PRESERVE HERITAGE, SEEK INNOVATION // 承襲傳統、追求創新

“From hidden treasures to brand-new discoveries …Sound of Dragon might be rooted in Chinese culture, but it’s also an exciting reflection of Vancouver’s diversity”. – Georgia Straight

Have Bow Will Travel【多元文化弓弦樂巡禮】
2024年12月15日下午四點
4pm Sunday December 15, 2024 at the Annex, Vancouver

買票 TICKETS
$19.99 regular (Early Bird $15 by Dec 5, 2024), $15 students/seniors/children, free for children under 12

HAVE BOW WILL TRAVEL showcases bowed string instruments from diverse cultures. Sina Ettehad, Marjan Alekhamis, and Mohammad Amini perform Persian fiddles – kamancheh and kamancheh alto, joined by Babak Banihoseini on Iranian drums. Lan Tung will give the world premiere of Montreal composer Tim Brady’s energetic electroacoustic work “Concerto Etude” for solo erhu (Chinese violin) and fixed media. Crossbridge Strings brings together all-star improvising musicians from Iranian, Taiwanese, Indonesian, avant-garde, jazz, and western contemporary music backgrounds: Meredith Bates (violin), Joshua Zubot (violin), James Meger (bass), Sina Ettehad (kamancheh), Lan Tung (erhu & vocals), and Sutrisno Hartana (rebab, suling, vocals). While the strings weave together vibrant tapestries, Hartana and Tung add rich colours and nuances with their unique vocals, and bass and Indonesian drums provide a rhythmic foundation. The sounds from various genres naturally emerge and evolve, revealing distinct characters of each instrument/player to the foreground through spontaneous orchestration and dynamic shifts. Traditional and contemporary sounds meet unexpectedly to transcend cultural/genre boundaries and demonstrate improvisation in different approaches. 

new video premiered on Aug 8 – “Four Dragons” by Alice Ho, performed by the Sound of Dragon Ensemble & Ding Yi Music Company 

This nine minutes composition unfolds the Four Dragons Tale of China. The four connecting short movements in this work suggests a “Once Upon A Time” story about four virtuous dragons saving the world from drought by scooping up sea water and sprayed rain from heaven. Their noble deed infuriated the Jade Emperor, and eventually banished themselves to form China’s four great rivers – the Hellongjian 黑龍江 (Black Dragon) in the North, the Huangbe 黃河 (Yellow River) in central China, the Changjiang長江 (Yantze River) farther south,and the Zhujiang 珠江 (Pearl River) in the South.

Four Dragons was commissioned by the Sound of Dragon Society for the collaboration between the Sound of Dragon Ensemble and Ding Yi Music Company, Singapore’s most prestigious Chinese chamber ensemble. Ding Yi is made up of a group of accomplished Chinese instrumentalists who have trademarked Singapore Chinese chamber music with their distinctive approach to music-making and dedication to showcasing a vast repertoire that ranges from traditional Chinese music to contemporary interpretations and cross-genre works. 

new commission: “Mommy, why do you stare at the sky”, from John Oliver

The Sound of Dragon Society has commissioned a new work from John Oliver for the Vancouver Erhu Quartet with the support of the SOCAN Foundation, Richard Carswell, and William Bruneau. Stayed tuned for the premiere in 2025.

溫哥華二胡四重奏 The Vancouver Erhu Quartet explores the sonic possibilities combining the erhu (Chinese violin) with western strings. The quartet consists of erhu players Lan Tung (董籃-二胡) and Jun Rong (戎峻-二胡), violist Parmela Attariwala (中提琴), and cellist Sungyong Lim (大提琴). The quartet’s all-Asian members represent Taiwanese, Chinese, Indian (South Asian), and Korean communities. Their interpretation of contemporary works is fused with the sensitivity and sense of breath from Asian traditions, while bringing expertise from traditional, contemporary, classical, avant-garde, to world/cross-cultural music.

