PRESS RELEASE
Nouvel Ensemble Moderne 13th Montreal Season
under the artistic direction of Lorraine Vaillancourt
Focus on China and Korea
Guest Conductor: Daniel Kawka (France)Thursday November 15, 2001 Claude-Champagne Hall (220 Vincent-d’Indy)
6:30 pm - Feast Your Mind - buffet and conversation with Edgar Fruitier
8:00 pm - Concert
Montreal, October 31, 2001 - For their November 15th program of Chinese, Korean and French music, the NEM is delighted to welcome French conductor Daniel Kawka, Artistic Director of the Lyon Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain (EOC), for the first time in Montreal.
Five Works, Five Composers
Des rives de Lumières(1997) (Shores of Light) by Robert Pascal, for woodwinds, brass, strings, harp and percussion.
The composer characterizes this twenty-minute perpetual-motion piece as the ‘’imaginary movement of celestial bodies in space’’.
Tian Lin (1992), Zhou Long, for pipa and 14 musicians
The solo pipa, or Chinese lute, represents the spirit, while the ensemble represents Nature.
Le plein du vide (1997), by Xu Yi, for 13 musicians
Le plein du vide (The Fullness of Empty Space) is based on a dream of Chinese Taoist philosopher Zhuang Zhou (Zhuangzi). The piece is a play of contrasts: stasis and movement, tension and extension.
Bidan-Sil (1994), by Younghi Pagh-Paan, for oboe and chamber orchestra
Bidan-Sil (Silken Thread) is inspired by traditional Korean sinawi music, formerly associated with shamanism. Essentially improvised, it was performed by an ensemble of five instruments. In this piece, the composer reinvents the genre.
Fantaisie mécanique (1994, revised in 1997), by Unsuk Chin, for five musicians
As its title suggests Fantaisie mécanique is a fusion of two contradictory forms: improvisation and pre-established structure. While creating the illusion of free expression, the work demands the most rigorous virtuosity and ensemble work.
Guests
Daniel Kawka, Conductor (France, 1942)
Artistic Director and Conductor of the Lyon Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain, Daniel Kawka has been involved in premiering a number of new works. He regularly conducts several ensembles, including the Orchestre National de Lyon, the Catalonian Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès, the Warsaw Sinfonia and the Polish Radio Orchestra.
Liu Fang, Pipa (China/Québec, 1974)
A graduate of the Shanghai Conservatory, Liu Fang has lived in Montreal since 1996. This virtuoso of the pipa and the zheng has received considerable recognition in China. She is also a recipient of the prestigious Canada Council Millennium Prize. She has given numerous recitals in Canada, the United States, Germany and Columbia. This ardent promoter of traditional Chinese music has recorded three CDs.
Composers
Xu Yi (China, 1963)
Xu Yi began her musical training at an early age on the erhu a traditional Chinese bowed instrument, and later studied composition at the Shanghai Conservatory. On a scholarship from the French government, she earned a Masters in Composition from the École Normale de Musique in Paris. Her works for western and Chinese instruments have won a number of awards; and her compositions have been recorded under various labels.
Younghi Pagh-Paan (Korea/Germany, 1945)
Younghi Pagh-Paan studied music at Seoul National University and the Freiburg School of Music. As a resident of Germany for the last thirty years, she has taught composition and analysis in Graz, Karlsruhe and Bremen. She has received numerous awards, and currently holds grants from the Heinrich-Strobel Foundation’s Südwestfunk experimental studio and the Baden-Würtemberg Foundation for the Arts.
Zhou Long (China/US, 1953)
Zhou Long has received numerous honours and awards, as well as fellowships from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1989, he became musical director of Music from China in New York City. His catalogue of over fifty works includes a large orchestral and vocal repertoire, as well as a series of compositions for soloist and chamber orchestra. Zhou Long’s work has been published by Oxford University Press and recorded by EMI, CRI, Delos, Avan, Cala and Teldec (which earned him a Grammy in 1999).
Unsuk Chin (Korea, 1961)
In 1985, Unsuk Chin received a grant from the Korean Government to further her training in Europe. She studied under György Ligeti for three years in Hamburg, and is currently working at the electronic studio of the Technical University of Berlin. Her early work, including Gestalten (Forms), selected in 1984 for Canada’s World Music Days and UNESCO’s International Rostrum of Composers, established her personal style which is devoted to reinventing dramatic and ritualistic musical archetypes.
Robert Pascal (France, 1952)
Robert Pascal has degrees in Science and Music from the École Nationale de Créteil and the Conservatoire Nationale Supérieure de Musique de Lyon, where he studied Composition with Raffi Ourgandjian and Ethnomusicology with Yvette Grimaud. He is the founder of a Medieval and Rennaissance Music ensemble. As a member of the GRAME collective of composers at the Centre National de Création Musicale, he has focused on the composition of mixed works.
Reservations : NEM (514) 343-5962 or Admission (514) 790-1245 / 1 800 361-4595
$20 (regular), $10 (student, senior)
The NEM, Canada’s first permanent chamber orchestra specializing in contemporary music, was founded in 1989 by pianist and conductor Lorraine Vaillancourt. The NEM offers compelling performances of today’s music, giving it the time and attention it deserves. Its repertoire reflects a wide range of aesthetic approaches and includes music from all continents, with priority given to premiering new works. Its concerts, public rehearsals and meetings with creative artists provide opportunities for discussion and reflection on contemporary music. The NEM has rapidly acquired an international reputation. It has toured extensively in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia, and receives support for its Montreal events from a variety of partners.
Additional information: (514) 343-5962 or www.nem.umontreal.ca
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Source : Natalie Bibeau (514) 803-1471 (nbibeau@yahoo.ca)
Marie-Josée de Grâce : (514) 274-6321 (degrace@mail.com)