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Vancouver Erhu Quartet 溫哥華二胡四重奏音樂會

4pm Sunday Dec 10, 2023 at The Annex,
823 Seymour Street, Vancouver
BUY TICKETS  $19.99 regular (Early Bird $15 by Nov 30),
$15 students/seniors/children
Free for children under 12 years old
Please order tickets HERE.

We are NEAR sold out, but VTix online ticketing is listing us as sold out and has stopped our sales there.
Please buy the last tickets for the concert here: https://square.link/u/MQxJffwo
門票接近售罄, 但還有少量座位, 原售票系統已經停止販售. 欲購票請至 Square 網站

Download High Resolution Photos of the Vancouver Erhu Quartet

Program (world premiere):
Cinq fois par jour (2023) – Yawen Wang 王亞雯
Harbours: Reunion & Tranquility 港灣: 重逢與寧靜 (2022) – Moshe Denburg
Illusion & Reality 幻境與真意 (2022) – Amir Eslami
September Songs 九月之歌 (2022) – Elizabeth Knudson
i) The Hummingbird
ii) To the Rising Moon
iii) Tunnels of Light

Created during the pandemic year in 2020, the Vancouver Erhu Quartet explores the sonic possibilities combining the erhu (Chinese violin) with western strings. The quartet consists of Vancouver erhu players Lan Tung and Jun Rong, violinist/violist Parmela Attariwala, and cellist Sungyong Lim. The quartet’s all-Asian members represent Taiwanese, Chinese, Punjabi, and Korean communities. Their interpretation of contemporary works is fused with the sensitivity and sense of breath from Asian traditions. At the same time, the musicians have performed/studied various musical styles to explore innovative approaches. Together they bring expertise in various genres, from traditional, contemporary, classical, avant-garde, to world/cross-cultural music. 

The Vancouver Erhu Quartet takes advantage of Canada’s multicultural environment to explore the combination of eastern and western bowed strings, as well as diverse influences from collaborating composers. This concert will present the world premiere of newly commissioned works by Canadian composers Moshe Denburg, Amir Eslami, Elizabeth Knudson, and Yawen Wang:

Designed with five short vignettes named after prominent cities in Morocco and set at different time of the day, Yawen Wang’s “Cinq fois par jour” is reminiscent of the sceneries, sounds, scents, and atmosphere from recent travels in Morocco. 

Moshe Denburg’s two movement work including the joyful The Harbour of Reunion and the reflective The Harbour of Tranquility, as parts of Denburg’s series of intercultural works on the themes of Harbours and Oceans, representing a personal view of our planet.

Elizabeth Knudson’s “September Songs” is comprised of three movements: “The Hummingbird”, captures the delicate movements of these tiny creatures, featuring trills, tremolo, quick rhythmic patterns, and short melodic phrases. “To the Rising Moon” opens with the first several notes of a Gregorian chant melody and develops gently, making use of canonic phrases, and the idea of mirror images—as the moon rises to its peak in the sky, before sinking again behind the trees, inspired by a short work by Rumi. “Tunnels of Light” is inspired by the ongoing movement of clouds on an overcast day, and the fleeting moments where the sunshine suddenly bursts through in brilliant, colourful rays. 

Amir Eslami’s “Illusion & Reality” explores human identity: how others see and perceive us, and how we see ourselves. Which is illusion, and which is reality?

The Sound of Dragon Society (co-presenter) preserves ancient traditions of Chinese music and celebrates diversity and creativity in the contemporary applications of this music, resulting from the interaction between musicians of various ethnic and musical backgrounds. By presenting musicians and ensembles from different ethnicities, nationalities, and musical trainings/genres, Sound of Dragon Society re-defines Chinese music and reflects Vancouver’s multicultural environment and a highly creative music scene.

融合東西方弓弦樂器,新成立的溫哥華二胡四重奏,以二胡與提琴的組合,將於2023年12月10日舉行音樂會。團員包括來自台灣的董籃及來自北京的戎峻共同擔任二胡演奏,印度裔的帕米拉.阿特瓦拉 (Parmela Attariwala) 擔任中提琴手,以及來自韓國的林成容 (Sungyong Lim) 擔任大提琴手。他們各自專研的領域,涵蓋傳統音樂、古典音樂、現代音樂、即興演奏、世界音樂、到跨界表演藝術,在一起合作各展所長、互助互補,並為樂團帶來多元的活力。

音樂會將首演四首委託創作的樂曲:王亞雯Cinq fois par jour,以法文命名,融合異域風情與當代作曲手法,是她在摩洛哥旅途歸來所做。殖民的歷史導致法語成為摩洛哥通用的語言,樂曲名字譯成中文為「一日五次」,指的是在當地每天都會聽到五次清真寺傳來召喚信徒祈禱的歌誦聲。樂曲由多個樂章組成,描述由清晨到日落摩洛哥不同城鎮的風光民俗。來自台灣,王亞雯也是著名鋼琴演奏家及跨界表演藝術家,並擅長音樂劇創作及舞蹈伴奏,早在20幾年前就以才華與創意驚艷溫哥華樂壇。近年來她移居Montreal,這次特地回到溫哥華來參加作品首演。Elizabeth Knudson的「九月之歌」(September Songs)分三個樂章:《蜂鳥》描繪鳥兒生動靈活的姿態、《月昇》得到13世紀蘇菲教派詩人魯米(Rumi)的詩句啟發《光隧》寫的是陰晴變幻的天氣裡, 那衝破陰雲乍洩流淌的斑斕光影。伊朗裔Amir Eslami的「幻境與真意」(Illusion & Reality) 探討對自我的認知,其中「幻境」使用了伊朗音樂裡的微分音(quarter tone)、「真意」採用明快的11拍節奏。Moshe Denburg的「港灣: 重逢與寧靜」(Harbours: Reunion & Tranquility),以歡騰鼓舞的律動,對比寧靜致遠的美好。

