Musicians from East and West make original music together Saturday at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s Chinese New Year concert.
Rejuvenation: A Taoist Journey, a TSO-commissioned work to celebrate both the Chinese New Year and Canada’s 150th anniversary, has ancient and modern influences as well as Chinese and Canadian artists involved in its creation.
It will have its world premiere at the concert.
Canadian composer Vincent Ho, who was born in Ottawa, was brought in to work on the project and brainstormed extensively with Chinese musician Wu Man as well as Dashan (Mark Rowswell) a Canadian who has lived in China for decades and is famous as a comedian there.
Dashan provided Ho with books on Taoist philosophy, which Dashan studied in university, and it was decided this philosophy of spiritual guidance would form the theme of the work.
“My aim as a composer was to express the essence of Taoism in musical form,” Ho said. “Music of this kind is not intended for entertainment purposes nor does it court popularity. It is to guide listeners in reaching spiritual wholeness and connect with Taoist principles.”
If this sounds too esoteric, Man describes the piece as “beautiful.”
Like many Chinese schoolchildren, she learned to play the stringed “pipa” at an early age but has discovered that the ancient instrument is little known outside of China.
She has dedicated her career to playing the pipa throughout the Western world and is seen as its main ambassador. She often has to explain what it is.
“It is pear-shaped and lutelike with four strings that are plucked, like a guitar or the American banjo,” Man, 36, said in an interview from her San Diego home. “I began studying this instrument in 1990 and, for almost 27 years, I have studied and taken it to audiences in North America and Europe. People are slowly understanding the instrument.”
Dashan narrates and hosts the TSO event. He recites texts from the Tao Te Ching, written during the 6th century and well known to Chinese people, Ho says.
“The orchestra reflects the mysticism of the words followed by the pipa player taking over from the narrator and becomes the focal point of the musical journey,” Ho says.
It ends with the reading of a Taoist-inspired poem by Canadian writer Lien Chao, a modern interpretation of Taoism.
Although Dashan is not a musician, he helped Ho understand Chinese culture and Taoist teachings as Ho couldn’t read Chinese. Dashan says he found the collaboration interesting.
“Here you have two people who are both combinations of Canada and China, East and West, both involved in a journey of self-discovery where the cultural lines of distinction become impossibly blurred. We’re all hybrids.”
It was also Ho’s first time writing for the pipa and this is where he was helped by Man, who familiarized him with the instrument.
Man says the pipa’s part evokes water imagery and “is flowing above the orchestra. It’s very different from a traditional composition. I’m very happy. I expect modern composers to have their own ideas.”
Another part of the program also involves an East-West collaboration with English trumpet player Alison Balsom performing Joie Eternelle, a work by Chinese composer Qigang Chen. She premiered the piece at the BBC Proms in 2014.
The Year of the Rooster: A Chinese New Year Celebration is at Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St., Feb. 4 at 7:30 p.m. See tso.ca or call 416-598-3375 for tickets.
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