Powerful Classical Tribute To Covid-19 Whistleblower Marks Start Of New Zealand Music Month

In a breath-taking celebration of music responding to the world around us and the power it has to unite people, SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music is proud to present Bitter Cold Night by Chinese New Zealand composer Gao Ping. A tribute to Dr Li Wenliang, deemed around the globe as the 'whistleblower' of COVID-19 and one of the first victims of the virus, Gao Ping’s classical piece is a poetic acknowledgement of the pandemic. A stunning filmed recording of the duet for piano and violin will have its NZ premiere on Friday 1 May at 8pm, coinciding with the launch of NZ Music Month 2020.

A New Zealand resident who lived in Aotearoa for eight years, during which he taught at Canterbury University and Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music, Gao Ping is currently based in his hometown of Chengdu. Living in China, he was among the first in the world to go into lockdown in response to COVID-19. The composer was inspired by the courageous tale of Dr Li Wenliang, and particularly a beautiful tribute written in the snow in Wuhan to farewell the doctor. Gao Ping felt called to document the myriad of emotions he experienced during the long night as news came through about Dr Wenliang’s deteriorating health and eventually his death, paying homage to a man who worked on the front-lines in the medical sector as the virus took hold.

“I am well aware that, during this difficult period, a thousand pieces of music may not be worth even a single face mask,” said Gao Ping of the current crisis, and his inspiration to create a work in memory of Dr Wenliang. “Perhaps, in a time long in the future, when the music starts to play, some of us will remember that extraordinary night of February 6th, 2020.”

This powerful tribute to a moment in history is performed by two of Aotearoa’s contemporary classical masters, Amalia Hall and Stephen De Pledge. Recording the piece despite New Zealand's Level 4 lockdown status, SOUNZ worked remotely with the performers from their Auckland homes to produce the final film. It speaks to the ability of art, and specifically music in this case, to capture a fleeting moment in time, and create beauty out of tragedy.

Representing the music of more than 500 composers from Aotearoa New Zealand, SOUNZ is incredibly proud to share this moving and poignant work with Aotearoa from the epicentre of the pandemic. This film is one of several projects that SOUNZ has embarked on to champion and promote the music of Aotearoa New Zealand during lockdown, including their successful curated virtual SOUNZ Concerts.

SOUNZ presents
Bitter Cold Night
Written by Gao Ping; Performed by Amalia Hall & Stephen De Pledge;
with audio assistance from RNZ Concert

Trailer available now via YouTube
Full film premieres 8.00pm, Friday 1 May 2020 on SOUNZ via
YouTube and Facebook

GAO PING BIOGRAPHY

Gao Ping is a composer-pianist, born in Chengdu, in the Sichuan province of China. He studied in the USA in the 1990s. In demand as a composer, he has received commissions and performances from musicians around the world. The Beijing-based musicologist Li Xi’an has referred to Gao Ping as a leading member of the “sixth generation” of Chinese composers after the “fifth generation” of composers such as Tan Dun and Qu Xiaosong.

Many prestigious venues have presented Gao Ping's works such as the Aspen Music Festival, Dresdener Musikfestspiele, Hibiki Hall Festival (Japan), New Zealand International Arts Festival (Wellington), and the Beijing-Modern International Music Festival. In Europe, his music has been commissioned or performed by groups including the Berlin Piano-Percussion Ensemble, the Zurich-based Ensemble Pyramide, and the Gaudeamus International Music Week in Amsterdam.

While completing his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, Gao Ping won the 2003 Auros Compostion Prize (Boston) and was resident at the MacDowell Colony for Artists. In New Zealand, his music has been presented by Michael Houstoun, John Chen, Christchurch International Arts Festival, New Zealand String Quartet, and NZTrio. Gao was the recipient of the 2010 CANZ (Composers Association of NZ) Trust Fund Award.

As a pianist, Gao Ping’s repertoire is extensive; he has performed to acclaim all over the world. In 2008, Gao Ping premiered his Piano Concerto with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Mr. Kenneth Young. The Listener enthusiastically acclaimed the two-movement work as “a major concerto”.

Gao Ping’s two albums released on the Naxos label were critically acclaimed and described as “music which wants to be heard with the ears of a child, full of wonder and amazement…. deep and vulnerable.”

Gao Ping is currently a Professor in Composition at the Conservatory of Music-Capital Normal University as well as a guest professor at the China Conservatory of Music. He previously taught at Canterbury University and Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music.

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