Playing a dynamic role in the Canadian music community, Lan is an erhu performer, improviser, composers, and concert producer. Originally from Taiwan, she draws her background in Chinese music and fuses it with contemporary music, free improvisation and various ethnic styles, such as Indian, Flamenco and Central Asian.The artistic director of the JUNO nominated Orchid Ensemble, Lan has premiered numerous contemporary compositions, including a Canadian erhu concerto with the Symphony Nova Scotia at the opening of Canadian New Music Network conference. 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 traveled 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. Lan has performed with Huun Huur Tu (Tuva), Baka Beyond (UK), Khac Chi Ensemble (Vietnam) and Hossam Shaker (Egypt).
Erhu
Originated in Central Asia and introduced to China more than one thousand years ago, the erhu belongs to the
large family of stick fiddles that are found in many countries. The erhu is played while held on the lap. Its two
strings are tuned to a fifth, with the bow placed between them. The erhu has no fingerboard. The player places
the fingers on the strings without pressing them against the wood neck, giving the flexibility to apply different
degrees of pressure on the strings to alter the tone. The erhu is usually made of ebony, sandalwood or rosewood, with a snakeskin resonator. The folk versions vary in the shapes and materials of the sound boxes. A popular instrument in solo and ensemble music, erhu’s expressive sound resembles the human voice and is deeply rooted in the vocal traditions.
Yu-Chen Wang
Yu-Chen graduated from Taiwan's Tainan National University of the Arts , where she studied the zheng with Dong-He Ling and Hao-Yin Huang and composition with Siao-Wun Jhuang and Chao-Ming Tung.Performing with precision and astonishing technique, Yu-Chen has premiered numerous contemporary works by herself and many ground breaking composers in Asia and North America. Her compositions blend western classical and traditional Chinese music and place the zheng in ensembles of unconventional instrumentations.
Yu-Chen has appeared as a soloist with the National Chinese Orchestra, the Kaohsiung City Chinese Orchestra, and the Tainan National University Chinese Orchestra. She has performed many solo recitals and has toured in Germany with the Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra. Yu-Chen was recently a guest artist with Kansas City’s newEar contemporary chamber ensemble, UMKC Music Nova. She is a member of Compost Q, which performs improvised music across the U.S.
Yu-Chen has won numerous awards: the Gold Prize at the “Golden Lotus” International Youth Music Competition in Macau, a three-time First Prize winner at the Taiwan National Music Competition, First Prize at the Chinese Musical Instrument Association’s Competition, and the winner of the Taiwan Young Concert Artist Competition.
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 Percussion, and numerous orchestras including Vancouver, Victoria, Ottawa, National Ballet, CBC Radio Orchestras, as well as Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra. 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, Carnatic rhythms in South India, and cajon/Flamenco music in Spain 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.
