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about the music

San 1 is a transcription for percussion and tape of Sanº (2003), which was originally written for cello and tape. Du Yun:

"Not unlike turning things inside out, Sanº is my inner hearing of the ancient Chinese qin [seven-string zither] piece 'Guang Ling San,' which is known for its underlying nobleness, due to the stories and metaphors associated with the piece. Using a computer to patch events together, my inner hearing is thus amplified; at times, the tiny nuance that my inner listening field responded to is turned into a great happening in the piece.

"It was in the year 262 AD when 'Guang Ling San' was first publicly played by Ji Kang -- right before his own public execution. The first written notation of the piece was then found in 1425 AD, exactly 1,163 years later. Time moves on. Now 1,742 years have passed since the first public hearing of the piece. What has remained in the music is ambiguous. The idea of tossing around the listening perception (my turning the original piece into my own listening reception, the performer's interpretation, and your individual remembrance of this hearing) speaks to an attempt of the shared visceral, the absent contexture."

about the composer		back to top

A native of Shanghai, China, Du Yun (b. 1977) began studying piano at the age of four and composition at age eleven. She went on to study at the Preparatory School of the Shanghai Conservatory, Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio, and Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she is a doctoral candidate. Her principal teachers are Deng Erbo, Randolph Coleman, Mario Davidovsky, and Bernard Rands.

Du Yun's music has been performed by the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, International Contemporary Ensemble, North/South Consonance Chamber Orchestra, Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, and cellist Frances-Marie Uitti, among others. Her grants and awards include the British and International Bass Forum Composition Competition, China National Young Composer Competition, Herbert Elwell Memorial Prize, Jerome Foundation, and Meet the Composer. Du Yun's works have been broadcast on China Central Television, China National Radio, Radio Shanghai, and Société Radio-Canada, and recorded on Aural Capacity, a recent CD of Oberlin composers, and for the 50th anniversary of the Shanghai Conservatory.

Currently based in New York City, Du Yun is a founding composer of the International Contemporary Ensemble and performs as a vocalist, songwriter, and improviser.

related websites
http://www.iceorg.org/about/artist/yun.html

about the performers		back to top

Cofounded in 2001 by composer Huang Ruo and flutist Claire Chase, the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) is a new music collective comprised of young musicians and composers from around the world. The group's mission is to advance the music of our time through innovative programming, interdisciplinary collaborations, commissions of young composers, and performances in nontraditional venues. ICE currently presents over 50 concerts a year in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and abroad. The ensemble has collaborated with leading composers such as George Crumb, Mario Davidovsky, David Lang, Pauline Oliveros, Bernard Rands, and Augusta Read Thomas, and has given over 400 world premieres. In 2004 ICE launched the 21st Century Young Composers Project, a worldwide call for music by composers under the age of 35. The project culminated in the weeklong festival Polyphonic Voices: Music by Emerging Composers from Around the World. The following year it received first prize in the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming. ICE was ensemble-in-residence at New York University between 2004-2008, and will begin a residency at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois in the 2008-09 academic year. The group has recorded for the Bridge, Naxos, and New Focus labels.

related websites
http://www.iceorg.org