| Beyond the Wall: New music from China |
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| Culture | |
| Wednesday, 25 February 2009 | |
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Sign up to our mailing list by emailing This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it to enter the prize draw for tickets hilighted blow. Saturday 21 March 6-7pm: Chinese music in the foyers of the Barbican 7.30pm: BBC SO/Tan Dun/Anssi Karttunen Guo Wenjing: Chou Kong Shan (Bamboo Flute Concerto) Tan Dun: The Map (UK premiere), Concerto for Cello, Video and Orchestra Tickets: £ 9/13/17/22.50/28/
One pair of Dimsum tickets up for grabs Tuesday 21 April 2009 7.30pm LSO/Daniel Harding/Tan Dun/Lang Lang Tan Dun: Piano Concerto (UK premiere), Mahler: Symphony No 1 Premiered in New York in April 2008, the piano concerto with the title The Fire was dedicated to Lang Lang and inspired by Tan Dun’s love for the martial arts. Tan Dun’s immensely various work soars across boundaries of classical and contemporary work, or of expectations of east and west. His new concerto is the second major work he has written for pianist Lang Lang who, for Tan, embodies the qualities of a martial arts master in his playing. Mahler was 24 when he began working on his First Symphony, premiered in its final form 12 years later in 1896. ‘I was totally unaware that I had written one of my boldest works,’ he said of this audacious, almost violent creation. Part of UBS Soundscapes: Lang Lang, 18 – 26 April 2009. lso.co.uk/langlang Thursday 23 April 2009 8.00pm UBS Soundscapes: Eclectica Dragon Songs
LSO St Lukes Tickets £7/14/21 Together with Lang Lang, the London-based Chinese quartet Silk Strings mix traditional Chinese music with their own contemporary interpretations in works by composer and jazz pianist Raymond Yiu. Born in Hong Kong, Yiu came to England in 1990 and studied at Imperial College. Among his works are commission for the LSO and the Aldeburgh Almeida Opera. Part of UBS Soundscapes: Lang Lang, 18 – 26 April 2009. lso.co.uk/langlang Sunday 26 April 7.30pm Beyond The Wall: Beijing Now Yan Jun with Wu Na, FM3, White and Xiao He LSO St Luke's Tickets: £10/£15 Showcasing some of the leading figures of Beijing’s burgeoning musical underground scene, this concert will feature an array of musical talents whose daring approach reflects a distinctively Chinese set of circumstances and influences. Yan Jun is the central figure in the capital’s rapidly-evolving musical counterculture, whose live performances use feedback, loops and found voices to make hypnotic noise. White - a duo consisting of Shou Wang and Shenggy - formed in January 2006, and quickly became one of the most acclaimed outfits in the Beijing new music scene. FM3 were founded in 1999 by Christiaan Virant and Zhang Jian and are considered pioneers of electronic music in China. Their mass-produced FM3 Buddha Machine loop box was released to wide acclaim in 2005 and has gained a cult following all over the world. Singer, guitarist and performance artist Xiao He takes an avant-garde approach to traditional Chinese music to produce a sound that is exuberant, freewheeling and completely singular. One pair of Dimsum tickets up for grabs Sunday 10 May 7.30pm Beyond the Wall Kronos Quartet, Wu Man (pipa) Yuanlin Chen: Tribe Among Mountains world premiere, co-commissioned by the Barbican Tan Dun: Ghost Opera Tickets: £ 9/13/17/22.50/28 Ghost Opera is a five movement work for string quartet and pipa, with water, metal, stone and paper. Tan Dun describes the work as a reflection on human spirituality. He was inspired by childhood memories of the shamanistic "ghost operas" of the Chinese peasant culture. In this over 4000 year old tradition, humans and spirits of the future, the past, and nature communicate with each other. One pair of Dimsum tickets up for grabs Tuesday 12 May 7.30pm Liu Sola (libretto and music): The Afterlife of Li Jiantong world premiere Chamber opera for Soprano, Mezzo, Bass, recorder, harp and sitar, Chinese percussion from traditional Chinese Opera Theatre of Voices, Director Paul Hillier Recorders: Michala Petri; Harp: Andrew Lawrence-King; Percussion: Gert Mortensen LSO St Lukes Tickets: £10/15/20 This chamber opera is based on the story of Liu Sola’s own mother Li Jiantong, an historical and political writer. Although highly respected by many Chinese, Li Jiantong’s books were banned all her life. Her first book, published in the 1960’s, was criticised by Mao and subsequently banned. During the Cultural Revolution, she was investigated, illegally jailed, subjected to fierce interrogations and eventually sent off to work in the fields. After her death, her spirit came to her daughter Liu Sola. This chamber opera is about her three visitations. In the first half of the concert, Wu Man plays pieces for pipa by Chinese composers, including Liu Sola. One pair of Dimsum tickets up for grabs Saturday May 16 May 7.30pm Beyond the Wall: Voices Of The Grasslands Hanggai and Mamer + special guests Union Chapel, Compton Terrace, Islington, N1 2UN Tickets: £12.50
One pair of Dimsum tickets up for grabs Concerts at the Barbican Hall, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS unless stated otherwise Box Office: 0845 120 7550
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Dimsum offers its readers free tickets to the Barbican's new Chinese music festival. Featuring composer Tan Dun, Lang Lang, Kronos Quartet, Wu Man, Liu Sola and many more, the Beyond the Wall festival also present a snapshot from other Chinese contemporary musics with a particular focus on emerging trends.
‘Sometimes the purpose of returning to your roots is to invent,’ says Tan, ‘to see how those roots have continued to grow’. The Map is written for a full symphony orchestra with cello soloist and three screens placed at different points about the stage. In a similar manner as Bartók and Kodály at the beginning of the 20th century, Tan Dun elaborates traditional music from his native China to music of his own time; the video performers are traditional musicians from the Hunan province including leaf blowers and cry-singers, and the live orchestra and soloist play with and against the music/visuals on the screen. The performance is conducted by the composer himself. From 6pm onwards, Tan Dun introduces a group of Chinese musicians who play in the foyers of the Barbican prior to the concert. The Zhangjiajie Folk Daliuzi Group performs music to old Chinese mysterious rituals, traditional stories and antiphonal courtship songs. The performances include leaf blowing, gongs and cymbals..jpg)
Lang Lang/Silk Strings (Cheng Yu, pipa; Sun Zhuo, guzheng; Hu Bin, erhu; Zhou Jinyan, yangqin)
