot of musicians doing so many different things. That's one of the things I love about Los Angeles, actually. And, you know, I'm definitely very, very rooted in the new music community in LA. And that was where I made my first sort of connections when I first moved to Los Angeles. But I also, you know, worked in an orchestra when I first came to LA. I played in the Pacific Symphony for almost ten seasons, and so I became a part of that community as well. And you know, as the years went on, I also became much more involved in the studio music community of LA studio musicians playing on movie scores, playing on television shows, records, what have you, Awards shows, all sorts of things. And these are all very distinct communities in LA in music. But I see a ton of overlap between all of them. There are so many incredibly versatile musicians in Los Angeles that people are able to really very easily move from one of these groups to the other and, you know, with a great deal of success. And I feel like it gives us so much variety in our lives as musicians in LA, you don't feel like you're ever just in one lane. You can really occupy all these different kinds of spaces.  00:04:23 Isabel Li  Right, yeah. So you're classically trained, from what I know, and you describe yourself as an advocate for modern music. So why modern music?  00:04:33 Shalini Vijayan  That's a great question. I have have had to answer this question quite a bit over the years, especially to non-musicians. And it's always an interesting story for me. You know, as a violinist in particular, you know, we have such a storied history of repertoire and pedagogy, and there is such an incredible, um, library of music that we have access to from the very standard classical repertoire. And there is a great deal to be learned about the instrument and about music from playing all that repertoire. I think at some point when I was in high school, I started to become interested in more modern music. And actually I grew up in Davis in Northern California.   My parents both taught at the university there, at the medical school and in Sacramento. Nearby there was a festival of modern American music that I think still goes on to this day at Cal State University, Sacramento. And it was really a great festival. And at that time, you know, they would bring professional artists, they'd have composers, they'd have commissions, all sorts of things. But at the time that I was like in high school, they also had a junior division to the festival, and I was asked to play a couple pieces in the Festival of, um, Modern Works, and I can't remember at this time what the pieces were, but it left such a huge impression on me. And I think what I really took away from that experience as a kid is that in my studies as a violinist, I was always being asked to sort of live up to this history and this legacy of violin music and violin playing in Western classical music. And it's a very high bar. And it's, um, you know, of course, there's so much great stuff there. But there was something so freeing about playing this music that had either never been played or not been recorded. So there was nothing to reference in terms of listening to a recording, um, and listening to how you, you know, quote, should be playing it that it made me feel, uh, you know, all this, this freedom to really interpret the music, how I felt, rather than feeling like I had to live up to a standard that had been set for me, you know, decades or centuries before. And I think that really something really clicked for me with that, that I wanted to have that kind of freedom when I, when I was playing. And so from there on out, um, you know, when I went to college and I really sought out opportunities in new music as much as I could.  00:07:00 Isabel Li  So you were first exposed to new music when you were in high school. Did that influence your decision to become a musician at all? Or were you already set on becoming a musician and that was just part of what shaped your works over the years.  00:07:15 Shalini Vijayan  I think by that time, I had already decided that I wanted to be a musician. I mean, as you know, so many of us as musicians and I think particularly string players, we decide so young because we start our instruments at such a young age and we start studying so early. Um, that I think by that time I, I had decided I wanted to do music, but this sort of opened another door for me that made me realize that it wasn't just one path in music necessarily. I think it's very easy as a, as a kid and as a violinist to think you admire these great soloists that you see and, you know, people like Perlman and, you know, Isaac Stern, who were the stars of the time when I was growing up. But, you know, you get to be in high school and you realize that hasn't happened yet. It's probably not going to happen. And so, you know, what's then then what's your path forward? How do you find a life in music if you're not going to be one of these stars? And I think, you know, new music really opened up that opportunity for me. And yeah, made me look at things a little differently for sure.  00:08:18 Isabel Li  And currently you're in the contemporary classical music ensemble, Brightwork newmusic, and you curate the ensemble's concert series, Tuesdays @ Monk Space. So how do you go about curating concerts with music by contemporary or living composers? What do you look for?  00:08:33 Shalini Vijayan  Well, right now I'm really focused on trying to represent our new music community in LA at Monk Space, which is such, you know, we have such a diverse community of musicians, not just in the makeup of who the people are making the music or writing the music, but also in just the styles of music. And so I think I try to really represent a very diverse set of aesthetics in our season. Um, you know, everything from, you know, last season we had, uh, Niloufar Shiri, who is a traditional Persian kamancheh player, but she also she can play very in a very traditional way, but she also plays with a jazz pianist. And, you know, it does all this very improvisatory stuff. And, you know, then we would have other programs where everything is very much written out and very through, composed and you know, it's been a very wide variety. And, you know, when I try to build the season, I try to make sure that it's really balanced in terms of, you know, the different types of things you'll be hearing because not every audience member is going to want to engage with every type of music. Um, or, you know, if we if we really stuck to one style and it was just in that language for the whole season, then I feel like we would, you know, alienate potential audience members. But with this, I feel like if we can bring people in for one concert and they're really into it, then hopefully they'll come to something else that is new and different for them and be exposed to something that they may really get into after that. So yeah, I think diversity and variety is really where I try to start from.  00:10:09 Isabel Li  How does that engage the community? Have you observed audience reception to this type of new music when there are composers from all different types of backgrounds?  00:10:20 Shalini Vijayan  Yeah, definitely. I mean, I think that each composer and each artist brings their own community into the space, which and so that's another. I feel like another strong reason why I try to make things very different from concert to concert. And, you know, we have some younger players who come in and bring in, you know, everyone from college students to, you know, their friends and family. And then, you know, really established composers. Like this season we have Bill Roper, who is kind of a legend in the music community in LA. Mult instrumentalist and composer who has been around for decades. And, you know, I think people will come out just because they want to see him and he's such a draw. And, um, you know, I, I also would love to be able to incorporate more world music into the series. Like I said, we did do Niloufar concert, which I felt like I really hoped would like engage with the Persian community in LA as well. And a couple seasons ago we had Rajna Swaminathan, who is, I just think, an incredible artist. Um, she plays mridangam, which is a South Indian percussion instrument, but she also writes for Western instruments, uh, and herself. And we had her and a pianist and then Ganavya, who's a vocalist who's amazing. And, you know, Ganavya had her own following. So we had and Rajna has her own following. So we had a whole full audience that night of people who I had never seen in the space before. And that was for me. That's a success because we're bringing in new friends and new engagement. And, um, I was really excited about that. When I'm able to make those kinds of connections with new people, then that feels like a success to me.  00:12:05 Isabel Li  Certainly.  00:12:06 Isabel Li  Let's hear one of Shalini's performances. This is an excerpt from the 10th of William Kraft's “Encounters”, a duologue for violin and marimba, performed here by Shalini Vijayan with Southwest Chamber Music.  00:12:20 [MUSIC – Encounters X: Duologue for Violin & Marimba]  00:17:18 Isabel Li  An excerpt from William Kraft's Encounters, the 10th of which is called Duologue for Violin and Marimba, that was performed by Shalini Vijayan, the violinist, with Southwest Chamber Music.  00:17:31 Isabel Li  And Shalini is here with me in conversation today. We've been discussing contemporary music and her involvement in the new music scene, specifically in Los Angeles.  00:17:40 Isabel Li  Music is all about community, drawing people together. So going back to how you describe yourself as an advocate for modern music, what are other ways that you have advocated for modern music besides curating the concert series?  00:17:53 Shalini Vijayan  Well, over the years, um, you know, I feel like in all the ensembles I've been in, there's been a real focus on commissioning composers and on performing works that have not been, uh, either performed or recorded before. And I feel like the only way to really get the music out there is to, obviously, is to play it and hopefully to be able to record it. We've worked especially with the lyrics quartet. We've worked with so many young composers in LA either just strictly, you know, contemporary classical composers or even film composers who, um, have works that they'd like to have recorded. And, you know, it's been great to see a lot of those people go on to really amazing things and to be a part of their journey, uh, and to help support them. And, uh, the other thing that the quartet has been heavily involved in and now Bright Work Ensemble has been involved in as well, is the Here Now music festival, which has been going on in LA for well over a decade now. We were involved in the first, um, seasons of that festival. We've been one of the resident ensembles since the very beginning, and that festival is dedicated to the music of LA and Southern California composers. And, um, we have a call for scores every year that we, the four of us in the quartet, are part of the panel that reviews all the scores, along with a lot of our other colleagues, um, who are involved with the festival, and Hugh Levick, who is the artistic director of the festival and has we've worked side by side with him on this for a very long time. And that's also been a fantastic avenue for, um, meeting new composers, hearing new works, having them performed. And the thing I always say about that festival every time it comes around, usually in the spring we have at least three concerts. It's this incredible coming together of the new music community in Southern California, where all these great composers and all these amazing players come together and play these series of concerts, because there's such a vast number of pieces that end up getting programmed. They can't rely on just like one group or one or two groups to play them. So it really pulls in a lot of players from all over town. And I don't know, it always just feels like a really fun time, a fun weekend for all of us to see each other and connect. And, um, and again, just build our community to be even stronger.  00:20:20 Isabel Li  That's really cool. How do you ignite interest in new music? Because this is a genre that I think is slightly underrepresented or just underrepresented in general in both the classical music community and the music industry as a whole.  00:20:35 Shalini Vijayan  That's a great question, and I think it's a really important question for our whole industry and community. How do you engage people in new music and get them into a concert? Um, you know, I think one of the biggest hurdles for classical music in general, I will say, um, when I talk to people about why they don't want to come to a concert or why they don't want to, you know, let's say, go see the LA Phil or, you know, wherever, whatever city they're in, the major cultural music institution. I think there is a misconception generally that, oh, it's, you know, I have to be dressed a certain way or I it's going to be really stuffy. And, um, I, you know, I don't know what to wear or I don't know how I'm supposed to dress or how I'm supposed to act when I'm in the concert. Am I going to clap at the wrong time? You know, is it going to be really long? And, you know, and I and I get it, you know, I mean, I understand why that would be uncomfortable for a lot of people.   And it's not, um, it's something that necessarily everyone has grown up with or that it's been a part of their life. So I think it's really up to us, as you know, when we're on the side of programming concerts or putting together festivals or whatever, um, that we make things more accessible in terms of, um, concert length and interaction with audience. And, um, you know, I think it's I know I've been told so many times and I really think it's important that I think audiences love it when performers talk to them, when they talk about the music and, and set things up for a listener. I think that puts a kind of context on things that makes it so much easier for perhaps a new audience member, someone who's never come to a concert before to feel at ease and feel like, okay, I know what I'm getting into.   One of our, actually our former executive director at Brightwork, Sarah Wass, who was fantastic, and I was very happy to work with when I was just starting out programming, Monk Space had the idea of putting on the program the running time of the pieces, and I think even that is just something that, like, can prepare people for what they're getting into when they're about to listen to something new. And in terms of the music itself, I think that if someone, especially a younger person, doesn't feel like they have any connection to Beethoven or Brahms or Mozart, they might actually feel more connected to someone who is their age or a little older.   Someone who has had similar life experiences to them, or grown up in the same era as them, rather than someone who grew up, you know, in the seventeen hundreds. You know, there can be more of a real connection there, and that that person is writing this music and reflection of their life and their experiences. And, um, you know, again, I think that kind of context is important for a listener. And yeah. And then just lastly, I would say also, I feel like our space at Monk space is very inviting. It's very low key. It's, um, you know, it's casual, it's comfortable. Role. Um, we have, you know, snacks and a bar and, you know, everyone is very relaxed at intermission and has a good time. And I mean, for me, every time we host one of those concerts, I feel like I'm hosting a little party, you know? That's what it feels like for me. And that's what I want it to feel like for the audience as well.  00:23:52 Isabel Li  That brings up a really good point in that new music can make classical music or a new classical music, contemporary music, more accessible to different audiences. And certainly I've definitely heard the complaint from people over the years about classical music being a little too uptight. Would you say that these are two different genres?  00:24:11 Shalini Vijayan  I think that there is overlap, and I think, you know, for an ensemble like ours, like Brightwork, we have chosen to make our focus new music. So that's our thing. That's what we do. Um, and, uh, all of our concerts and our programming reflect that. Very rarely do we do anything that's not considered a contemporary piece. Um, but, you know, if you do look at some of our major institutions, like I think the LA Phil and I think the San Francisco Symphony, um, earlier, you know, like in the nineties under MTT, really started to pave the way for incorporating contemporary music into a standard classical format. And, you know, I think that's been very important. And I think it's really changed the way that orchestras have programmed across the country. And there has been such a nurturing of contemporary music in larger spaces. Now that I think that kind of overlap has started to happen much more frequently. I think that in more conservative settings, sometimes there's pushback against that. And even even, you know, in some of the places that I play, you know, sometimes with with the lyrics quartet, um, we are asked to just purely program standard classical repertoire, and we will occasionally throw in a little short piece, you know, just to try and put something in there, you know, something that's very accessible. Um, and, uh, you know that we know the audience will like so that we can help them, you know, kind of get over that fear of connecting to a newer piece. And I, I think in some ways, that's where the path forward lies, is that we have to integrate those things, you know, in order to keep kind of the old traditions of classical music alive. I think we have to keep the newer tradition alive as well, and find a way to put them in the same space.  00:26:00 Isabel Li  I certainly agree with that.  00:26:01 Isabel Li  Let's hear more of Shalini's work in new music. This is a performance of the first movement of Atlas Pumas by Gabriela Ortiz. Violinist Shalini Vijayan is joined by percussionist Lynn Vartan.  00:26:18 [MUSIC – Atlas Pumas, mvt 1 by Gabriela Ortiz]  00:29:21 Isabel Li  The first movement of Gabriela Ortiz's Atlas Pumas played here by violinist Shalini Vijian, and Lynn Vartan plays the marimba.  00:29:30 Isabel Li  And Shalini is actually joining us here for a conversation about new music, performances, identity, and representation.  00:29:38 Isabel Li  Many Asian American Pacific Islander artists in music have varying relationships between their art and their identity. I was wondering, to what extent do you feel that perhaps your South Asian identity intersects or influences the work that you do with music?  00:29:54 Shalini Vijayan  Growing up, um, you know, I grew up in a in a university town in Northern California and, you know, a lot of highly educated and, you know, kids of professors and, you know, but still not the most terribly diverse place. And then going into classical music. And this was, you know, in the early nineties when I went to college, um, it still was not a particularly it was very much not a diverse place at all. And, um, there certainly were a lot of Asian students at, um, Manhattan School of Music where I did my my studies.   But I would say it was a solid decade before I was ever in any sort of classical music situation where there was another South Asian musician. I very, very rarely met any South Asian musicians, and it wasn't until I went to the New World Symphony in the early late nineties, early two thousand, and I was a musician there. I was a fellow in that program there for three years that I walked into the first rehearsal, and there were three other South Asian, I think, of Indian descent musicians in the orchestra, and I was absolutely blown away because I literally had not, um, other than here and there at some festivals, I had not met any other South Asian classical musicians.   