RECENT HIGHLIGHTS

The 6th Sound of Dragon Music Festival – May 23-26, 2024
第六屆溫哥華龍吟滄海音樂節，2024年5月23~26日

The 6th Annual Sound of Dragon Music Festival returns to Vancouver May 23-26, 2024, with three genre-smashing intercultural concerts and three free community events, including music jams, workshops, and performances.

BUY TICKETS 購票

3 Concerts, 8pm at the Annex 三場音樂會:
1) May 24, Anand Avirmed (Mongolia) & friends – Mongolian throat singing, horsehead fiddle, and more
【蒙古呼麥與馬頭琴】蒙古音樂家Anand Avirmed及多位溫哥華音樂家

2) May 25, Yang Xue’s Bows & Strings’ Dance (Beijing) & Vancouver Erhu Quartet
【弓弦舞】中國二胡演奏家楊雪帶領中央音樂學院頂尖學生展演胡琴重奏

3) May 26, From Chinese Winds & Percussion to Indonesian Gamelan
【從傳統吹打樂到印尼甘美朗】 winds: Zhongxi Wu, Charlie Lui, Tim Chen;
percussion: Hsuan-Ning Huang (Edmonton), Katie Rife, Jonathan Bernard, and Dailin Hsieh; 
Orchid Ensemble & Sutrisno Hartana (Java, Indonesia)

Free Events 龍吟滄海音樂節三場免費活動
1) “Song of Joy” Music Jam【歡樂歌】音樂派對 – 2:30 pm Sunday May 12, Roundhouse
2) Chinese Percussion Workshop【黃宣寧打擊樂工作坊】– 7 pm Thursday May 23, Annex
3) Yang Xue’s erhu music【楊雪二胡音樂藝術工作坊】-12 pm Saturday May 25, Annex

Vancouver Erhu Quartet 溫哥華二胡四重奏                      2023年12月10日下午四點
4pm Sunday December 10, 2022 at the Annex.

買票 TICKETS
$19.99 regular (Early Bird $15 by Nov 20, 2023), $15 students/seniors/children, free for children under 12

The Sound of Dragon Society presents the Vancouver Erhu Quartet in concert, premiering numerous new works:
Harbours: Reunion & Tranquility (2022) 港灣: 重逢與寧靜 – Moshe Denburg
September Songs (2023) 九月之歌 – Elizabeth Knudson
Illusion & Reality (2022) 幻境與真意 – Amir Eslami
Cinq fois par jour (2023) – Yawen Wang 王亞雯

溫哥華二胡四重奏 The Vancouver Erhu Quartet explores the sonic possibilities combining the erhu (Chinese violin) with western strings. The quartet consists of erhu players Lan Tung (董籃-二胡) and Jun Rong (戎峻-二胡), violist Parmela Attariwala (中提琴), and cellist Sungyong Lim (大提琴). The quartet’s all-Asian members represent Taiwanese, Chinese, Indian (South Asian), and Korean communities. Their interpretation of contemporary works is fused with the sensitivity and sense of breath from Asian traditions, while bringing expertise from traditional, contemporary, classical, avant-garde, to world/cross-cultural music.

Rising Dragon, Soaring Merlion: Sound of Dragon Ensemble & Ding Yi Music Company 溫「新」情緣

2023年5月26日
8pm Friday May 26, 2023 at the Annex

823 Seymour St. Vancouver
7pm pre-concert talk
買票 TICKETS
$19.99 regular (Early Bird $15 by May 10, 2023), $15 students/seniors/children, free for children under 12
The meeting of two world class chamber ensembles of Chinese instruments!

Established in 2007, Ding Yi Music Company is Singapore’s most prestigious Chinese chamber ensemble and the creator of two major Chinese music events: the Ding Yi Chinese Chamber Music Festival and the Composium, an international composition competition and symposium. The ensemble is made up of a group of accomplished Chinese instrumentalists who have trademarked Singapore Chinese chamber music with their distinctive approach to music-making and dedication to showcasing a vast repertoire that ranges from traditional Chinese music to contemporary interpretations and cross-genre works. 

