THE LIVING WORLD

THE LIVING WORLD 【生生不息】:

Sound of Dragon Ensemble

Saturday April 12, 2025 at the Annex (823 Seymour St. Vancouver)
8pm concert
Buy Tickets 購票:
$19.99 regular (Early Bird $15 by March 25, 2025), 
$15 students/seniors/children, 
free for children under 12

THE LIVING WORLD is music and media arts performance inspired by nature, the landscape, and mythical creatures, reflecting our shared curiosity of the world around us. At 8pm on Saturday April 12 at the Annex in Vancouver, the Sound of Dragon Ensemble will premiere original compositions on the combination of Chinese and Western instruments, against a backdrop of animated visuals created by Li Tung 董籬. Under the leadership of Taiwanese conductor Chih Sheng Chen, this concert will prepare the Sound of Dragon Ensemble for a return tour to Asia in the fall.

Repertoire曲目:
“Taiwanese Dragon Legends” (2025, world premiere) – Chihchun Chi-sun Lee  (Taiwan/US/Korea)
《臺灣神龍傳奇》－ 李志純(台灣/美國/韓國)作曲
“The Suspension of_____” (2023-2024, world premiere) – Tim Brady (Montreal)
《懸》– 霆．伯瑞迪 (蒙特婁)作曲
“Tarasque” (2023, world premiere) – Elizabeth Knudson (Vancouver)
《獅蠍獸》－ 伊莉莎白．努德森(溫哥華)作曲
“The Grey Tree” (2024-2025, Canadian premiere) – Edward Top (Vancouver/Amsterdam)
《灰樹》－ 愛德華．托普(荷蘭/溫哥華)作曲
“From the Stars” (2017, 2023) – Lan Tung (Vancouver/Taiwan)
《星空》－ 董籃(台灣/溫哥華)作曲
“The Ocean of Tears” (2021) – Moshe Denburg (Vancouver)
《淚海》－ 莫諧．丹伯格(溫哥華)作曲

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, the Sound of Dragon Ensemble’s 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 ensemble’s repertoire represents original Canadian intercultural art music and breaks down genre boundaries, crossing over Chinese traditions, contemporary music, world fusion, and improvisation. 

Sound of Dragon Ensemble 龍吟滄海樂團:
Charlie Lui 呂畇初 – dizi 笛子
Paolo Bortolussi – flute 長笛
Lan Tung 董籃 – erhu 二胡 & vocal 演唱
Zhimin Yu 于志敏 – ruan 阮
Jonathan Bernard – percussion 打擊樂
Itamar Erez – guitar 吉他
Sungyong Lim 林成容 – cello 大提琴
Mark Ferris – violin 小提琴
Dailin Hsieh 謝岱霖 – zheng 箏

Li Tung 董籬 – multimedia 多媒體藝術
Taiwan’s prominent conductor Chih-Sheng Chen 陳志昇 (Little Giant Chamber Orchestra 小巨人絲竹樂團音樂總監) will once again guest conduct the ensemble.

 

Watch Videos: Preview Video, Four Dragons (2023), Oriole(2022), Ocean of Tears (2021)

Program Notes:
“Taiwanese Dragon Legends” (world premiere), composed by Chihchun Chi-sun Lee (Taiwan/US/Korea), is inspired by a collection of Taiwanese folktales. As people attempted to relate to dramatic climatic events, the appearance of dragons was associated with extreme winds, rains, or droughts. Although dragons are symbols of luck in Chinese Han culture, the Rukai aboriginal tribe in Taiwan believed that the Baralebale dragon god brought death. 

“The Suspension of_____” (world premiere) by Tim Brady (Montreal) is slow, simple, and transparent. It asks many questions—the Suspension of Time? Negotiations? The Laws of Physics? Your account? Disbelief?

“Tarasque” (world premiere) by Elizabeth Knudson (Vancouver) symbolizes a new beginning with the imagined rebirth of Tarasque, a fierce mythical water-dragon from medieval France.

The Sound of Dragon Ensemble will perform the Canadian premiere of “The Grey Tree” by Edward Top (Vancouver/Amsterdam). Mesmerized by the symbolism of timeless life and wisdom in Dutch artist Mondriaan’s 1912 painting “The Grey Tree”, Top transfers the grey waves, lines, and geometrical shapes to music, in which individual instruments are absorbed into a fabric of swirling tree-branch lines, creating constantly shifting shades and shapes like the murmuration of flocks of birds or schools of fish. “The Grey Tree” is a co-commission with Taiwan’s Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra, which gave its world premiere in Taipei in 2024. 

“The Ocean of Tears” was composer Moshe Denburg’s attempt to take a step towards the much needed awareness of our common humanity as he reflected on what was happening around the world during the COVID. 

Lan Tung’s “From the Stars” was inspired by a Haudenosaunee story shared by Amberley John from her family—the bear clan, Oneida of the Thames. Three brothers chased forever the Giant Bear (Big Dipper) and were able to shoot it in the autumn. The Bear’s blood turned all the leaves into red, symbolizing seasonal changes and our shared desire to understand the world around us.