So it was really like that was the hallmark moment for me. It was a really big deal. And coming with my family, coming from India, you know, there is such a strong tradition of Indian classical music, of Carnatic music and Hindustani music. And, um, it's such a long, long tradition. And, you know, the people who have studied it and lived with it are, you know, they study it their whole lives to be proficient in it. And it's such an incredible, incredible art form and something that I admire so much. And I did as a kid. Take a few lessons here and there. I took some Carnatic singing lessons, um, and a little bit of tabla lessons when I was very young. Um, but I think somewhere in middle school or high school, I kind of realized that it was, for me at least, I wasn't, um, able to put enough time into both because both of them, you know, playing the violin in a Western classical style and then studying Indian classical music require a tremendous amount of effort and a tremendous amount of study. And I at that point chose to go with Western classical music, because that's what I'd been doing since I was five years old. But there has always kind of been this longing for me to be more connected to Indian classical music. Um, I'll go back again to Rajna. When I presented Rajna Swaminathan on Monk Space a couple of years ago, it was a really meaningful thing for me, because that's kind of what I'd always wanted to see was a joining together of that tradition, the Indian tradition with the Western tradition. And, um, I'm so happy that I'm starting to see that more and more with a lot of the artists that are coming up now. But at the time when I was young, it just it felt almost insurmountable that to to find a way to bring the two together. And, um, I remember very clearly as a kid listening to this, um, there was an album that Philip Glass did with Ravi Shankar, and I thought that was so cool at the time. And I used to listen to it over and over again because I just again, I was so amazed that these things could come together and in a, in a kind of successful way. Um, but yeah, there is, you know, there there's a part of me that would still love to go back and explore that more that, that side of it. Um, and but I will say also, I'm very happy now to see a lot more South Asian faces when I, you know, go to concerts on stage and in the audience. And, you know, a lot of composers that I've worked with now, um, of South Asian descent, it's been, you know, I've worked with Reena Esmail and Anuj Bhutani and Rajna and, um, there's so many more, and I'm so glad to see how they're all incorporating their connection to their culture to, to this, you know, Western kind of format of classical music. And they're all doing it in different ways. And it's it's really amazing.  00:34:22 Isabel Li  That's fantastic.  00:34:24 Isabel Li  I was wondering if you could maybe describe what this merging or combination of different styles entails. Do you think this makes it more accessible to audiences of two different cultures?  00:34:36 Shalini Vijayan  For me, one example, before I started running the series at Tuesdays at Monk Space, Aron Kallay, who is our Bright Work artistic director, had asked me to come and do a solo show on Monk Space, which I did in November of 2019.  00:34:52 Shalini Vijayan  And at the time, I wanted to commission a piece that did exactly that, that, that, um, involved some sort of Indian classical instrument or kind of the language of Indian classical music. And so I actually did reach out to Reena Esmail, and she wrote me a very cool piece called blaze that was for tabla and violin. Um, and I really had so much fun doing that. And Reena, Reena really has a very fluid way of writing for the violin, which she actually was a violinist, too. So she's she's really good at doing that. But being able to write for any melodic instrument or for the voice, which she does quite a bit as well, and incorporating sort of the tonality of Indian classical music, which obviously has its own scales and, um, has its own harmonic, harmonic world that is different from the Western world, um, but finds a way to translate that into the written note notation that we require as, uh, Western classical musicians. And, you know, I think that's the biggest gap to bridge, is that in Indian classical music, nothing is notated. Everything is handed down in an oral tradition, um, over the generations. And for us, everything is notated. And in Indian classical music, you know, there's much more improvisation. And now, of course, with modern classical music, there now is a lot more improvisation involved. But in our old standard tradition, obviously there isn't. And in the way that we're trained, mostly we're not trained to be improvisers. And um, so it's it was great. She has a great way of writing so that it kind of sounds like things are being tossed off and sounding sounds like they're being improvised, but they are actually fully notated, um, which I really appreciated.  00:36:50 Isabel Li  Yeah.  00:36:51 Isabel Li  So your career has spanned orchestras, recording ensembles, chamber music. Having had so much experience in these types of performance, what does representation in classical music mean to you?  00:37:04 Shalini Vijayan  Well, representation is is very important because we're talking about a tradition that was built on white men from centuries ago, European white men. And and it's again, it's an incredible tradition and there's so much great repertoire. But I'm going to circle back to what you were saying or what you asked me about connecting to audiences and, you know, connecting to audiences with new music. It's I think people like to see themselves reflected in the art that they choose. They choose to consume. And, you know, whether that's movies or television or music, I think that's how you connect with your audience is by being a bit of a mirror.  I think the only way that we can really continue to connect with a diverse audience is by having that type of diverse representation on our stages and on our recordings. And again, also not just the people, but the types of music, too. You know, musical tastes run wide, genres run wide as well. And it's I think It's good for all of us to be exposed to a lot of different kinds of music, to figure out what we connect with the most. And, um, yeah, the only way we can do that is by really, you know, opening our arms to a, a much wider variety of styles of music. And so I, you know, I mentioned improvisation, improvisation earlier. And I think that is something that's now starting to happen so much more in modern classical music. And, you know, I think there's something about the energy that a player has when they're improvising that is maybe not something that an audience member could quantify verbally, but there's a looseness and a freedom there that I think, you know, for a lot of audience members, they probably really can connect to. And, you know, that's a lot of why people go and listen to jazz is because there's so much freedom and there's so much improvisation.   I've been very lucky to be able to work with, um, Wadada Leo Smith, who's a trumpet player and composer. I've worked with him for probably almost ten years now. And um, through Wadada, actually, I have learned to become much more comfortable with improvising on stage and not within a jazz language of any kind or any kind of harmonic structure necessarily, but within the language of his music, which is very unique and very open and very free and, um, but also has a really strong core in its connection to history. And, um, you know, he's written a lot of amazing works about the civil rights movement and about a lot of, you know, important moments in history for our country. And, um, that's been a real learning experience for me to connect with him in that, in that way and learn from him and learn to be more comfortable with improvisation. Because I think growing up, improvisation for me always meant jazz, and that was not a language I was comfortable in. And um, or even, you know, jazz or rock music or folk music or whatever, you know, it was just not something that came naturally to me as a kid to, I mean, I listened to all of it. I listened to everything when I was a kid, but I never played in any of those styles. And I think the older you get, the scarier it gets to start branching out in those ways. But, um, I think, uh, that's been a an incredible, like, new branch of my life in the last decade has been working with Wadada.  [MUSIC – “Dred Scott, 1857,” from Ten Freedom Summers, by Wadada Leo Smith]  00:42:23 Isabel Li  An excerpt of Wadada Leo Smith's music to give you a sense of the jazz influences in these types of contemporary new music pieces that also touch on pieces of history. This was an excerpt from his album, Ten Freedom Summers, which also consists of compositions based on pieces of American history. For example, what we just heard was from a piece called Dred Scott, 1857.  00:42:49 Isabel Li  Now that I realize that we've been having a conversation about new music, I realize that, hmm, when does new music really start? So if you take a look at maybe music history, when does new music really become new music?  00:43:07 Shalini Vijayan  I guess it depends on who you ask, probably. Um, it's it's pretty recent. You know, it has to be really legitimately pretty new. And, um, again, you know, if you ask an audience member, um, and I think of some of my friends or family who are maybe who are not musicians who come to concerts, and I'm always so interested in talking to them and hearing their opinions about things. Um, you know, they will listen to Bartok and say, oh, that sounds like new music to me. But, you know, Bartok, Bartok passed away a long time ago, and it's, you know, and for me, that's more like canon now. You know, that's like now for me, part of the the standard repertoire. But there was a time when Bartok was new music. And I think for, you know, maybe the listeners who are more comfortable with the very diatonic, you know, world of Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, then something like Bartok really does sound so modern for me. Boy, maybe around the time that minimalism started, you know, John Adams and Steve Reich, Terry Riley, Philip Glass, all of that for me feels like maybe that's the older like the The edge of new music now even though that was that would be the eighties, probably seventies 80s, you know, but that we're talking about like, you know, fifty years ago. So yeah, I mean, it's not that new, but those are all still living composers. So maybe, maybe that's part of what it is for me is that it's the composers of our era, the composers who are alive, who we can communicate with and ask questions of. And, um, you know, at the very least, if you can't talk to John Adams, you can talk to somebody who has worked directly with him and get their impressions of how something should be played, um, as opposed to composers who have been gone for hundreds of years. And you can't have that level of communication with them. I think that, for me is what new music, new music is about. It's about working with living composers and, um, having that type of interaction.  00:45:15 Isabel Li  Yeah. So would the word or the phrase contemporary classical music, be a little oxymoronic in a sense?  00:45:26 Shalini Vijayan  No, I don't think so. I think it's still part of the same tradition. Um, yeah. I really do think it is, because I think there is a lineage there. Um, for a lot of composers, not all of them, um, that I mean, I think particularly if you're writing for, let's say, an orchestra or a string quartet or sort of one of these very standard classical ensembles. Um, even if you're writing in a very new language and you're writing in a very different way, I think there is still a through line to the canon of classical music. I guess for me, new music and classical music are not mutually exclusive. I think they can be the same. So I don't I don't think they're totally different. I think that there is a lot of a lot of overlap.  00:46:16 Isabel Li  For sure, considering how new music fits into the classical music or the classical music industry as a whole. Have you noticed any sorts of shifts in the classical music industry in the past several decades in regards to diversity, equity, inclusion? And have you just noticed any changes?  00:46:35 Shalini Vijayan  I have noticed some changes. I mean, I think that most organizations in this country are making an effort to be more inclusive in their programming now. And, um, you know, another another South Asian composer who I just think is fantastic is Nina Shekhar. And, um, she has had pieces played by the New York Phil for the last couple seasons. I mean, you know, so on on major, major stages, I feel like now I'm seeing more representation and that is definitely Encouraging and, um, you know, uh, same for Anuj and Rajna and Reena. They've all, you know, had their works done by major ensembles. And, um, I think I think there is definitely movement in that direction, for sure. I think it could always be more.   I think also for women and women composers, women performers, I think that has also always been a struggle to find enough representation of women composers and you know, especially if like as I mentioned before, when you're in a situation where an organization asks you to program a concert, like, let's say, for our quartet and wants much more standard repertoire than it does limit you, you know, how because there isn't much from the older canon. You know, there is. You know, there's Fanny Mendelssohn and Clara Schumann and, um, you know, I think in the last five to ten years they've both been played a lot more, which is great. But, you know, I think, uh, there's so many amazing female composers right now that I think are starting to get much more recognition. And I think that just needs to be more, more and more, um, but, uh, you know, that is why, again, like on those programs, sometimes we try to just sneak one modern piece in because it's important for those voices to be heard as well. But yes, I do see some forward movement in that direction with, um, classical programming. And, you know, you just have to hope that the intent is always genuine in those situations. And I think, um, you know, I think that's the most important thing. And giving a platform to those voices is really important.  00:48:59 Isabel Li  How would you go about arts advocacy during this current time when, well, the arts are being defunded and devalued by our current administration and how everything is going on right now?  00:49:10 Shalini Vijayan  Yeah, it's really, really difficult right now. And, um, you know, I think a lot of arts organizations are losing a lot of government funding. Obviously, I know of a couple projects that lost their NEA funding because of DEI, and which is so disheartening. And, um, I think, you know, there's going to be a lot of leaning on private donors to try and, uh, make up that difference or, you know, private foundations to make up the difference in funding, hopefully. And, um, uh, you know, it's yeah, it's scary. It's  a scary time. And I think, you know, even for private funding and, um, private donors, it's, you know, everyone is feeling stressed and feeling concerned about our future right now, just as a country. and there's so much uncertainty. And, um, but I think people who really rely on the arts for all the things that it can provide, you know, an escape and pleasure and, you know, stimulation of a different kind. And especially in a time like this, when you want to be able to get away from maybe what's going on around you, you know, I'm hoping we can find a way to really come together and, um, kind of, you know, rally around each other and find a way to support each other. But, um, I think it is going to be hard for the next few years if we can't find ways to replace that funding that so many people have lost. And I certainly don't think that anyone wants to back away from the progress that's been made with inclusion and representation, you know, just to get funding. So I know we have to be very creative with our path ahead and find a way to, to keep doing what we're doing in this current environment.  00:51:07 Isabel Li  Yeah, on a brighter note, I read about your work with Lyris Quartet earlier this year when you presented a concert with Melodia Mariposa called Altadena Strong with the Lyris Quartet, raising funds for those who have been affected by the LA fires. Can you talk a bit about the power of music? And we're going to end on a stronger note here about the power of music in bringing communities together and accelerating community healing.  00:51:31 Shalini Vijayan  Well, I have to say that concert was really a special one for us. You know, um, so many musicians were affected by the fires in LA. And, you know, I, I've lived in LA for over twenty years now, almost twenty five years and, um, certainly seen my share of wildfires and disasters, but this one hit so much more close to home than any of the other ones have. And, you know, I know at least twenty five people who lost their homes in between the Palisades and Altadena and Altadena in particular.   When I moved to LA, it was a place where a lot of musicians were moving to because you could it was cheaper and you could get a lot of space, and it's beautiful. And, you know, they really built a beautiful community there among all the musicians out there. And it's just heartbreaking, um, to see how many of them have lost everything. And I have to say, Irina Voloshina, who is the woman who runs Melodia Mariposa, and just an amazing violinist and an amazing, wonderful, warm, generous person. You know, she started that series in her driveway during COVID as a way to just keep music going during the pandemic, and it really turned into something so great. And she's, you know, got a whole organization with her now and puts on multiple concerts a year. And when she asked us if we would play that concert for the community in Altadena is, you know, there's no question that we were going to do it. I mean, we absolutely jumped at the chance to support her and support the organization and that community. And people really came out for that concert and were so excited to be there and were so warm and, um, you know, and and she talked to the crowd and really connected with everybody on a very personal level, because she also lost her home in Altadena and, um, you know, it was it was a really meaningful show for all of us. And again, those are the moments where you realize that you can use this art to really connect with people that you may have never met before and show your your love for them, you know, through music, as corny as that may sound, but it's true.  00:53:54 Isabel Li  Yeah, definitely. Well, thank you so much, Shalini, for sharing your visions, your knowledge with new music and community building with us today. Thank you so much for being on Obbligato.  00:54:07 Shalini Vijayan  Thank you so much for having me, Isabel. It was really a pleasure.  00:54:10 Isabel Li  What a wonderful conversation that was with LA-based violinist Shalini Vijayan. If you go to kpfa.org, you can check out more of her work. I put the links to two of her ensembles, Brightwork New Music and Lyris Quartet up on kpfa.org. And thank you for listening to our conversation here on Obbligato on Apex Express.  00:54:32 Isabel Li  We thank all of you listeners out there. Keep resisting, keep organizing, keep creating, and sharing your visions with the world. Your voices are important.  00:54:42 Isabel Li  APEX Express is produced by Miko Lee, Jalena Keane-Lee, Preeti Mangala Shekar, Anuj Vaidya, Swati Rayasam, and Cheryl Truong. Tonight's show was produced by Isabel Li. Thanks to the team at KPFA for their support. Have a great night.  [OUTRO MUSIC]  The post APEX Express – 11.13.25 – Obbligato with Violinist Shalini Vijayan appeared first on KPFA.