The Sound of Dragon Ensemble is dedicated to creating/presenting new works for the combination of Chinese and western instruments and presenting contemporary music of Chinese roots/influences to the world stage. Established in 2015, the Sound of Dragon Ensemble’s instrumentation has been carefully selected by pairing Chinese and western instruments in the families of bowed strings, plucked strings, and winds, completed by a collection of percussion instruments from both the east and the west. The ensemble’s repertoire represents original Canadian intercultural art music and breaks down genre boundaries, crossing over Chinese traditions, contemporary music, world fusion, and improvisation. At this concert, the ensemble welcomes back guest conductor Chih Sheng Chen from Taiwan.

Fallen City: Seismic Science Shakes Down with Interdisciplinary Performance with Proliferasian 傾城 2022年9月11日
3pm Sunday Sep 11, 2022 at the Annex.

買票 TICKETS
$19.99 regular (Early Bird $15 by Aug 25, 2022), $15 students/seniors/children, free for children under 12

live music / installation / video projection / performing arts / earthquake engineering
Fallen City is an interdisciplinary project that fuses the arts and science to raise awareness of earthquake risks and to honour the lives lost to earthquakes around the world. Co-presented by Proliferasian, C- Works, and Sound of Dragon Society, Fallen City is presented through innovative approaches: seismographic illustrations incorporated in media arts projection and graphical music scores; live video camera tracking enhancing interaction across disciplines; and a handcrafted large musical pendulum creating spectacular visual effects, simulating earthquake waves, and interacting with live cutting edge music performed by Proliferasian Collaborating with ShakeOutBC, Natural Resources Canada, and Northwest Seismic Consultants, Fallen City brings an educational exhibition in the theatre lobby to give insight on earthquake risk management.

2022 Sound of Dragon Music Festival – June 23-26, in-person & online concerts

龍吟滄海音樂節 2022年6月23-26日現場演出及網上  

Confluence – Vancouver Erhu Quartet
匯流 溫哥華二胡四重奏 2021年12月10日

8pm Dec 10, 2021 at the Annex.
買票 TICKETS  $19.99 regular, $15 students/seniors/children

UNSTRUNG

Improvisation with inter-cultural strings
Benefit Concert for Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders
【多元文化弦樂器的即興對話】
5pm Dec 12, 2021 at the Orpheum Annex,
823 Seymour Street, Vancouver – live audience
Co-presentation of Sound of Dragon and the NOW Society
By Donation $xx / $20 / $10 / Free; 購票 Buy Tickets 
100% of donations equally divided, will be donated to 
Gidimt’en Legal Defense Funds and the Unist’ot’en Camp

Special guests:
Dallas Arcand, Cree Musician and Hoop Dancer;
Marjorie Dumont, Tsayu Clan, presenter;
Gunargie O’sullivan, aka Ga’axstasalas, Tlowitsis tribe, MC.

Inter-Cultural Strings Ensemble:
Sutrisno Hartana – rebab & suling (Indonesian fiddle & flute), vocal
Sina Ettehad – kamanche (Iranian fiddle)
Lan Tung – erhu (Chinese fiddle) & vocal
Meredith Bates & Joshua Zubot – violin
Lucy Strauss & Reginald Quiring – viola
James Meger – bass
Lisa Cay Miller – conduction

2021 Sound of Dragon Digital Festival – August-September 2021 on Youtube 

龍吟滄海音樂節 2021年8~9月網上無限放送  

Four Dragons – 7pm, July 30, 2021 TICKETS

龍吟滄海 2021年7月30日 晚上7點 買票 

The Sound of Dragon Ensemble welcomes you to its first concert with live audience since the beginning of the global pandemics last year. The repertoire includes the following: Alice Ping Yee Ho‘s “Four Dragons” (world premiere) tells ancient Chinese stories about four dragons descended from the heaven to save people from the draught and turned into four major rivers that form the cradles of Chinese culture. Farshid Samandari‘s “sine verbis” (world premiere) is a song for a masked ensemble symbolizing the effort to communicate against various types of censorship. The vocalist will sing with the mask on, like an invocation, though not able to form full sentences. Moshe Denburg‘s “The Ocean of Tears” (North American premiere) reflects upon the sadness in our world today, partly due to the pandemic, but also due to changing political and social configurations which seem to be making us forget our connectedness. It is only when we share in the consciousness of the sadness that all human beings are heir to, that we are able to overcome disunity. The Ocean of Tears is an attempt to take a step towards this much needed awareness of our common humanity.

