Sound of Dragon Ensemble 龍吟滄海樂團

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If you are interested in composing music for the Sound of Dragon Ensemble, please contact us.
作曲家們若有意為本團創作新曲，歡迎聯絡我們。

“a unified yet exotic sound” – Georgia Straight, 2017

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 and debuted at the 2016 Sound of Dragon Music Festival, the Sound of Dragon Ensemble brings together some of the most skillful Vancouver musicians: Lan Tung (erhu & voice), Mark Ferris (violin), Sungyong Lim (cell), Charlie Lui (dizi), Paolo Bortolussi (flute), Itamar Erez (guitar), Zhimin Yu (ruan), Dailin Hsieh (zheng), and Jonathan Bernard (percussion). This 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 Sound of Dragon Ensemble provides the platform to showcase new works and to create opportunities to collaborate and develop. The ensemble is especially interested in the contemporary development of “Canadian Chinese music”, cultivated in our multicultural environment. 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. The ensemble has commissioned/premiered/performed music from Canadian composers Mark Armanini, Dorothy Chang, Jordan Nobles, Farshid Samandari, Alice Ho, Itamar Erez, Moshe Denburg, Lan Tung, John Oliver, Adam Hill, Nova Pon, Ali Razmi, Tony Leung, and Bruce Bai. Through call-for-scores, the Sound of Dragon Ensemble has received scores from composers in 13 countries. It has premiered works by Canadian, US, Taiwanese, Chinese, Italian, and UK composers. 

The Sound of Dragon Ensemble has collaborated with choreographer/dancer Dong Mei (2017), the Toronto Chinese Orchestra Chamber Players (2018 Sound of Dragon Music Festival), Melody of China (2019), and Ding Yi Music Company (2023). The collaboration with Melody of China marked the first time two professional ensembles of Chinese roots from across the US/Canada border have come to work together. Internationally, the ensemble has appeared at the 2019 San Francisco International Arts Festival, 2019 Ding Yi Chinese Chamber Music Festival in Singapore, and Henan Chinese Medicine University and Ping Ding Shan Cultural Centre in China. In a very short time, the ensemble has grown to be a strong voice of contemporary cross-cultural music with enthusiastic support from the music community and the audiences.

In addition to concerts, the ensemble gives educational workshops to composers interested in writing for its instruments and holds reading sessions of new works. The ensemble promotes the awareness/appreciation of Canadian intercultural music-making rooted in ongoing collaboration between artists from distinct cultures/traditions.

“A showcase for the exciting, diverse directions being taken by both local and global composers and players working in the Chinese and western musical traditions” – Vancouver Sun

龍吟滄海協會於2013年登記為加拿大BC省的非謀利音樂機構，透過舉辦音樂節、音樂會、工作坊、講座等活動，宣揚及保存華裔移民原生地的傳統音樂，同時鼓勵不同族裔的音樂家交流合作，創新發展融合東西方特點的新樂種，打破民族、地域、音樂類別的界限， 重新定義加拿大特色的華裔音樂，展現溫哥華音樂圈的多元與活力。

為進一步推動其「承襲傳統、追求創新」的理念，龍吟滄海協會於2015年籌組龍吟滄海樂團，按傳統絲竹樂的方式，以弓弦樂器、彈撥樂器、吹管樂器、打擊樂器組成。不同的是，龍吟滄海樂團的編制涵蓋了東、西方樂器，包括二胡、小提琴、大提琴、阮、吉他、古箏、​竹笛、長笛、各式打擊樂器。

龍吟滄海樂團的另一個使命，在促進溫哥華與加拿大其他城市，以及溫哥華與國外的音樂團體的交流，例如與台灣小巨人絲竹樂團(2018年)、多倫多室內中樂團(2018年)、舊金山漢聲樂團(2019年)、新加坡鼎藝團(2023/2024​)的合作，以及2019年秋季亞洲巡迴，包括新加坡及多個中國城市。

溫哥華喬治亞週報形容龍吟滄海樂團的音樂，既有融合一體的整體性，又有文化碰撞帶來的異域風情。樂團集結了大溫地區一群技巧精湛的音樂家，共同探索跨文化的音樂領域，並提供作曲家、演奏家們創意實現的平台。樂團2015年首次的徵曲，即在國際上受到熱烈的迴響，收到33首來自13個國家作曲家的作品。此外，樂團亦積極委託當代作曲家譜寫新作。目前樂團的保留曲目有加拿大、台灣、中國、美國、義大利、英國作曲家的作品。

photographer: Diane Smithers