De Chinese componist Tan Dun in zijn eerste strijkkwartet ‘Feng Ya Song' oude Chinsese en moderne westerse technieken samengebracht. Hetzelfde deed hij in het kwartet ‘Eight Colors'. In elk deeltje zijn elementen van de traditionele Chinese theatermuziek te horen, maar voorzien van de modernste middelen en vaak heftig dissonant. Het contrast van de culturen staat […]

Starptautiskā Garīgās mūzikas festivāla noslēgumā piektdienas, 5. septembra, vakarā īpašs notikums – pirmo reizi Latvijā izskanēs ķīniešu komponista un diriģenta Taņa Duņa (Tan Dun) grandiozais opuss “Budas pasija” (Buddha Passion). Budisma filozofija un Āzijas tautu tradīcijas tajā savijas ar Rietumu klasiskās mūzikas un operas ietekmēm. Pasiju atskaņos koris „Latvija”, solisti un Latvijas Nacionālais simfoniskais orķestris ar īpaši šim opusam paplašinātu sitaminstrumentu grupu, kuras instrumentu klāstā būs arī akvārijs. Rīgas atskaņojumā solo partijas dziedās Jolanta Strikaite, Viktorija Majore, Ieva Parša un Mārtiņš Zvīgulis, kā arī ķīniešu baritons Yiran Jia un mongoļu rīkles dziedātājs un tradicionālās ķīniešu divstīgu vijoles meistars Hasibagen. Ķīnā dzimušais un kopš 90.gadiem ASV dzīvojošais komponists Taņs Duņs kļuvis pazīstams ar spēju sapludināt Austrumu un Rietumu mūzikas tradīcijas vērienīgos opusos un filmu mūzikā. Par mūziku Anga Lī filmai „Tīģeris un drakons” viņš 2001.gadā saņēma Oskaru. Jau ilgu laiku Taņa Duņa mūzika saista arī kora „Latvija” māksliniecisko vadītāju Māri Sirmo. Jau iepriekš Māris Sirmais ar kori un Liepājas Simfonisko orķestri bija atskaņojis Taņa Duņa „Tūkstošgades simfoniju”, kurā viņu aizrāva meistarīgi apvienotās Eiropas klasiskās tradīcijas ar Ķīnas mūzikas ietekmēm. „Budas pasija” ir viens no Taņa Duņa jaunākajiem darbiem, pabeigts 2018.gadā pēc iespaidīga Drēzdenes „Musikfestspiele”, Losandželosas, Ņujorkas un Melburnas simfonisko orķestru koppasūtījuma. Komponists pie tā strādājis sešus gadus, mūzikā mēģinot izteikt slavenajā Ķīnas budistu svētvietā – Mogao alās – redzētos sienu gleznojumus ar mūzikas instrumentiem un orķestriem. -- „Budas pasijas” atskaņojums piektdien Kongresu namā, bet Valsts akadēmiskajam korim „Latvija” šis mēnesis būs ļoti spraigs: jau 15.septembrī koris piedalīsies Gustava Mālera Astotās simfonijas atskaņojumā kopā ar LNSO un Tarmo Peltokoski Latvijas Nacionālajā operā, bet 20.septembrī kāps uz Nacionālā teātra skatuves „Induļa un Ārijas” pirmizrādē.

A weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. The show is produced by a collective of media makers, deejays, and activists. On tonight's edition of Obbligato on APEX Express, which focuses on AAPI artists, musicians, and composers in the classical music world, host Isabel Li is joined by LA based performer and composer Richard An, who plays and creates new avant-garde music, usually with the ensemble House on Fire, and his music has been performed by the LA Phil and the Calder Quartet to name a few. Join us in our conversation, exploring the possibilities of avant-garde music, raising questions regarding Asian identities in the classical music world, and Richard's insights on art making during a time when Trump's cuts to the NEA are affecting artists and institutions nationwide. Featured Music: Sonatrinas: https://richardan.bandcamp.com/album/sonatrinas i got the electroshock blues: https://rasprecords.bandcamp.com/album/i-got-the-electroshock-blues   RICHARD AN (b.1995) is a performer and composer, born and raised in Los Angeles. Richard plays new music – usually with House on Fire – co-founded the tiny backpack new music series, and has performed with Monday Evening Concerts' Echoi Ensemble, Piano Spheres, The Industry and on Bang on a Can's LOUD Weekend. Richard plays piano and percussion, and has been known to sing, conduct, and teach. Richard's music has been performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Calder Quartet, HOCKET, C3LA, and more. His music has been released on CMNTX Records. Richard has a BM in Composition from USC and an MFA from CalArts. He is on faculty at the Pasadena Waldorf School, Glendale Community College and Harvard-Westlake. He plays taiko and tabla, and makes YouTube videos. Learn more about Richard's work on his website: https://richardanmusic.com/ Richard's social media: https://www.instagram.com/richardanmusic/ If you are in LA and want hear Richard's work, he's playing with House on Fire at the Sierra Madre Playhouse on August 17! https://www.sierramadreplayhouse.org/event/richardan2025   Transcript Opening: [00:00:00] APEX Express. Asian Pacific expression. Community and cultural coverage, music and calendar, new visions and voices, coming to you with an Asian Pacific Islander point of view. It's time to get on board the APEX Express. 00:00:46 Isabel Li Good evening and welcome back to a new episode of Apex Express on KPFA, 94.1 FM. We are bringing you an Asian and Asian American view from the Bay and around the world. I'm your host, Isabel Li, and tonight is a new edition of Obbligato, which explores AAPI identities and classical music. Tonight I'm joined by LA based performer and composer Richard An, who plays and creates new avant-garde music, usually with the ensemble House on Fire, and his music has been performed by the LA Phil and the Calder Quartet to name a few. Join us in our conversation, exploring the possibilities of avant-garde music, raising questions regarding Asian identities in the classical music world, and Richard's insights on art making during a time when Trump's cuts to the NEA are affecting artists and institutions nationwide. 00:01:41 Isabel Li Welcome to the show. Welcome to APEX Express, Richard. My first question for you is how do you identify and what communities would you say that you're a part of? 00:01:50 Richard An My name is Richard An I use he/him pronouns and I'm a second generation Korean American. My parents are both Korean. My dad came from Busan, which is a large city in South Korea, and my mom was born in Seoul and then moved to South America and then made her way up to Los Angeles where they met. And as for identity, like, I think Korean American would be the most accurate one. This is and I think an ever evolving part of first of all my identity and the way that it intersects with my practice and also I think that's the case with many Asian American artists, I mean artists from immigrant families, you know, the the matter of your identity, especially if you feel more distanced from it for one reason or another, is like an unsolved question for everyone like there is no one answer. That works for people and that's a thing that me people like myself I think will be exploring for our entire lives. When I introduce myself to people, I say that I'm a classical musician. And at the very core of it, that is true. That's not a lie. And I am, you know, a part of the classical music community in Los Angeles. But as time goes on, I have noticed and realized. That I tend to align myself more with like the avant-garde and experimental contemporary music communities of Los Angeles, which has certainly an overlap with the classical community, both in practice and historically, but yeah, I I would say those are the sort of two biggest ones, classical musicians and experimental avant-garde, contemporary musicians, whatever label you want to use for that. 00:03:47 Isabel Li Yeah. Some of our listeners might not know what avant-garde music entails. Can you — how would you describe avant-garde music to someone who might not be as familiar with this particular movement? 00:03:57 Richard An Yeah. So avant-garde music, a sort of flippant and joking way to to talk about it is ugly music or music. You know, my dad, for example, wouldn't like, but I think. It's music that either interfaces with elements or confronts facets or issues in music that aren't typical of other kinds of music. The music that you might hear that is labeled of on guard might be noisy or dissonant or uncomfortable, or any kind of, you know, adjectives that are synonyms for noisy or ugly, but I have come to love that kind of music, you know 1. Because of the the kind of questions that they might ask about our perceptions of music and two, because I guess one way to put it is that to be a classical musician, you need to be in a practice room for many hours a day for many years and go to what is unfortunately a college, which is usually very expensive and I guess for lack of a better term, paywalled for like you need to have the kind of resources that allow you to attend a four year undergrad and then a two year masters and then a three-year doctorate. But avant-garde music, contemporary music, experimental music doesn't necessitate that kind of thing. Often those musicians do have a background that gives them some amount of, you know, virtuosity or facility in an instrument. But like some of the best experimental musicians. Alive and some of the best ones that I know have no, like extensive training in a particular instrument and some may not have a degree in music at all. And that's one thing that I in like that separates it from classical music is that. 00:05:44 Richard An Classical music can be, unfortunately a little bit exclusionary. I don't think by any one specific design, but the fact that you need so many hours and very specific instructions from a mentor that necessitate that kind of relationship. But experimental music, I think does a little bit better job of diversifying or making it feel more equitable. 00:06:12 Isabel Li That's a great point, actually. One of my questions following up with that was what do you think is possible with this genre, which you kind of mentioned earlier with perhaps how this genre makes classical music a little bit more equitable for those who are interested in this field. In your experience, composing, what do you think makes the genre special, and how do you go about it? 00:06:35 Richard An One thing that I've noticed about being involved in the sort of contemporary experimental avant-garde music sphere is that it makes me a better listener, and I think other people who attend these concerts will agree. Like for example a large part of this kind of music is drone or repetition or, you know, like long spans of unchanging sound. And if the the sound that is being produced at face value is not changing, well then what do you notice about it? What do you grab on to and one of the most, I think, gratifying experiences is listening deeper and realizing that, ohh, even though you know for example this piano playing two notes for 30 minutes might not like the instructions will say to do the same thing for 30 minutes, but your experience as a human being will certainly change over those 30 minutes, even if the the notes are not like you will notice the slight fluctuations in the way that someone is playing, you will notice the beating patterns in the pitches on an instrument that may not be perfectly in tune, you will note other ambient sounds, you will note like you will notice so much more about the world when you are confronted with the kind of music that you know. You can say it forces you to listen to these sounds but also invites you to listen to these things. And I think that's really, really special. That's not to say that that can't happen with other kinds of music. Or even with classical music. Surely you know there are many, many ways to listen to everything. But I've noticed this within myself. When I listen to long, repetitive drone based music that it really opens my ears and makes me a more active participant as a listener. 00:08:30 Isabel Li It's a great point actually. Part of my work– because I studied music, history and theory in college– was how music can engage various listeners to participate. Have you composed anything that perhaps engages the listener in this more of a participatory setting? 00:08:47 Richard An Yeah. So I guess in order the some of the stuff that I've done to engage the audience, I guess both literally, and maybe more figuratively is, I wrote a piece last year for the Dog Star festival, which is a a contemporary and experimental music festival that is actually happening right now, at the time of this recording. It's a multi week long festival that focuses on music of this type that was founded by people in the sort of CalArts music world. But I wrote a piece for that last year for three melodicas, which are these basically toy instruments that look like keyboards, but you blow into them and you blowing air through these makes the sound happen. It's basically like if you cross a harmonica and a piano together. But I I wrote a piece for three of these, playing essentially the same notes. And because these instruments are pretty cheap, and they're often considered toys or, you know, instruments for children, they're not tuned to the exact way that, like a piano or a vibraphone or an expensive instrument might be. But I wanted to use that for my advantage. For example, if I play an F# on one melodica the same F# on another melodica will not be exactly the same and playing those two pitches together will produce what's known as a a beat or beat frequency. Which is, you know, a complicated, you know, mathematic physics thing, but basically 2 notes that are really, really close, but not quite together will create a kind of third rhythm because the the pitches are so close. Like, for example, if if I play an A at 4:40 and another A at 441, you will notice that difference of 1 Hertz inside of your ears. And that's a really cool phenomenon that happens explicitly because you were there listening to the piece. They don't happen necessarily, you know, like in, in recorded formats like, it's a very difficult thing to capture unless you are in the room with these instruments. And the fact that we had this audience of, let's say, 40 people meant that all forty of these people were experiencing these beat frequencies and another really cool factor of this is depending on where you are located in the room. With the way that the beats will sound in your ears are different and purely by the fact of acoustics like a wave bouncing off of the wall over on your left, will feel really different if you are closer or further from that wall. So not only do the audiences ears themselves, you know, invite these this this participation, but the pure physicality of each listener means that they will have a very slightly different experience of what the piece is, and again like this will happen in any concert. If you're at a classical show, if you're at a rock show if, if you're further from the stage, if you're further to the left or right, you will get a slightly different position in the stereo field that the musicians are playing in, but pieces like what I wrote and many others that exist emphasize this kind of like acoustic phenomena. That is really, really fascinating to listen to. 00:12:23 Isabel Li That's fascinating. And to get a sense of Richard's work, we'll be hearing coming up next. The short excerpt from his album Sonatrinas. This is the duo excerpt performed by Wells Leng, Katie Aikam, Kevin Good and composer Richard An himself. [COMP MUSIC: Sonatrinas (Excerpt: Duo)] 00:17:38 Richard An And so the back story for this piece is this was written for one of my recitals at CalArts. I was planning on playing this piece by Michael Gordon called Sonatra, which is a really, really beautiful and difficult piece for solo piano that I gave myself as an assignment, which I was not able to do with the amount of time. And, you know, like I just didn't give myself enough time to do this thing, so I still had this program of several pieces written with the idea of having this Michael Gordon Sonatra in the middle, but now that that sort of middle part was gone, there was a bunch of pieces about a piece that didn't exist. So in order to fill that hole, I wrote this piece called Sonatrinas which is a cheeky nod to the Michael Gordon Sonatra, but also to the fact that each part of this is kind of a diminutive Sonata form. Everything has a sort of ABA– here's some idea. Here's a different idea, and now we go back to that first idea. Every single part of this has a little bit of that in it. 00:18:51 Isabel Li Yeah, that's fascinating. Even the name itself reminds me of Sonata form in classical music, where it's kind of like an ABA section. As you sort of talked about earlier. And it's really cool that you're adapting this in a more avant-garde context. This is a reminder you're listening to Apex Express. Today we are interviewing composer and musician Richard An. 00:19:12 Isabel Li I think the general question that I have next is can you tell me a bit about what drew you to music and how you got your start in music, how you got introduced to it and what things have inspired you over the years? 00:19:24 Richard An Yeah. So a real quick sort of, I guess, history of my involvement with music is that I started piano lessons when I was pretty young, either three or four years old. I continued that until I was 12 or 13. I decided I really wanted to become a musician. I started taking composition lessons with this composer, AJ McCaffrey, who is really responsible for a lot of what I know and my successes, if you can call it that. He got me into a lot of the music that I am into now and set the foundation for what I would study and what I would write he was one of the instructors for this program called the LA Phil Composer Fellowship program, which back when I was a participant from 2011 to 2013, was a program hosted by the Los Angeles Philharmonic that took 4 high school age students every two years. And you know, they they taught us, you know, everything. How a young composer needs to know how instruments work, how to write a score, how to talk to musicians, how to do everything that a that a composer needs to learn how to do and at the end of this program, after the two years the young composers write a piece for the at the LA Philharmonic. So I was extremely lucky that by the age of 17 I was able to write a piece for orchestra and get that played and not just any orchestra, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, you know, undisputedly one of the best orchestras in the world. Right. And then after that I I went to USC for my undergrad and then went to CalArts for my masters. And then here we are now. And that those are sort of the like, you know if someone writes a biography about me, that's what we'll be, you know, involved in the thing. But I really started to develop my love for music in my freshman and sophomore year. In high school I I started to get into more and more modern composers. I started to get into more and more noisy things and a lot of this coincided actually with the passing of my mother. She died when I was 14 and you know that in any human the death of a parent will cause you to reevaluate and rethink aspects of your life. Things that you thought were certainties will not be there anymore. So for me, I stopped taking piano lessons and I sort of went headfirst into composition and which is why my degrees are specifically in composition and not piano. Had my mother's passing not happened, you know, who knows what I would be doing now? Maybe I'm not a composer at all. Maybe I'm not into avant-garde music at all, but because things happen the way that they did, I suddenly took a quick turn into avant-garde music and my involvement there only grew more and more and more. Until you know where I am today, I'm almost 30 years old, so I've been listening to and a participant of this music for maybe 15 years or so and I'm quite happy. 00:22:43 Isabel Li That's awesome to hear. 00:22:45 Isabel Li And perhaps a testament to Richard one's very versatile compositional style and avant-garde music coming up next are three pieces from his album i got the electroshock blues. There are five pieces in the album in total, but we will be hearing three of them. The first one called “feeling, scared today,” the second one, “pink pill,” and the fifth one, “la la.” [COMP MUSIC: i got the electroshock blues: 1. “feeling, scared today”, 2. “pink pill”, 3. “la la”.] 00:36:41 Richard An Earlier last year, I released a collection of live recordings under the title of I got the Electroshock Blues. Electroshock Blues is a song by the band Eels I encountered at a pivotal moment in my life. This was right around the time that my mother passed and this record and this song is heavily centered in grief. The main musician in the Eels, Mark Oliver Everett, was dealing with the passing of multiple family members and people who were close to him so it hit me in just the right way at just the right time. And because of that, this song specifically has stayed with me for many, many years. I found myself coming back to the contents of this song as I was composing and all the pieces on this album, of which there are 5 heavily take material from this song, whether that's words, chords, the melody. I really, you know, take it apart, dissect it and use those as ingredients in the pieces that I have written here and all of these are live recordings except for the first piece which was recorded in my studio. I just sort of overdubbed the parts myself, and there are credits in the liner notes for this album, but I just want to say that. The first piece which is called “feeling, scared today,” was originally written for the Hockett piano duo, which is a duo comprised of Thomas Kotcheff and Sarah Gibson. Sarah Gibson was a really close friend of mine who passed away last year and now this piece which in some way came out of a feeling of grief now has renewed meaning and another facet or aspect of this piece is centered in grief now. Because this was dedicated to Thomas and Sarah. Yeah. So these pieces are all derived from this one song. 00:38:57 Isabel Li That's a beautiful response. Thank you so much. Kind of following along your background and how you got to where you are. How do you think your identity has informed your work as a composer and musician? And this could be– you can interpret this in any way that you wish. 00:39:11 Richard An Yeah, this is a really interesting question. The question of how my identity interfaces with my music. In my art, particularly because no person's answer is quite the same, and I don't necessarily have this figured out either. So for a little bit of I guess for a little bit of context on me, I'm second generation Korean American, but I've never been to Korea and I never went to Korean school. My parents never really emphasize that part of my education. You could call it assimilation. You can call it whatever, but I think they valued other aspects of my growth than my explicit tie to Koreanness or, you know my specific identity as a Korean or Korean American, and because of that, I've always felt a little bit awkwardly distanced from that part of my identity, which is something that I will never be completely rid of. So in in a world and the field where whiteness is sort of the default part you know, particularly because you know, classical music does come from Europe, you know, for hundreds of years, like all of the development in this particular kind of music did happen in a place where everyone was white. So because of that background of where I come from and where my musical activity comes from, whiteness has been the default and still feels like it is. So me looking the way that I do as, an obvious not white person, as a person of color will always have a little bit of an outsider status to the thing. And with that comes the question of what are you bringing to classical music? What do you bring to the kind of music that you're creating? Like for example, the most I think the most well known East Asian composers are people like Toru Takemitsu or Tan Dun, people who will interface with their Asianness, in many different ways, but that often involves bringing, for example, a Japanese scale into your classical composition, or bringing a Japanese instrument into your classical composition. Those are, you know, examples of of of pieces by Toru Takemitsu, and other, you know, very successful. Asian American composers now may do similarly. Texu Kim is maybe someone who can also give insight into this, but nothing about me feels explicitly Korean, maybe besides the way that I look. And besides, the way that I grew up a little bit like I've never been to Korea. What right does that give me as a Korean, to for example, use a Korean instrument or use a Korean scale? I've never studied that music. I've never studied that culture. I in in some arguments I would be guilty of cultural appropriation, because I, you know, have not done the work to study and to properly represent. And for example, like Pansori, if I were to use that in any of my music. 00:42:46 Richard An But then the the the difficult question is well, then who does have the right? Does being Korean give me all the license that I need to incorporate aspects of my identity? And if I am not Korean, does that, does that bar my access to that kind of music forever? Another way of looking at this is, I've studied North Indian Classical Hindustani music for a while. I've played tabla and and studied that music at CalArts and I really, really love playing tabla. It's it doesn't make its way into my composition so much, but it is certainly a big part of my musicianship and who I am and, like, but am I barred from using ideas or aspects of that music and culture and my music because simply for the fact that I am not Indian? Many musicians would say no. Of course you've done your homework, you've done your research. You're doing due diligence. You're you're representing it properly. And many people who study this music will say music cannot go forward if it's not like the innervated and continued and studied by people like me who are not explicitly South Asian or Indian. That's an example of the flip side of this of me using or representing the music from a culture that I am not a part of, but again, am I really Korean? I've never been there. I wasn't born there. I speak the language conversationally. But this is an extremely long winded way of saying that I feel a tenuous connection to my Korean this my Korean American identity that hasn't been solved, that isn't solved and probably will never be completely solved. But I think that's exciting. I think that's an evolving aspect of my music and will continue to be that way as long as I continue to be involved in music and as as long as I continue to write. 00:45:05 Isabel Li Yeah, absolutely. That's a wonderful response. Actually. I was, as I was studying different types of world music and learning how people kind of borrow from different cultures. There is this always, this kind of question like ohh, like which types of musical elements from which cultures can I incorporate and obviously the aspects of personal identity definitely play into that a little bit. And part of my senior thesis in college was studying AAPI artists in classical music, and specifically that there are a lot of Asian-identifying musicians in the classical music world. But as you kind of mentioned earlier, I think classical music is very much still like grounded in whiteness and has this kind of air of elitism to it just because of its roots. How do you think this kind of identity intersects with the classical music world? And forgive me if you've already kind of talked about it before, but it's an interesting juxtaposition between like, for example, musicians who identify as AAPI or Asian in this kind of genre that is very– it's very associated with whiteness. Could you kind of talk about the dynamics of how these two aspects of like culture kind of interplay with one another? 00:46:26 Richard An Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, there are ways that I personally feel like I intersect with classical music with reference to my identity, and that also plays with the sort of cultural expectations, like there are stereotypes of Asian musicians, of Asian classical musicians. But there are not necessarily the same the same kind of stereotypes with white classical musicians. A very dominant like stereotype that you'll run into is the young Asian prodigy who practices 10 hours a day and may therefore be labeled as mechanical or unfeeling or, you know, are involved in in this a lot. So much so to the fact to the to the point where to excel an Asian American classical musician or as an Asian classical musician, in general, seems to always carry that stereotype. Like you know, Seong-Jin Cho's success as a pianist may not necessarily be attributed to his musicianship or his skill as a pianist. Because he is an Asian person, an Asian guy. Like how much of his success is because of the perceived tiger mom-ness that he might have existed under? How much of it is attributed to the same type of stereotypes that are labeled like that that label the five year old pianist on YouTube that that is clearly better than I am? Like some of these stereotypes help and some of these don't, but the I think it's undeniable that they exist in a way that doesn't in a way that doesn't carry for white people in the classical music sphere. And I think part of that is that classical music is still rooted in its Eurological identity. I think I'm using that correctly. That's an idea from George Lewis. Eurological versus Afrological. The context that I'm using Eurological right now is specifically in reference to George Lewis, who is a composer, trombonist, and musicologist who, I think coined the two terms to differentiate the roots of different styles of music, and you know, I haven't read enough to confidently say, but classical music is Eurological by example and like jazz would be Afrological by an example and the contexts in which they develop and exist and grew up are fundamentally different, which is what makes them different from each other. And again like this needs a little bit more research on my part. 00:49:23 Richard An Yeah, and because the classical music is so rooted in this thing, I don't believe that the stereotypes that exist for Asian classical musicians exist for white people. And I think that is something that will naturally dissipate with time, like after another 100 years of Asians, and, you know, people of color in, you know, every country in the world, with their continued involvement and innova otypes will disappear like this. You know, it may require certain concerted efforts from certain people, but I do believe that after a while these things will not exist. They'll sort of equalize right in the same way. That the divisions that we make between a Russian pianist and a French pianist and a German pianist, though you know people still do study those things like those aren't really dividing lines quite as strong as an Asian composer or an Indian composer might be. 00:50:27 Isabel Li Thank you for that perspective. I think it's, I think these are conversations that people don't kind of bring up as much in the classical music world and it's great that, you know, we're kind of thinking about these and probably possibly like opening some conversations up to our listeners hopefully. And so my next kind of pivot here is as you know with our current administration, Trump has canceled millions of dollars in National Endowment of the Arts grants, and it's been affecting arts organizations all over the nation. And I was kind of wondering, have you been affected by these cuts to arts programs and what kinds of advice would give upcoming musicians or composers in this era? 00:51:07 Richard An Yeah, that's a yeah, that's a big thing. And like, you know, changing day by day, right. So the Trump administration's effects on my life as a musician is simultaneously huge and also not really that much. So in one way these grant cuts have not affected my personal musical life because I haven't ever received a government grant for any of my arts making. So in one way like my life is the same, but in many, many, many other ways it has changed. Like I am involved with and I work with concert series and organizations and nonprofits that do rely on NEA funding and other government arts based funding. And if they have less money to fund their next season, that means certain projects have to be cut. That means certain musicians have to be paid less. That means certain programs have to change, especially if these funding cuts are aimed towards DEI or quote and quote, woke programming like that is, you know this that will by design disproportionately affect people of color in this field, which already you know, like is in a Eurocentric urological tradition like this is already something that people of color don't have a head start in if the funding cuts are aimed at certain types of programming that will disadvantage already disadvantaged groups of people, well then I don't know, that's even–we're starting even later than other people might be, and you know, like, if a musicians, if a person's reaction to this is despair, I think that's reasonable. I think that is an absolutely, like that's an appropriate reaction to what is fundamentally an attack on your voice as an artist. But I I have for as long as I can, you know, I have always worked under the impression that I will have to do the thing myself, and that's in the piece of advice that I give for a lot of people. You shouldn't necessarily wait for this ensemble to come pick you to play or or to to, you know, commission you to write a piece if you want to write the piece, you should do it and figure out how to put it on yourself. If you want to perform you know music by a certain composer, you should do it and then figure out how to do it yourself. That certainly comes from a place of privilege, like I can do this because I have enough work as a musician to be able to pay for the the passion projects it comes from a place of privilege, because I live in Los Angeles and the resources and musicians and other people who I would like to collaborate with live here, so you know, completely acknowledging and understanding that I I do believe that it's better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission. I think if you're a young musician and are feeling some despair about these funding cuts and you know the many, many, many other transgressions against humanity by this current administration. 00:54:38 Richard An I recommend you just go out and do it yourself. You find your people, you find your community, you pull favors, you work long nights and you do it and the reward will firstly be the good you're putting out into the world and then the the art you're making. But also this will be paid in kind by the community you're building, the musicians you're working with. And the the connections you make like you know I I have, I am currently conducting this interview from a studio space that I am renting out in Pasadena that I have built over the last two years that I do all of my rehearsals and my performances in, and that I, you know, host rehearsals and performances for other people, and this cannot happen and could not have happened without the goodwill and help and contribution from other people. When I say go out and do it yourself, I'm not saying that you as a human being are alone. I'm saying you don't need to wait for institutional approval or permission to go out and do these things. Get your friends and do them themselves. And my optimistic belief is that the support and the work will follow. 00:55:53 Isabel Li Richard, thank you so much for sharing your perspectives and your voice on this show today. And thank you to our many listeners of KPFA on tonight's episode of Obbligato on Apex Express. Which focuses on the AAPI community of the classical music world. There were some inspirational words on arts and arts making by Richard An musician and composer based in Los Angeles. 00:56:18 Isabel Li Please check our website kpfa.org to find out more about Richard An and his work as well as the state of the arts during this period of funding cuts. 00:56:29 Isabel Li We thank all of you listeners out there. Keep resisting, keep organizing, keep creating and sharing your visions with the world, your voices and your art are important. 00:56:41 Isabel Li APEX Express is produced by Ayame Keane-Lee, Anuj Vaidya, Cheryl Truong, Jalena Keane-Lee, Miko Lee, Preeti Mangala Shekar and Swati Rayasam. Tonight's show was produced by Isabel Li. Have a great evening. The post APEX Express – 8.7.25 – Obbligato with Richard An appeared first on KPFA.

