Playing a dynamic role in the Canadian music community, Lan is an erhu performer, improviser, composers, and concert producer. She incorporates Chinese music with contemporary expressions in her works, and she has premiered numerous compositions by Canadian and US composers. Her strong interest in music outside her tradition has been a major drive in her artistic explorations. Lan crosses the lines between classical, contemporary, folk, blues and various ethnic styles, such as Indian, Flamenco and Central Asian, to expand the horizons of the erhu. Lan has performed with Huun Huur Tu (Tuva), Baka Beyond (UK), Khac Chi Ensemble (Vietnam) and Hossam Shaker (Egypt). Trained at Taiwan's Chinese Cultural University, Lan went on to study with erhu virtuosi Jiebing Chen in San Francisco and Zhang Funming in Beijing, with Hindustani violinist Kala Ramnath in Bombay and Egyptian violinist Dr. Alfred Gamil in Cairo. Her fascination for creative improvisation has led to studies and performance with improviser and contemporary violinist Mary Oliver and improvisation with Magpie Music & Dance Company in Amsterdam. At the Vancouver Creative Music Institute, she has studied and performed with Han Bennink (Holland), John Butcher, Evan Parker and Barry Guy (UK)…etc. In winter 2009, she is traveling to Switzerland to study graphic scores and improvisation with Barry Guy. A member of Vancouver world music ensemble Tandava, Lan also serves as the vice president of the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra.
Erhu
Introduced to China more than one thousand years ago, the erhu is a two-string stick fiddle that is played while held on the lap. The strings are tuned to a fifth, with the bow placed between them. The erhu has no finger board. The player places the fingers on the strings without pressing them against the wood neck. The folk versions of the erhu vary in the shapes and materials of the sound boxes. The erhu is usually made of sandalwood or red wood, with a snake skin resonator. A popular instrument in solo and ensemble music, its expressive sounds resemble the human voice.
Winner of the Outstanding Performance Prize at the Chinese National Zheng Competition in Shanghai, Haiqiong is equally versed in both traditional and contemporary music. Haiqiong made her professional début in Beijing in 1997 and has developed an international reputation as zheng soloist and chamber musician, performing and lecturing throughout China, Canada, Japan, Singapore and the United States. Her Carnegie Hall début recital in 2003 included two world premieres: Dots, Lines, Convergence by Chihchun Chi-sun Lee, a concerto for zheng and chamber ensemble commissioned by the Harvard Fromm Foundation, and CRUSH, a duo for zheng and soprano saxophone by Michael Sidney Timpson. Haiqiong has performed as a soloist with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the Singapore Chinese Orchestra, Music From China…etc. To expend her musical expression, Haiqiong has been studying and performing with Indian sitarist Nalini Vinayak since 2006.
Haiqiong received her Bachelor of Music in zheng performance from Shanghai Conservatory of Music and Master of Arts in Arts Administration and Ethnomusicology from Florida State University. She is currently the Director of the Chinese Music Ensemble at the Florida State University. She has also taught at the University of South Florida and Tallahassee Community College.
photo: Art Illman
Zheng
The zheng is a plucked half-tube wood zither with movable bridges, over which a number of strings are stretched. The parent instrument of the Asian long zither family, the history of the zheng can be traced back to more than 2500 years ago. While the ancient zheng had 12 or 13 silk strings, modern instruments usually have 16, 21 or 25 strings, constructed of metal, or steel wound with nylon. It is traditionally tuned to an anhemitonic pentatonic scale, but many modern scales range from combinations of different pentatonic scales, to diatonic and semi-chromatic scales.
Jonathan combines his background in Western percussion with a fascination for Asian traditions to create a unique sound palette incorporating a myriad of instruments, techniques and styles. Jonathan's interests span genres from orchestral music to New Music, and World Music. Having premiered over seventy chamber works, Jonathan performs with Orchid Ensemble, Tandava, Vancouver New Music, Fringe Group, and numerous orchestras including Vancouver, Victoria, Ottawa, National Ballet and CBC Radio Orchestras. He is currently the principal percussionist with the Vancouver Island Symphony. Jonathan's interest in world music has led him to perform Chinese, Javanese, Balinese and Korean music and study traditional and contemporary Chinese percussion in Beijing, China, Arabic percussion in Cairo, Egypt, and Carnatic rhythm in South India with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the British Columbia Arts Council. Jonathan has toured throughout North America, Europe, and Japan.
photo: Nenad Stevanovic
Marimba
The marimba is a wooden keyboard percussion instrument, tuned chromatically. The modern marimba was developed by Japanese and American builders based on the Hispanic-American traditional marimba. However, marimbas originated in Africa hundreds of years ago and were imported to South America in the sixteenth century.
Modern uses of the marimba include solo performances and various chamber and orchestral settings. Contemporary composers have utilized the unique sound of the marimba more and more in recent years.
Other mallet percussion instruments similar to the marimba includes vibraphone and xylophone.
Other percussion instruments used in the ensemble include dumbek, def (frame drum), cajon (wood box shaped drum), pai-gu (set of 5 Chinese tuned drums), udu (Nigerian percussion pot), Tibetan bells, zils (Egyptian finger cymbals), Turkish bells, kempul (Javanese gamelan gongs), Buddhist temple bowls, Chinese wind gong, water gong, Sichuan opera cymbals, Beijing opera gongs and cymbals, crotales, Chinese temple blocks, ban (Chinese wooden opera clapper), American wood blocks, African log drum, various shakers...etc. However, not all percussion instruments are used on tour.
(Haiqiong's profile)