做為極具表現力的樂器,二胡在世界各地被廣泛地使用於不同風格的音樂。這個擁有千年歷史的古老樂器,在近代不管是製作工藝、演奏技巧、曲目擴充方面,都有大量的提升,並且根據樂曲需要,以高胡、中胡、低音二胡等不同音域的胡琴彼此配合使用,以至於近年終於有了胡琴樂團在亞洲誕生。溫哥華二胡四重奏是加拿大第一個以二胡為主的弓弦樂室內樂團,以中西合璧的方式,透過胡琴與提琴的對話,探索新的音響。

購票 $19.99 (11月30日前特價$15),老人/學生 $15、12歲以下兒童免費。

Jun Rong 戎峻 – erhu
Jun has appeared at many concerts, festivals, recordings, and CBC radio broadcast. She is a member of Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra and Silk Road Music Ensemble. She performs in a duo with harpist Lani Krantz. Jun was a guest soloist with the Victoria Symphony, Calgary Symphony, and Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, as well as the internationally renowned Vega String Quartet. Jun has released a number of CDs, including one featuring the master works of Tian-hua Liu, the most important Chinese composer for erhu music in the 20th century. Jun teaches the erhu at the Capilano University. After graduating from the China Music Academy in Beijing, Jun joined the China Opera & Dance Orchestra before making Vancouver her new home.

Lan Tung 董籃 – erhu
Artistic director of Orchid Ensemble, Sound of Dragon Society, and Proliferasian, Lan has appeared as a soloist/composer with Orchestre Metropolitain (Montreal), Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Nova Scotia, Turning Point Ensemble, Upstream Ensemble (Halifax), Atlas Ensemble (Amsterdam & Helsinki), and Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra (Taipei). As a producer/performer/composer, Lan has collaborated with musicians, dancers, and media artists from different cultures. After studying at Taiwan’s Chinese Cultural University, Lan has traveled around the world to study Hindustani music with Kala Ramnath, improvisation with Mary Oliver, graphic score with Barry Guy, Uyghur music with Abdukerim Osman, and Mongolian Horsehead fiddle with Bayar. At the Vancouver Creative Music Institute (2007-2009), she studied/improvised with Han Bennink (Holland), Barry Guy, Evan Parker, John Butcher (UK), Francois Houle, Paul Plimley…etc. Lan has won an International Independent Music Awards and multiple nominations by the JUNO Awards, Canadian Independent Music Awards, Canadian Folk Music Awards, and Western Canadian Music Awards.

Parmela Attariwala – viola
Violinist Parmela Attariwala interweaves life as a performer-creator, academic, and music educator. Parmela trained formally in violin performance at Indiana University and in Bern, Switzerland, and studied ethnomusicology at the School of Oriental and African Studies (UK) and the University of Toronto (Ph.D.). Her creative work explores the liminal space between musical genres, artistic disciplines, and identities; often using improvisation as a point of departure. She has recorded three Attar Project albums featuring works for violin and tabla. Attariwala has also collaborated extensively with choreographers (bharata-natyam, butoh and contact) as composer and movement artist. Parmela’s recent creative output includes multi-authored comprovisations, sonic memorials based on end-of-life bhakti poetry, and collaborations with performance artists Peter Morin and Ayumi Goto. She is co-composer (with Ian Cusson) of the opera-in-progress Namwayut (Calgary Opera) and has contributed to the Esker Foundation’s permanent collection in response to works by visual artists Jeffrey Gibson and Nep Sidhu. Parmela’s ongoing research and advocacy focus on equity, identity and ethics in Canadian music and education.

Sungyong Lim 林成容 – cello
Sungyong graduated with honors from the renowned Yewon School and the Seoul School of the Arts before entering the Korea National University of Arts. Later he earned a VorDiplom, a Diplom (same as Bachelor, Master Degree), a konzertexamen’s (The “Konzertexmen” is highest degree available at music university in Germany) in cello performance from the Detmold Musik Hochschule. Sungyong graduated at the top of his class, with a comprehensive performance repertoire and with considerable teaching experience. Sungyong is a member of the Borealis String Quartet, who received the honor of “Distinguished Fellow of BC” for their applauded lectures presented there as visiting scholars at Green College@ UBC. Sungyong’s passion for teaching and education is of paramount importance. In Vancouver, he has coached countless students in schools, given masterclasses, and worked with the school orchestras. On tour, he has taught and been in residence at many universities and given master classes worldwide. Sungyong plays on a 1843 Enrico Ceruti made in Cremona.