We're celebrating Earth Day with performances that celebrate our natural world. Up first, a young oboist performs a piece inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings of jimson weed and speaks about volunteering in a community garden. We also meet a teen pianist who performs Tan Dun's colorful homage to the Chinese countryside and a composer who connects with nature through the study of insects and shares a work inspired by the Salt Creek Tiger Beetle.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

This week we are discussing the 2002 wuxia epic: Hero (英雄). Join us as we talk about the stunning visuals, colorful chapters, understanding martial arts films, political readings, Indy's love of Tony Leung (and most of the cast, really), Chinese history, and a bunch of other things I've already forgotten.   I Love This You Should Too is hosted by Samantha and Indy Randhawa   Hero (Chinese: 英雄; pinyin: Yīngxióng) is a 2002 wuxia martial arts film[3] directed, co-written, and produced by Zhang Yimou, and starring Jet Li, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Maggie Cheung, Zhang Ziyi, Donnie Yen and Chen Daoming.[4] The cinematography was by Christopher Doyle, and the musical score composed by Tan Dun. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 75th Academy Awards. The historical background of the film refers to the Warring States Period in ancient China, when China was divided into seven states. In 227–221 BC, the Qin state was about to unify the other six states, assassins from the six states were sent to assassinate the king of Qin. One of the most famous incidents was Jing Ke's attempted assassination of the King of Qin.

Indy reviews Paul Tremblay's horror books including; A Head Full of Ghosts, Disappearance at Devil's Rock, Horror Movie, & others, Samantha recommends the historical fiction of To the Bone by Alena Bruzas, and we preview next week's deep dive, the 2002 Wuxia Historical epic: Hero!  I Love This You Should Too is hosted by Samantha & Indy Randhawa   Paul Gaetan Tremblay  is an American author and editor of horror, dark fantasy, and science fiction. His most widely known novels include A Head Full of Ghosts, The Cabin at the End of the World, and Survivor Song. He has won multiple Bram Stoker Awards and is a juror for the Shirley Jackson Awards.   Hero (Chinese: 英雄; pinyin: Yīngxióng) is a 2002 wuxia martial arts film directed, co-written, and produced by Zhang Yimou, and starring Jet Li, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Maggie Cheung, Zhang Ziyi, Donnie Yen and Chen Daoming. The cinematography was by Christopher Doyle, and the musical score composed by Tan Dun. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 75th Academy Awards.

durée : 01:00:14 - Tan Dun, héros malgré lui - par : Laurent Vilarem - En octobre, Tan Dun effectue une large tournée française avec l'Orchestre symphonique national de Chine. Aux côtés du musicologue Jacques Amblard, Création Grand Format se penche sur le parcours riche et complexe du compositeur chinois, véritable star de la musique contemporaine - réalisé par : Céline Parfenoff

Tim Hankewich is back and with him for his culture crawl debut is Orchestra Iowa's new CEO, Eric Marshall. The orchestra's second Masterwork of the season was inspired by cellist Philip Bergman and the music of Tan Dun's Crouching Tiger Cencerto for Cello & Orchestra. If you're familiar with the martial arts film Crouching Tiger … Continue reading

Un sistema di scrittura unico chiamato Nu Shu, compreso solo dalle donne, è stato usato per secoli in un gruppo di piccoli villaggi nella provincia di Hunan, nel sud della Cina. È stato sviluppato dalle donne contadine in un momento in cui alle ragazze veniva negata l'istruzione formale. La sua scrittura consiste di circa 700 caratteri fonetici, rispetto alle migliaia di caratteri ideografici cinesi. Nu Shu è scritto con delicate linee curve e inclinate, che Yang Yueqing, un regista che ha documentato Nu Shu, descrive come “molto femminile e bello, … anche estremamente grafico perché è stato tessuto in stoffa e ricamato come modelli”, riporta il Sunday Times di Londra. Le donne hanno registrato le tradizioni popolari ed espresso il loro destino nella vita in canzoni e poesie scritte in Nu Shu. Dopo che alle donne fu concessa l'uguaglianza in Cina nel 1949, l'uso del Nu Shu cominciò a diminuire. Yang Huany, l'ultima donna che scriveva correntemente questa lingua, abitante nella contea di Jiangyong, è deceduta il 20 settembre 2004, all'età di 96-98 anni. La lingua Nu Shu e il luogo in cui si parlava hanno attratto investimenti stranieri per la costruzione di infrastrutture in possibili siti turistici e una sovvenzione di 209.000 $ dalla Fondazione Ford per costruire un museo tematico che avrebbe dovuto aprire nel 2007. Il compositore cinese Tan Dun ha creato una sinfonia multimediale intitolata Nu Shu: The Secret Songs of Women per arpa, orchestra e 13 microfilm. Tan Dun ha trascorso cinque anni conducendo ricerche sul campo nella provincia di Hunan, documentando su pellicola le varie canzoni che le donne usano per comunicare. Quelle canzoni diventano una terza dimensione per la sua sinfonia e sono proiettate insieme all'orchestra e all'arpista solista.