Annex: 823 Seymour St, Vancouver (downtown)
tickets: $19.99 regular, $15 students/senior/children
limited seats available. social distancing in practice. mask required. 7-8pm, no intermission

經過漫長疫情的等待，終於迎來龍吟滄海樂團自去年起的第一場開放現場觀眾的音樂會，我們將首演三首新作品：多倫多華裔作曲家何冰頤的「四天龍」，分四個樂章，每個樂章描述一個中國古老神話中的龍的故事，神龍為大地帶來雨水解除旱災後，分別化身為黑龍江、黃河、長江、珠江，永遠守護著人們。溫哥華伊朗裔作曲家Farshid Samandari的作品「默然而聽」，有感於過去一年來人們在口罩的遮掩下，表達及溝通的困難，聯想到對言論自由的管制，不也是如同給人們強制的戴上口罩。猶太裔作曲家Moshe Denburg的作品「淚海」在疫情的壓抑氛圍中成形，但更是反思過去一年來社會上日趨嚴重的種族分化問題，希望憑藉音樂，點出人性的共同點，體現人與人之間的聯繫，撥正政治與族群的對立。

We Don’t Hate Monsters – Oct 19, 2019

見怪 不怪 2019年10月19 – Free

下午3點開幕茶會、4點跨界表演，免費入場   

3pm LI TUNG arts exhibition opening reception, refreshment served
4pm music & dance improvisation, featuring Lan Tung (erhu & voice), Marina Hasselburg (cello), Olivia Shaffer (dance), Li Tung
Taiwanese Canadian Cultural Society
8853 Selkirk St. Vancouver, BC
co-presented by the Taiwanese Canadian Cultural Society & Sound of Dragon Society

We refer to the unusual abnormal creatures as monsters. We fear them, but at the same time, curiosity drives us toward them. The fear comes from the unknown, which makes them more interesting than the ordinary. They represent unconventional thinking, promoting a change of behaviour. They may be the keys for us to break away from our everyday life. The arts is the monster in an artist’s life. This monster has a life of its own, on canvas, in music, and in movements, leading us to the unknown. 

Taiwanese artist Li Tung’s solo exhibition “We Don’t Hate Monsters” is a collection of futuristic paintings. They depict a surreal landscape or parallel universe where human race no longer dominates. The exhibition is open to the public from 9am to 5pm between October 12 and 31 (except for Sundays) at the Taiwanese Canadian Cultural Society. Meet with the artist at the opening reception at 3pm on Saturday Oct 19. This free event includes a performance of improvised music and dance, featuring Lan Tung (erhu/Chinese violin & vocal), Marina Hasselberg (cello), Olivia Shaffer (dance), and Li Tung the artist. 

light shadow fire – 8pm, Oct 25, 2019 

光、影、火

2019年十月25日晚上8點   

The Sound of Dragon Society and NOW Society co-present “light shadow fire”, a cross-cultural interdisciplinary performance featuring improvising musicians and visual artist Li Tung.

NOW
Joshua Zubot – violin
Parmela Attariwala – viola
Kathia Rudametkin – viola
Lisa Cay Miller – piano
James Meger – bass
Skye Brooks – drums

Sound of Dragon
Lan Tung – erhu and voice
Li Tung – visuals and movement (Taipei)
Marina Hasselberg – cello

Limited seating. Reservations here will reserve your seat. You can donate at the door. $20 / $10 / pwyc

Gather Our Dispersed From The Ends of The Earth

Moshe Denburg Tribute Concert – 70th Birthday!

