The Early Music Vancouver Summer Festival will offer a treat for people eager to learn more about the intersection of Chinese and Western instruments. Silk Strings: A Chinese-Baroque Musical Dialogue begins with a pre-concert chat hosted by Debi Wong, creative director of re-Naissance Opera. She will be joined on-stage at Christ Church Cathedral at 6:45 p.m. on Tuesday (July 29) by organist and harpsichordist Christina Hutten, composers Edward Top and Dorothy Chang, and erhu virtuoso and composer Lan Tung 董籃.
That will be followed by a concert at 7:30 p.m. featuring mezzo-soprano Emma Parkinson with the EMV Festival Players. They will perform alongside Lan Tung, fellow erhu player Jun Rong 戎峻, suona and sheng player Zhongxi Wu 吳忠喜, and zheng player Dailin Hsieh 謝岱霖. Hutten and Top are directing the concert, which will feature compositions by Top, Chang, and Lan Tung, as well as traditional Chinese music.
Parkinson has Chinese ancestry and has performed in many productions, including the world premiere of Chinatown with City Opera Vancouver. The Asian Canadian musicians are all well known in Vancouver.
Lan Tung, for instance, has released several CDs and is the founding member of the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra. Jun Rong is a member of that orchestra, as well as the Vancouver Erhu Quartet and the Silk Road Music Ensemble. Meanwhile, Zhongxi Wu plays with Jasmine Jazz, and Dailin Hsieh has performed as a soloist with Turning Point Ensemble, Allegra Chamber Orchestra, and other orchestras.
Baroque scores discovered in China
According to Early Music Vancouver, this combination of baroque and Chinese classical instruments could conceivably have happened centuries ago.
“Historical records show that musical scores by famous Baroque composers like Corelli and Rameau were discovered in China, and European instruments such as harpsichords and violins were frequently presented as royal gifts in the 17th and 18th centuries,” the website states.
In the program notes, Hutten describes the concert as “a Canadian musical encounter between ancient Chinese and ancient European instruments”.
“Inspired by Vancouver’s beloved Sound of Dragon Society, the instruments you will hear on this program form two groups with matching timbers,” she declares. “The traditional Chinese instruments will include two erhus, Chinese bowed string instruments; suona, a double reed instrument with a copper bell often used in processional music; and zheng, a Chinese plucked zither.”
The European instruments include a violin, cello, and double bass—all bowed string instruments. In addition, there will be a trombone, which has been used in processional music in the past, and a harpsichord, which is a keyed plucked instrument.
“The whole ensemble will be stitched together by the sounds of a battery of percussion instruments from diverse musical traditions,” Hutten states.
Early Music Vancouver will present Silk Strings: A Chinese-Baroque Musical Dialogue at the Early Music Vancouver Summer Festival. The concert takes place at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday (July 29), preceded by a pre-concert chat at 6:45 p.m. For tickets and more information, visit the Early Music Vancouver website.
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