Das Bundesjugendorchester ist auf Sommertournee, mit Beethovens Neunter und einem neuen Werk des Star-Komponisten Tan Dun. International berühmt geworden ist Tan Dun unter anderem mit seiner Musik zum Blockbuster „Tiger and Dragon“. In seinen Werken verbindet westliche und östliche Klangwelten.

The Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) continues its mission to broaden public appreciation for music beyond Western classical traditions, through the upcoming concert, Celestial Serenade. The concert celebrates Chinese classical music, highlighting the suona, a significant woodwind instrument in Chinese culture. Led by Jebat Arjuna Kee, the MPO collaborates with renowned suona performer Liu Wenwen to present Gong Guotai's Hundred Birds Worshipping the Phoenix and Ode to Kylin by Kong Zhixuan, alongside Tan Dun's Crouching Tiger Concerto featuring cellist Dylan Lee and other compositions such as Li Minxiong's Flying Dragon Leaping Tiger and Zhu Jianer's Sketches in the Mountains of Guizhou. We speak to cello soloist Dylan Lee, to find out more.

We're celebrating Earth Day with performances that celebrate our natural world. Up first, a young oboist performs a piece inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings of jimson weed and speaks about volunteering in a community garden. We also meet a teen pianist who performs Tan Dun's colorful homage to the Chinese countryside and a composer who connects with nature through the study of insects and shares a work inspired by the Salt Creek Tiger Beetle.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Con Mario Mora | El 10 de febrero comenzó el nuevo año chino. Es el año del dragón de madera, que representa el poder, la nobleza y la buena fortuna. Con compositores, artistas, músicos e instrumentos chinos nos unimos a estas celebraciones y nos mimetizamos con la cultura china para disfrutar de estas celebraciones. Disfruta del sonido del guquin, de la música de Tan Dun, de la maestría de Lang Lang e incluso de inspiraciones chinas en compositores europeos. Una selección musical sorprendente que esperamos que disfrutes con nosotros.

Today, a piano recital from Samuel Lam presenting works by Domenico Scarlatti, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Béla Bartók, and Tan Dun. The post Encore broadcast | Samuel Lam, 18, piano appeared first on WFMT.

El grueso del trabajo de la compositora de Helsinki formada en Darmstadt y París son obras de cámara con un énfasis en el timbre y el uso de la electrónica a partir de instrumentos tradicionales, sobre todo de la cultura nórdica y oriental._____Has escuchadoIo (1986-1987). Avanti Chamber Orchestra; Jukka-Pekka Saraste, director. Finlandia Records (1989)“L'Amour de loin. Si tu t'appelles Amour”. Sanna Phillips, soprano; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; Susanna Mälkki, directora. YouTube Vídeo. Publicado por Metropolitan Opera, 8 de diciembre de 2016: [Vídeo]Nymphéa: For String Quartet and Electronics (1987). Meta4 Quartet. Ondine (2013)Verblendungen (1982-1984). Avanti Chamber Orchestra; Jukka-Pekka Saraste, director. Finlandia Records (1989)_____Selección bibliográficaANDERSON, Julian, “Seductive Solitary. Julian Anderson Introduces the Work of Kaija Saariaho”. The Musical Times, vol. 133, n.º 1798 (1992), pp. 616-619*BATTIER, Marc y Gilbert Nouno, “L'électronique dans l'opéra de Kaija Saariaho, L'Amour de loin”. Musurgia, vol. 10, n.º 2 (2003), pp. 51-59*COHEN-LEVINAS, Danielle, “Entretien avec Kaija Saariaho”. Cahiers de l'Ircam, n.º 2(1993), pp. 13-41DÍAZ DE LA FUENTE, Alicia, “El sonido de Kaija Saariaho”. Música: Revista del Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid, n.º 23 (2016), pp. 153-164*DÍAZ JÉREZ, Salvadora, Nuevas perspectivas sonoras. K. Saariaho y los enfoques de creación contemporáneos. Estudio de tres obras del siglo XXI: L'Amour de loin, Aile du songe y Notes on Light. Tesis doctoral, Universidad de La Laguna, 2016EVERETT, Yayoi Uno, Reconfiguring Myth and Narrative in Contemporary Opera: Osvaldo Golijov, Kaija Saariaho, John Adams, and Tan Dun. Indiana University Press, 2015GRABOCZ, Marta, “La musique contemporaine finlandaise: conception gestuelle de la macrostructure / Saariaho et Lindberg”. Cahiers du CIREM, “Musique et Geste”, n.º 26-27 (1993), pp. 155-158HOWELL, Tim et al., Kaija Saariaho: Visions Narratives Dialogues. Ashgate, 2011KERN, Friedrich Heinrich, An Exploration of Compositional Technique in the Operas of Kaija Saariaho and Christian Jost. F. H. Kern, 2021MAO-TAKACS, Clément, Kaija Saariaho. L'ombre du songe. Symétrie, 2013MOISALA, Pirkko, Kaija Saariaho. University of Illinois Press, 2009—, “Reflections on an Ethnomusicological Study of a Contemporary Western Art Music Composer”. Ethnomusicology Forum, vol. 20, n.º 3 (2011), pp. 443-451*NIEMINEN, Risto, Kaija Saariaho. IRCAM-Centre Georges Pompidou, 1994ORDÓÑEZ GARCÍA, Silvia Constanza, L'Amour de loin o el postmoderno Prometeo. La performance intermedial en el acontecer escénico de la ópera de Kaija Saariaho. Tesis doctoral, Universidad de Granada, 2022 [PDF]ROMERO ORTIZ, María Dolores, “El jardín japonés en Six Japanese Gardens de Kaija Saariaho”. Quodlibet: Revista de Especialización Musical, n.º 75 (2021), pp. 272-340*SIVUOJA-GUNARATNAM, Anne, “Rhetoric of Transition in Kaija Saariaho's Music”. En: Musical Signification: Between Rhetoric and Pragmatics. Editado por Gino Stefani, Eero Tarasti y Luca Marconi. CLUEB, 1998—, “Desire and Distance in Kaija Saariaho's Lonh”. Organised Sound, vol. 8, n.º 1 (2003), pp. 71-84* *Documento disponible para su consulta en la Sala de Nuevas Músicas de la Biblioteca y Centro de Apoyo a la Investigación de la Fundación Juan March

It's the last (regular) episode of the year, quite unexpectedly, but a series of hilarious mishaps before and during recording nearly led to no show, so we're getting while the getting's good. And it's good this week with Tan Dun's Oscar-winning score to the martial arts classic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Watch this space for maybe a special, otherwise we're back in 2024! Happy holidays from Aaron, Jay, and Krueger!

Tan Dun's Buddha Passion is a captivating tale of wonder, truth, and gentle but irresistible transformation. The monumental work involving massed choirs, a large orchestra, six percussionists, and an array of soloists including indigenous singers, traditional Chinese instruments, and a dancing pipa player, is the first such ‘Passion' on a Buddhist rather than Christian narrative.Track Listing:1 Chant2 Little Prince3 Mantra4 Under the Bodhi Tree5 Equality6 Deer of Nine Colors7 Gratitude8 Betrayal9 Trees Wish to Be Still, yet the Wind Doesn't Let Go10 Karma11 Apsaras12 Father and Three Daughters13 My Dear Father14 Sacrifice15 Mantra of Nine16 A Body is a Bodhi Tree17 Is it the Wind or a Banner Moving, or is it My Soul18 Zen Dream19 A Solar Eclipse20 Silk Road An Invisible Road21 Home Lies so Far Away22 Love is Destined to Part23 Heart Sutra24 In No Time, I Shall Enter Nirvana25 All Creatures in the Universe26 The Other Side27 Buddha Was Man, Man Will Be Buddha28 One Last Question29 NirvanaHelp support our show by purchasing this album  at:Downloads (classicalmusicdiscoveries.store) Classical Music Discoveries is sponsored by Uber and Apple Classical. @CMDHedgecock#ClassicalMusicDiscoveries #KeepClassicalMusicAlive#CMDGrandOperaCompanyofVenice #CMDParisPhilharmonicinOrléans#CMDGermanOperaCompanyofBerlin#CMDGrandOperaCompanyofBarcelonaSpain#ClassicalMusicLivesOn#Uber#AppleClassical Please consider supporting our show, thank you!Donate (classicalmusicdiscoveries.store) staff@classicalmusicdiscoveries.com This album is broadcasted with the permission of Crossover Media Music Promotion (Zachary Swanson and Amanda Bloom).Please note: the broadcasting of this episode does not mean that CMD approves of Idol worship.Only with obedience to Jesus Christ can you enter into salvation.

Ebben epizódban a kivételes tehetségű magyar fuvolaművész, **Ábel Andrea** mesél nekünk az életéről és kultúránkról, New York-i kalandjairól. 

SynopsisOn today's date in 2000, a new cello concerto with an unusual title received its premiere performance at the Barbican Center in London. Billed as the “Crouching Tiger” Concerto, this score was by the Chinese composer Tan Dun, and was derived from Tan's film score for Ang Lee's mystical and magical martial arts film titled “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”That score featured a prominent cello part, tailor-made for cellist Yo-Yo Ma, as well as a variety of traditional Chinese instruments and a percussion battery that included a North African frame drum. The haunting score matched the film so effectively that it was nominated for—and won—an Academy Award.It was director Ang Lee who suggested that Tan Dun rework his film score into a cello concerto, and even offered to put together a special film to accompany the concerto. In effect, saying, “Turnabout is fair play—you composed music to fit my film, now I'll compose a film to fit your concerto!”Lee pulled together shots from the original film and mixed in real and imaginary scenes from New York's Chinatown and 19th century Beijing for the new film designed to accompany performances of the new concerto.Music Played in Today's ProgramTan Dun (b. 1957) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon filmscore Yo Yo Ma, cello; Shanghai Symphony; Tan Dun, cond. Sony 89347

SynopsisOn this date in 1973, Eugene Ormandy conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra in music by Mozart, Brahms, and the American composer, Roy Harris. The program was nothing out of the ordinary, but the concert took place in Beijing and marked the FIRST time an American orchestra had performed in Communist China. The orchestra was invited to China following the famous visit of President and Mrs. Nixon and secretary of state Henry Kissinger.In the audience for one of these historic concerts was a young student of traditional Chinese music named Tan Dun. When Tan heard the Philadelphians perform Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, a work he had never heard before, he decided then and there to become a composer himself. In 1986, Tan Dun came to New York City, and since then has managed to combine elements of East and West into his own musical works.In 1987, for example, he composed a violin concerto titled Out of Peking Opera, which draws on both Chinese and European traditions. In addition to prestigious awards and commissions from major foundations and orchestras, in March of 2001, Tan Dun won an Oscar for his film score to the Ang Lee film, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.Music Played in Today's ProgramLudwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827) Symphony No. 5 Royal Philharmonic; René Leibowitz, cond. Chesky 17Tan Dun (b. 1957) Out of Peking Opera Cho-Liang Lin, violin; Helsinki Philharmonic; Muhai Tang, cond. Ondine 864

Tan Dun hat die Mogao-Grotten besucht und war so fasziniert von den Darstellungen, dass er die Musik mit seiner „Buddha Passion“ wieder zum Leben erwecken wollte.

Budizmo teosofijos ir Johanno Sebastiano Bacho įkvėpta „Budos pasija“ pagal kinų kompozitorių Taną Duną; niekada neatrastas XX amžiaus vidurio bliuzas viename rinkinyje; kitoks požiūris į styginių kvartetą pagal australą JG Thirlwellą; prarastas Johno Coltrane'o ir Erico Dolphy koncertas; lietuvių kompozitoriai ir Thomo Manno kopos naujausiame „Aidijos“ albume. Visa tai leidybinių naujienų apžvalgose.Ved. Domantas Razauskas

In the latest Podcast Gramophone Editor Martin Cullingford caught up with the multi Award-winning composer Tan Dun to explore his new work, Buddha Passion, available on Decca, and to hear his fascinating thoughts on composing, conducting and on music in general.

Today, a piano recital from Samuel Lam presenting works by Domenico Scarlatti, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Béla Bartók, and Tan Dun. The post Samuel Lam, 18, piano appeared first on WFMT.