作曲家莫協．丹伯格作品音樂會

2019年11月10日下午4點  購票 BUY TICKETS

4pm Sunday Nov 10, 2019 at the Annex 

(823 Seymour St. Vancouver, BC)

tickets $19.99 regular & $15 students/seniors/children

Vancouver’s Orchid Ensemble celebrates the 70th birthday of its long-time collaborator, local composer Moshe Denburg, with a concert of his music. Mr. Denburg is one of the pioneers of inter-cultural music in Canada, founded the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra (VICO) in 2001, and has created compositions for many combinations of instruments from different countries. He is passionate about bringing people together with music and plays an important role in Vancouver’s world music community. Featuring the Orchid Ensemble (Lan Tung – Erhu/Chinese Violin, Dailin Hsieh – Zheng/Chinese Zither, Jonathan Bernard – Percussion) with special guest Michelle Harding – Flamenco Dance. In addition, the ensemble will premier Elisha Denburg’s “And Gather Our Dispersed From the Ends of the Earth“.

Crossing Mountains & Seas  

8pm, July 20, 2019, Vancouver Playhouse – BUY TICKETS

穿越山海經 2019年七月20日   購票

produced by Orchid Ensemble 蘭韻樂團
co-presented with Sound of Dragon Society龍吟滄海協會
co-created by Lan Tung 董籃, Julia Taffe, Sammy Chien 簡上翔, and Chengxin Wei 魏成欣
choreography: Julia Taffe & Chengxin Wei
media arts: Chimerik 似不像
music composition: Lan Tung
performance: Aeriosa Dance & Orchid Ensemble

Crossing Mountains & Seas fuses together contemporary and aerial dance, contemporary music with Chinese traditions and avant-garde improvisation, against dramatic media projection with the latest video technology, crossing over modern day Canada and a magical world of pre-historic China as described in the ancient book Shan Hai Jing or the Classic of Mountains & Seas. The premiere is scheduled on July 11, 2019 at the Port Theatre in Nanaimo, BC and July 20, 2019 at the Vancouver Playhouse.

Shan Hai Jing 山海經 is an enormous collection of ancient Chinese writings and drawings about a magical world where countless mythical creatures or hybrids of human and animals have lived in over 100 kingdoms. How the creatures in these kingdoms have lived in harmony with each other is a metaphor of an ideal multi-cultural society that we are seeking for today. To bridge between the modern day and the mythical world, the story will unfold within an imaged role-playing video game based on Shan Hai Jing. The game acts as a portal for our characters travel between the ancient and modern worlds, the east and the west, the sea and the sky, and the reality and our imagination. Setting the story within a game environment allows for infinite possibilities for creative ideas and makes connection to the youth culture.

Sound of Dragon Ensemble &

Melody of China  

7pm, May 30, 2019, Western Front, Vancouver – BUY TICKETS

龍吟滄海樂團與舊金山漢聲樂團首度合作

2019年五月30日晚上7點   購票

The Sound of Dragon Ensemble (Vancouver) and Melody of China (San Francisco) come together to create the first collaboration between two professional ensembles of Chinese roots from across the border in North America. This concert will give the world premiere of new commissions by Dorothy Chang (Canada), Itamar Erez (Canada), and Yuan Chen Li (US/Taiwan), along with works by Mark Armanini, Ali Razmi, and Lan Tung. Featuring soloists Yangqin Zhao (yangqin/Chinese hammered dulcimer) and Gangqin Zhao (zheng/Chinese zither), this concert marks Melody of China’s Vancouver debut. Welcoming back guest conductor Chih Sheng Chen (Taiwan) for the third time, this concert will prepare the Sound of Dragon Ensemble for its debut Asia tour this fall.

Following the Vancouver concert, the ensembles will share the stage at Fort Mason Centre for Arts & Culture as part of the San Francisco International Arts Festival at 6pm on June 2, 2019.