NZSO welcomes Tan Dun for Chinese New Year

14 January 2013 - NZSO Media Release for immediate release

NZSO welcomes Academy-Award winning composer Tan Dun for Chinese New Year

To mark the Year of the Snake, Academy Award-winning composer Tan Dun returns to New Zealand to welcome in the Chinese New Year and conduct the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in a thrilling performance of his Martial Arts Trilogy.

The big orchestra meets the big screen in Tan Dun: Martial Arts Trilogy – a multi-media event dedicated to Hollywood grandeur. Scenes from three classic martial arts films, The Banquet, Hero, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon will be projected above the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra as they celebrate Tan Dun’s spectacular scores, as well as the awe-inspiring martial arts that make these films so powerful.

Tan Dun has made an indelible mark on the world’s music scene, spanning the boundaries of classical, multimedia, Eastern and Western music. A winner of prestigious awards including an Academy award for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and a Grammy, Tan Dun’s music has been played worldwide by leading orchestras, opera houses, and on radio and television.

This revered Chinese composer has a strong association with New Zealand too. In 1988, the then 30-year-old composer spent seven weeks in New Zealand as the first recipient of a new composing fellowship at Victoria University. Even then, he was recognised as one of the most important young composers to appear in China since the end of the Cultural Revolution.

He debuted with the NZSO in 2004 when he conducted his own works Concerto for Water Percussion and Orchestra and The Map: Concerto for Cello, Video & Orchestra as part of the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts. Conductor James Judd led the Orchestra through a national tour of his symphony Death and Fire the following year and the Festival welcomed back Tan Dun in 2006 to conduct the complete opera Tea: A Mirror of Soul.

This time, he is joined on-stage by internationally acclaimed violinist Ryu Goto who will portray the heroine Flying Snow and her story of revenge and redemption; pianist Yingdi Sun, winner of the prestigious Liszt Prize, who evokes Empress Ano; and Tan Wei on the traditional Chinese violin erhu, portraying the dreamer Lo, who finds transcendence through martial arts.

Tan Dun’s breathtaking music, backed by your national orchestra, the NZSO, is the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for your loved one.

Treat your special someone to this magical concert trilogy and welcome in the Chinese New Year with us.

ENDS

NZSO Tan Dun: Martial Arts Trilogy
A Chinese New Year Concert

TAN DUN Conductor
RYU GOTO Violin
TAN WEI Erhu
YINGDI SUN Piano

TAN DUN Martial Arts Trilogy

WELLINGTON / Michael Fowler Centre / Thursday 14 February / 7.30 pm
TICKETEK / 0800 842 538 / TICKETEK.CO.NZ

AUCKLAND / The Civic / Friday 15 February / 7.30 pm
THE EDGE / 0800 289 842 / BUYTICKETS.CO.NZ

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