Lisa Willis and Nonye Brown-West visit friends and discuss the banning of Amanda Gorman's poem, Supporting black poetry, and advocating for black art with host Marina Franklin. Lisa Willis serves as the Executive Director of Cave Canem. She is a passionate artistic administrator with 20 years of experience managing multi-disciplinary projects in the non-profit and commercial arts sectors. She has held various consulting and management roles in development, programming, and operations for New York Live Arts, home of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, Contemporaneous, Thresh, Heidi Latsky Dance, Brian Sanders' JUNK, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, the Mann, and JazzReach. In 2020 she co-founded The LynList, a curated listserv and grant writing support service for NYC area individual artists and small non-profit arts groups. Prior to her shift into fundraising, she was the founding Operations Manager for CAMI Music, establishing and managing its daily administrative protocols in addition to overseeing the touring and managerial logistics for Lang Lang, Tan Dun, Savion Glover, American Ballet Theatre, Cirque Eloize, and the Ballet Folklórico de México de Amalia Hernández. Lisa holds a B.A. in Music Composition and Theory from New York University and a background of training in ballet and modern dance. Nonye Brown-West is a New York-based Nigerian-American comedian and writer. She has been featured in the Boston Globe's Rise column as a Comic to Watch, as well as in NPR, PBS, ABC, Sway In The Morning, and the New York Comedy Festival. Nonye made her acting debut in The Sympathy Card, now available for streaming on Vudu, Apple, Amazon, and Google Play. Always hosted by Marina Franklin - One Hour Comedy Special: Single Black Female ( Amazon Prime, CW Network), TBS's The Last O.G, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Hysterical on FX, The Movie Trainwreck, Louie Season V, The Jim Gaffigan Show, Conan O'Brien, Stephen Colbert, HBO's Crashing, and The Breaks with Michelle Wolf.  

En esta conversación David Lang no enteraremos de la trayectoria de Bang on a Can entenderemos la intención de su música experimental, y cómo el ensamble ha creado su propia identidad, convirtiéndose en único en su género, no solo por su interpretación, sino por la talla de los músicos que lo integran como lo son el director musical del artista Paul Simon y uno de las creadores del sonido musical para la película "El Tigre y el Dragón" del año 2.000. Tanto en interpretación como en grabaciones, el trabajo de Bang on a Can All-Stars está marcado por la colaboración con una amplia variedad de artistas y géneros, que van desde colaboraciones con los compositores Steve Reich, Philip Glass y Tan Dun, el saxofonista de jazz Ornette Coleman, el maestro de tambores circulares birmano Kyaw Kyaw Naing y el DJ de hip-hop Spooky. Me acompaña en la traducción Betto Argos, colaborador de la NPR en Los Ángeles. Bang on a Can realiza su show en Medellín en el marco de la Temporada Nacional de Conciertos 2023 del Banco de la República este sábado 18 de febrero a las 5:00 p.m. en el Teatro Alfonso Restrepo Moreno en San Ignacio. Una invitación de Comfama. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gabriel-posada/message

For the final episode of 2022, we interviewed Dr. Magdalena Stern-Baczewska on a Saturday afternoon and had a great time chatting with her about

On Friday, November 4 at 8pm, The Bard Conservatory of Music will present “Uncaged,” a centennial concert in honor of pioneering composer and music theorist John Cage. Performed by the Bard Conservatory Orchestra under the direction of Tan Dun, the concert will take place in the Sonsonoff Theatre at The Fisher Center - it will also be live-streamed.

Synopsis The first performance of the “Liebeslieder” – or the “Love Song” Waltzes – for piano four-hands by Johannes Brahms took place on today's date in 1869. The performers were two distinguished soloists: Clara Schumann, widow of composer Robert Schumann, and Hermann Levi, a famous conductor of his day. But in fact, the “Liebeslieder Waltzes” were intended for amateur musicians to play. These popular scores provided Brahms with some steady income, certainly more than he earned from performances of his symphonies, which some of his contemporaries considered difficult “new” music. Brahms wrote to his publisher: “I must admit that, for the first time, I grinned at the sight of a work of mine in print. Moreover, I gladly risk being called an ass if our ‘Liebeslieder' don't give more than a few people pleasure.” Some much more recent piano music designed for amateur performers was collected into a volume titled “Carnegie Hall Millennium Piano Book.” This volume was conceived by composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and the artistic director of Carnegie Hall, Judith Arron. They were concerned about the lack of contemporary piano works that intermediate-level piano students could perform, so commissioned ten composers to write suitable piano pieces from composers ranging from Milton Babbitt and Elliott Carte to Chen Yi and Tan Dun. Music Played in Today's Program Johannes Brahms (1833-1897): Liebeslieder Waltz No. 18, Op.52a –Silke-Thora Matthies and Christian Köhn, piano (Naxos 553140) Frederic Rzewski (1938-2021): The Days Fly By –Ursula Oppens, piano (Companion CD to Boosey and Hawkes "The Carnegie Hall Millennium Piano Book" ASIN: B003AG8IUK)

De Hollandse Nieuwe van de afgelopen week is de CD Eight Memories in Watercolor met werken van Tan Dun door pianist Ralph van Raat. Dan de start van een zomerserie met Componist Des Vaderlands Martin Fondse! En verder: Cappella Amsterdam viert volgende week haar 50e verjaardag, met muziek van Bach, Pärt en Lang. Zing de klinkers uit die achternamen en je hebt een pracht van een muzikale uithaal: äaa!

In the first episode of season two, we take a look at the Water Concerto by Chinese-born composer Tan Dun - complete with an in-studio demonstration of the exotic instruments it uses. Also, our Water Music quiz translates pop song titles into techno-babble. Can you unscramble them?

World-renowned guitarist Sharon Isbin takes us on a personal tour of her two latest albums: Affinity and Strings for Peace. Affinity is loaded with works written for Isbin, including the title track – a new guitar concerto by Chris Brubeck which contains a musical nod to his late father, legendary jazz musician Dave Brubeck (whose centenary is in 2020). Also on that disc: works that span the global palette from Tan Dun, Leo Brouwer, Antonio Lauro, and Richard Danielpour (whose song settings of Rumi poems also feature the wonderful mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard). Sharon also introduces us to Strings for Peace, her collaboration with Sarod master Amjad Ali Khan that presents four Ragas masterfully arranged for Sharon with sarods and tabla, thus drawing compelling connections between Western and Indian classical music. Social Media Links: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SharonIsbin Twitter: https://twitter.com/SharonIsbin YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/SharonIsbin Photo credit: J. Henry Fair

In this weeks WCRI's Kids Hour hosts Jamie and Spencer listen to music by Asian Cinema Composers. We'll hear music from Tan Dun, Yoko Kanno, Siddhartha Khosta and many more!

Diane and Sean discuss Ang Lee's international kung fu mega hit, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Episode music is, "The Eternal Vow" by Tan Dun.-  Our theme song is by Brushy One String-  Artwork by Marlaine LePage-  Why Do We Own This DVD?  Merch available at Teepublic-  Follow the show on social media:-  IG: @whydoweownthisdvd-  Twitter: @whydoweownthis1-  Follow Sean's Plants on IG: @lookitmahplantsSupport the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dvdpod)

Synopsis Yes, Juliet, a rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but a catchy title alone can't help a piece of music that's uninspired or just plain boring. An intriguing title, however can sometimes help put audiences into a more receptive frame of mind – or at least pique their curiosity. From the very beginning of his career in the 1980s, the young American composer Michael Torke had the knack of coming up with quite evocative titles. His early works had titles like “Ecstatic Orange” and “Bright Blue Music.” A piece composed for the 1994 Olympic Games in Atlanta was titled “Javelin,” and this music, an orchestral suite that premiered in Amsterdam on today's date in 1997, was titled “Overnight Mail.” And each of the three movements of his orchestral suite had an ADDITIONAL title, as Torke explains: “The titles of the suite's three movements, Priority, Standard, and Saturday Delivery present the options for expediency when sending things, but musically, they represent different reactions to an abstract compositional problem I set up for myself … For me this was important, because I want to write music that follows all the old rules of voice leading and counterpoint, but sounds fresh.” Music Played in Today's Program Michael Torke (b. 1961) — Overnight Mail (Orkest de Volharding; Jurjen Hempel, cond.) Argo 455 684 On This Day Births 1673 - French flutist and composer Jacques-Martin Hottetere, in Paris; Deaths 1977 - Russian composer Alexander Tcherepnin, age 78, in Paris; Premieres 1918 - Holst: "The Planets," at Queen's Hall, London; 1921 - Sigmund Romberg: operetta "Blossom Time," in New York City; 1949 - Bliss: opera "The Olympians," in London; 1968 - Henze: Piano Concerto No. 2, in Bielefeld, Germany; 1969 - Shostakovich: Symphony No. 14 (to poems of Lorca, Apollinaire, Küchelbecker, and Rilke), in Leningrad, by the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Rudolf Barshai conducting, with vocal soloists Galina Vishnevskaya and Yevgeny Vladimirov; 1983 - Lutoslawski: Symphony No. 3, in Chicago; 1997 - Michael Torke: "Overnight Mail" for chamber ensemble, in Carre, Amsterdam, by the Orkest de Volharding, Jurjen Hempel conducting; 2000 - Tan Dun: "Crouching Tiger Concerto," at the Barbican Festival in London, by the London Sinfonietta; Others 1739 - Handel completes in London his Concerto Grosso in G, Op. 6, no. 1 (Gregorian date: Oct. 10); 1789 - Mozart completes in Vienna his Quintet in A for clarinet and strings, K. 581, written for clarinetist Anton Stadler, who gave the first public performance of the new work in December of that year. Links and Resources On Torke

Synopsis The year 2000 marked both the arrival of a new millennium and the 250th anniversary of the death of the great German Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach. The International Bach Academy in Stuttgart decided to mark the occasion by commissioning four very different composers to write four new passion settings, one each after the Gospel accounts of the evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. A German composer, Wolfgang Rihm, was chosen for the St. Luke Passion; a Russian, Sofia Gubaidulina for St. John's; an Argentine, Osvaldo Golijov for St. Mark's; and a Chinese composer, Tan Dun, for the Passion according to St. Matthew. And on today's date in 2000, Helmuth Rilling conducted the world premiere of Tan Dun's “Water Passion after St. Matthew.” Tan said he was struck by the references to water in St. Matthew's gospel, so his setting includes seventeen large, illuminated bowls of water, positioned on stage in the form of a cross. These divide the chorus, with three percussionists and a group of additional soloists stationed at the four points of this cross. In Tan's “Water Passion,” natural sounds of water mix with a wide range of vocal techniques, including Tuvan throat singing and the stylized virtuosity of Peking Opera. Music Played in Today's Program Tan Dun (b. 1957) – Water Passion (Stephen Bryant, bass; Mark O'Connor, violin; ensemble; Tan Dun, cond.) Sony 89927 On This Day Births 1841 - Czech composer Antonin Dvorák, in Nelahozeves; 1894 - Dutch composer Willem Pijper, in Zeist; 1933 - American composer Eric Salzman, in New York City; 1934 - British composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (whose last name, despite its spelling, is pronounced "Davis" by the British); 1934 - Canadian composer Srul Irving Glick, in Toronto; Deaths 1613 - Italian nobleman, composer, lutenist, and murderer (of his first wife and her lover) Don Carlo Gesualdo, age c. 53, at his castle in Gesualdo; 1949 - German composer and conductor Richard Strauss, age 85, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen; 1991 - American composer Alex North, age 80, in Pacific Palisades, Calif.; Premieres 1961 - Earle Brown: "Available Forms I" for 18 players, in Darmstadt; 1971 - Bernstein: gala premiere "Mass (A Theater Piece)" at the inauguration of the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., choreographed by Alvin Ainley, directed by Gordon Davidson, and conducted by Maurice Peress (Bernstein shared a box section with members of the Kennedy family, including Senator Ted Kennedy and his mother, Rose; Jacqueline Kennedy Onasis did not attend this performance); A dress rehearsal performances of this new work was also open to the public and specially-invited members of Congress the preceding day; 1975 - Paul Chihara: "Ceremony V (Symphony in Celebration)," in Houston; 1994 - Michael Torke: "Javelin," by the Atlanta Symphony, Yoel Levi conducting; 1995 - Lou Harrison: "New First Suite for Strings," in Majorca, by the Stuttgart Symphony, Dennis Russell Davies conductin; 2000 - Tan Dun: "Water Passion after St. Matthew," in Stuttgart (Germany), with vocal soloists Elizabeth Keusch and Stephen Bryant, violinist Mark O'Connor, cellist Maya Beiser, and percussionist David Cossin, and the orchestra of the Bach Academy conducted by the composer; This work was one of four passion settings commissioned by the International Bach Academy to honor the 250th anniversary of Bach's death in the year 2000 (see also: Aug. 29 Sept 1 5). Links and Resources On Tan Dun More on Tan Dun

Dame Evelyn Glennie, arguably the world's premier percussionist talks us through creating the sound of icicles, growing up in remote Scotland, the 'feel' of sound, her wonderful peripatetic schoolteacher,  playing flowerpots to  stunning effect, waterphones, Tan Dun and manipulating a metal truck silencer to evoke the sound of thunder in a cave.— In the Wilderness Tracks, writers, artists, scientists and thinkers talk with producer Geoff Bird about six pieces of music that somehow connect them to nature.

