Chamber Music International to Showcase Versatility Of the Genre in Season Opener Concert at the Eisemann
Chamber Music International's 34th season will open with a special performance that will explore the past and present of chamber music. This concert will feature selections from classical European folk music, and imaginative interpretations of works by American jazz legend Thelonius Monk played on a pipa -- sometimes called a Chinese lute. This wide-ranging concert will culminate with the Dallas-Fort Worth premiere of Tan Dun's hypnotic "Ghost Opera" for string quartet and pipa. Hear the "voices" of water, metal, paper and imagination.
RICHARDSON, Texas, September 5, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- If your notion of chamber music is limited to a small group of musicians playing traditional, often familiar European classical works, Chamber Music International's 34th season opening concert on Sept. 27, 2019 at the Eisemann Center in Richardson, TX, might forever change your thinking.
"This season's opening concert will really showcase the range and versatility of chamber music," said Philip Lewis, founder and artistic director of CMI and professor of Violin and Chamber Music, at the University of North Texas. "This program will feature both the past and present of chamber music. Even some of our long-time fans might be surprised and challenged."
Performed by five internationally renowned musicians, the program will open with selections from classical European folk music, traditional Chinese music, and imaginative interpretations of works by American jazz legend Thelonious Monk.
The first half will prepare the audience for the main event of the evening: the Dallas-Fort Worth premiere of Tan Dun's hypnotic "Ghost Opera" for string quartet and pipa (sometimes called the Chinese lute). The work has been performed only about a dozen times since its debut in the mid-1990s.
Lewis explains, "Those opening works represent folk elements in Hungarian (Miklos Rozsa --"Ben Hur" and "Spellbound"), Bohemian, and American music. This is a theme we continue with Ghost Opera."
The composer, Tan Dun, is a Chinese contemporary classical composer and conductor, most widely known for his scores for the movies Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero, as well as composer of music for the medal ceremonies at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Ghost Opera is a dramatic five-movement composition for string quartet and pipa—with vocalizations and percussive effects from water, metal, stone, and paper. The composition explores human spirituality, employing elements from Chinese, Tibetan, English, and American cultures, as well as a multitude of theatrical traditions. "Remarkable," said the Los Angeles Times of the piece. "In this broad-minded, culture-bending opus, shards of Bach, Shakespeare, a bright pentatonic palette of Chinese origin and such sonic exotica as the water gong find peaceful and poignant coexistence."
Composer/conductor Tan Dun is one of the best-known of today's conceptual music artists, with a body of work that reflects his distinctive world and compositional view. Gui xi (Ghost Opera) evokes the ritual of the nuoxi, or exorcism. In China, the opera is performed in villages to ward off evil spirits and gain the protection of benevolent ones.
The audience experiences an atmosphere of mystery, as the musicians use ritualized movement; vocalizations; and the elements of water, stone, and paper to banish the ghosts of the modern world. It embodies several themes that run throughout Tan's works, including childhood memories of shamanistic ritual, elements of the natural world, and multimedia performance.
Ghost Opera combines Western stringed instrument traditions with Chinese shadow puppet theater, visual art, folk music, and East Asian shamanic ritual. Performers step away from their normal instruments to sing a traditional folksong that tells the sad story of an orphaned girl; they make ritual movements while playing instruments that express agitation; submerge instruments in water to produce deep toned vibrations expressing anguish; and produce sounds using paper and metal. A shadow cellist intones Shakespeare's lines, "We are such stuff as dreams are made on," against a misty quotation from a Bach prelude. Theatrical lighting and props add to the sense of mystery and ritual.
"This contemporary work will challenge your thinking about what chamber music can be," Lewis says.
Presentation of "Ghost Opera" by Chamber Music International is supported by an Eisemann Arts Innovation Initiative grant.
About the Artists
Pipa artist Min Xiao-Fen -- An in-demand interpreter of traditional music before relocating to the United States, Min has forged a new path for her instrument in modern jazz, free improvisation, and contemporary classical music. The Village Voice lauded her as an artist who "has taken her ancient Chinese string instrument into the future."
Violinist Cho-Liang Lin – One of the most outstanding violinists of his generation. Winner of 2001 Musical American Instrumentalist, his career spans nearly 40 years of concertizing throughout the globe.
Violinist Michael Shih – Concertmaster of Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, a frequent performer at La Jolla Music Society and other festivals.
Violist Atar Arad – World renowned violist, pedagogue, and composer.
Cellist Sophie Shao – Recipient of Avery Fischer Grant and winner of the Tchaikovsky Competition, frequent performer of Chamber Music Society at Lincoln Center.
The CMI season opener concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 27, 2019 at the Eisemann Performance Center in Richardson, TX. Tickets for the new season eight-concert series and individual concerts will go on sale beginning Aug. 1, 2019 at the CMI website, http://www.chambermusicinternational.org.
About Chamber Music International
Chamber Music International is a Dallas/Richardson, TX-based nonprofit arts organization that offers exceptional classical music through performances and musical education programs in Dallas-Fort Worth. The mission of Chamber Music International is to: (A) present chamber music concerts on the highest artistic level to a broad spectrum of audiences; (B) enhance the Dallas/Richardson reputation for musical excellence; (C) provide opportunities for youth to perform and learn about chamber music; and (D) provide broader access to audiences throughout North Texas.
SOURCE Chamber Music International
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