VBC (Huayi) Music Production Choir 

Saturday May 10, 2014 – 3:30-4:30pm, Exhibition Hall, Roundhouse

VBC (Huayi) Music Production Choir belongs to VBC Music Production, a professional company that produces concerts, music festivals, and recordings. In addition, the company also provides educational music programs and work/training opportunities. Collaborating with other organizations, Huayi (VBC) Choir has received grants from the province and the city of Vancouver to produce concerts in celebration of BC’s 150th and Vancouver’s 125th anniversaries. In 2010, the company produced a concert featuring Hong Yun Kong Hou Ensemble from China, as part of Vancouver International Harp Conference to promote cultural exchange between Canada and China. (Kong Hou is an ancient Chinese harp). In 2013, the choir collaborated with Vancouver Chinese Music Ensemble to deliver a successful performance of “Yunnan Folk Song Suite”, a large-scale choral work with Chinese orchestra.

Jin Zhang – conductor

Zhang is the Music Director and Conductor of Vancouver Philharmonic Symphony Society, New Westminster Symphony Orchestra (since 1993), the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra (Intermediate), and the Artistic Director of VBC Music Production. As a composer, his compositions have been performed by the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the Victoria Symphony, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and numerous ensembles and choirs. His music is often heard on BBC, CBC and other networks. In 2006, he was featured by the Canadian Music Centre’s online initiative entitled “Composer Portraits – Influences of Many Musics”, which highlighted the contributions of Canadian composers from other countries. In 2010, he received Artistic Achievement Award given by Vancouver Chinese Culture Centre. Born in China, Zhang received music education at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo, where he studied conducting in master classes with Maestro Kazuyoshi Akiyama and renowned conductor Seiji Ozawa.