Today we talk with Sarah Ioannides about how she founded Cascade Conducting to share her experiences and the lessons from her conducting teachers, how to create an effective collaboration, and how creating videos to accompany Symphony Tacoma's virtual concerts led her to a deeper appreciation of her orchestra and the music.Today we discuss: Sarah’s early experiences as a musician and how that led to her becoming a conductor (2:50)How Sarah shares the lessons she’s learned from great teachers with a new generation of students through Cascade Conducting (12:35)Using your repertoire list to help identify your niche as a performer, and Sarah walks us through her specific focuses (20:03)How Sarah started working with Tan Dun as his Assistant Conductor, and her process of commissioning both new music and new films to accompany existing pieces (25:43)The most important factors for working successfully with a symphony staff and orchestra, and why it’s our job to express why our music is important (33:37)Symphony Tacoma’s virtual schedule during COVID shutdown and how Sarah’s project of creating visuals for archived concerts has helped her connect more deeply with the piece and her orchestra (40:00)Advice Sarah received but regrets not following, Hidden Gems, and a Harry Potter quote for her Billboard (50:24)Podium Time episode 100 is coming on February 20th, 2021! Sign up for the live stream and submit your questions here:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeq5gI_Tens-1Q_Ipk5DitjyK8Cd0sjGYJFD67CdAyla9GzmQ/viewform?usp=sf_linkMentioned in this episode:Cascade ConductingSymphony TacomaYoutube PageFire Mountain and the Tabla ConcertoRachmaninoff 3rd piano concertoFind this and all other episodes at PodiumTimePod.com. Subscribe and download Podium Time on your favorite podcast player and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at @PodiumTimePod. You can also join our Facebook Group, the Podium Time Inner Circle to ask questions and continue the conversation after every episode. Want to send us an email? Use the contact page on our website! If you’d like to support the podcast monetarily and get bonus content, consider joining our Patreon community at Patreon.com/PodiumTimePod. If you’re in the market for a new baton, use our promo code “PodiumTime” at Pagubatons.com for 20% off your first order. Support the show (https://patreon.com/podiumtimepod)

The Modern Period – Part IV This week we hear works by Sergei Prokofiev, Carl Orff, Milton Babbitt, John Williams, Arvo Pärt, George Tsontakis, Judith Weir, Tan Dun, Nico Muhly, and Conrad Tao. 168 Minutes – Week of November 23, 2020

Duquesne University grad and former Pittsburgh Post Gazette writer Jennifer Lin is the Co Director of Beethoven in Beijing a new documentary about the Philadelphia Orchestra visit to Beijing with the diplomacy of Henry Kissinger and President Nixon in 1973 and the more recent 2016 return with the Philadelphia and Yannick Netzet Seguin. The explosion of interest in classical music in China with composer Tan Dun and Lang Lang , how classical music bridges gaps of cultural understanding and trade wars are covered in the documentary. The film will be seen on PBS Great Performances in the spring of 2021. Included in the November Pittsburgh Film Festival available virtually through November 22.

Conductor Jason Lai talks to Alex about classical music by living composers. Jason shares music by Tan Dun and Mark-Anthony Turnage, and then turns the tables on Alex to discuss his Requiem!Subscribe to New Notes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and you'll be the first to hear new episodes each week.

On the culture, art, and history of Dunhuang, the crown jewel of the Silk Road, and its influence on the Oscar-winning musician Tan Dun

On today’s date in 2000, a new cello concerto with an unusual title received its premiere performance at the Barbican Center in London. Billed as the “Crouching Tiger” Concerto, this score was by the Chinese composer Tan Dun, and was derived from Tan’s film score for Ang Lee’s mystical and magical martial arts film titled “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” That score featured a prominent cello part, tailor-made for cellist Yo-Yo Ma, as well as a variety of traditional Chinese instruments and a percussion battery that included a North African frame drum. The haunting score matched the film so effectively that it was nominated for—and won—an Academy Award. It was director Ang Lee who suggested that Tan Dun rework his film score into a cello concerto, and even offered to put together a special film to accompany the concerto. In effect, saying, “Turnabout is fair play—you composed music to fit my film, now I’ll compose a film to fit your concerto!” Lee pulled together shots from the original film and mixed in real and imaginary scenes from New York’s Chinatown and 19th century Beijing for the new film designed to accompany performances of the new concerto.

On today’s date in 2000, a new cello concerto with an unusual title received its premiere performance at the Barbican Center in London. Billed as the “Crouching Tiger” Concerto, this score was by the Chinese composer Tan Dun, and was derived from Tan’s film score for Ang Lee’s mystical and magical martial arts film titled “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” That score featured a prominent cello part, tailor-made for cellist Yo-Yo Ma, as well as a variety of traditional Chinese instruments and a percussion battery that included a North African frame drum. The haunting score matched the film so effectively that it was nominated for—and won—an Academy Award. It was director Ang Lee who suggested that Tan Dun rework his film score into a cello concerto, and even offered to put together a special film to accompany the concerto. In effect, saying, “Turnabout is fair play—you composed music to fit my film, now I’ll compose a film to fit your concerto!” Lee pulled together shots from the original film and mixed in real and imaginary scenes from New York’s Chinatown and 19th century Beijing for the new film designed to accompany performances of the new concerto.

Ang Lee has made a career of always doing something different, so it likely came as no surprise to people after his Jane Austen adaptation, his 70s period family drama, and his western that he then moved straight into a Chinese wuxia film full of magical realism. Despite the wide variance between subjects, his passion for stories full of emotion and repression is reflected in them all in some capacity. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we continue our Foreign Language Films Nominated for Best Picture series with Lee’s 2000 film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. We talk about the nature of this film and how it became such a touchstone for not only celebrating Asian culture but also a shift in wirework and stunts in films. We look at the nature of emotion in Lee’s films and how that’s reflected throughout with various characters here. We discuss the challenge of making a film like this with a cast who didn’t all speak Mandarin, or did with heavy accents. We chat about the performers and how much Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi and Chang Chen bring to their roles. We discuss the color green and its use here paired with Peter Pau’s cinematography and Yuen Woo-ping’s action choreography. We touch on Tan Dun’s amazing score, and we debate about the Oscars and how things played out. It’s a brilliant film that holds up just as well as it did on its initial release. We have a great time talking about it, so check it out then tune in to this week’s show! The Next Reel – when the movie ends, our conversation begins. Join the conversation with movie lovers from around the world on The Next Reel’s Discord channel! Film Sundries Thank you for supporting The Next Reel Film Podcast on Patreon! Watch this film: iTunes • Amazon • YouTube Script Transcript Original theatrical trailer Original poster artwork Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Book 4 by Wang Dulu Flickchart Letterboxd

Ang Lee has made a career of always doing something different, so it likely came as no surprise to people after his Jane Austen adaptation, his 70s period family drama, and his western that he then moved straight into a Chinese wuxia film full of magical realism. Despite the wide variance between subjects, his passion for stories full of emotion and repression is reflected in them all in some capacity. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we continue our Foreign Language Films Nominated for Best Picture series with Lee's 2000 film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. We talk about the nature of this film and how it became such a touchstone for not only celebrating Asian culture but also a shift in wirework and stunts in films. We look at the nature of emotion in Lee's films and how that's reflected throughout with various characters here. We discuss the challenge of making a film like this with a cast who didn't all speak Mandarin, or did with heavy accents. We chat about the performers and how much Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi and Chang Chen bring to their roles. We discuss the color green and its use here paired with Peter Pau's cinematography and Yuen Woo-ping's action choreography. We touch on Tan Dun's amazing score, and we debate about the Oscars and how things played out. It's a brilliant film that holds up just as well as it did on its initial release. We have a great time talking about it, so check it out then tune in to this week's show! The Next Reel – when the movie ends, our conversation begins. Join the conversation with movie lovers from around the world on The Next Reel's Discord channel! Film Sundries Thank you for supporting The Next Reel Film Podcast on Patreon! Watch this film: iTunes • Amazon • YouTube Script Transcript Original theatrical trailer Original poster artwork Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Book 4 by Wang Dulu Flickchart Letterboxd

Kunqu is said to be the mother of all Chinese operas. With a 400 year history, 'the Peony Pavilion' is one of its celebrated tales of love, which has been remade into numerous films and plays. 

The uncut performances of this romantic 16th-century work consisted of more than 22 hours. Chinese composer Tan Dun, best known for his music for the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, re-adapted this classic into a compact 75-minute production several years ago. With our colleague Liu Min's help, our host Tony had the pleasure of watching Tan's version from an online video recorded at the New York Metropolitan Museum. And we've invited Liu Min on Music Talks today to share with you ‘The Peony Pavilion' while enjoying Tan's version of the Chinese Kunqu opera. To check out the New York Metropolitan Museum edition, click: https://www.metmuseum.org/peonypavilion

About the Performance: Following on the stunning success of his Water Passion after St. Matthew, Tan Dun (composer for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) has created another evening-length oratorio, this time based on stories inspired by the Dunhuang Cave paintings. Program: Tan DUN : Buddha Passion (U.S. premiere, LA Phil commission*) Artists: Los Angeles Philharmonic Gustavo Dudamel conductor Sen Guo soprano Huiling Zhu mezzo-soprano Kang Wang tenor Shenyang bass-baritone Tan Weiwei Female Indigenous Singer Batubagen Male Indigenous Singer Chen Yining Fantan Pipa Soloist and Dancer Los Angeles Master Chorale Grant Gershon Artistic Director Los Angeles Children's Chorus Fernando Malvar-Ruiz Artistic Director SAT / FEB 9, 2019 - 8:00PM Upcoming concerts: www.laphil.com/calendar Upbeat Live schedule, details, and speaker bios: www.laphil.com/ubl

It is the only form of writing invented by women and for women. Its name is Nv Shu. Literally meaning Women's Book, it's a phonetic writing system devised by female speakers of the Shaozhou Tuhua dialect who were once banned from receiving formal education. Used to impart wisdom from one generation to the next, it passes on advice on how to be a good mother, daughter, sister and friend. Originated in the remote villages of Jiang Yong County in China's Hunan Province, Nv Shu is now considered a dying language by UNESCO. A few years ago, award-winning composer Tan Dun came across a story about this ancient form of writing while he was working in Taipei. The story was about a group of women from Hunan who came to Beijing wanting to see Chairman Mao in 1950. But their accent was so odd and unusual that nobody understood what they were saying. When UNESCO heard about this, linguistic expert were sent to investigate. According to the book, this was how Nv Shu was discovered. Captivated by the story, Tan Dun started his own research in Hunan. "What attracted me was the elegance of the characters in Nv Shu. They don't look like they were invented by a group of uneducated women. It surprised me that when all the characters are put together, they create an incredibly beautiful image. I discovered that their songs are also very moving. They are passed down from mothers to daughters and some of them are age-old melodies from ancient times." After five years of ethnomusicological research, Tan Dun emerged with a multimedia masterpiece which includes a 13-movement work of video, solo harp and orchestra. The approximately 40-minute performance includes short films of women singing songs written in Nv Shu alongside orchestral music. The songs in the video are used as an accompaniment to the live music. In 2013, Nv Shu: The Secret Songs of Women premiered in America by the Philadephia Orchestra. This year, from May 21 to June 6, the band will be sharing this cultural gem with Chinese audiences on their tour of China. The tour starts at Beijing's National Centre for the Performing Arts. This is the third year in a row that the orchestra has been invited to perform at The Egg. Philadelphia orchestra president Allison Vulgamore said it feels like coming home. "It's a tremendous feeling to be walking back inside this beautiful structure. This iconic The Egg, the National Centre for the Performing Arts �C our home away from home. And it feels normal now. It doesn't feel new but it feels full of excitement and anticipation." There will also be performances in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hunan - the birthplace of Nv Shu. Several singers who are in the video accompaniment have been invited to the performance in Changsha, the capital city of Hunan. This trip also marks many firsts for the band. It's their first time performing Nv Shu in Beijing, their first time in Hunan, and the first international tour for conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Touted as one of the best conductor of the 21st century by British newspaper The Guardian, Nezet-Seguin has lead many world famous orchestras including the Rotterdam Philharmonic and the Orchestre Metropolitain in Montreal. However, despite his many accomplishments, he said that it was challenging interpreting the different elements of Nv Shu. "It is a piece which blends images of singing and cry singing. So people were there but not really live. We have to create the music live. This is actually something very difficult to do, on a technical level and also understanding the breathing of Chinese singing of this special language. So, of course, I found it very difficult. It needed a lot of studying." With the guidance from Tan Dun, conductor Nezet-Seguin was able to overcome these difficulties. He says that being able to perform Nv Shu at its place of origin would be an unforgettable experience. "To play in the Hunan province, to play this piece, will be something that will be a unique moment in my life. I will do this with a lot of humility and try to let the music of the master speak as deeply as possible, to respect its character and to touch the audiences, which is what we always want to do." The performance in Hunan is scheduled on May 27.