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PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY of ORANGE COUNTY / ECLECTIC ORANGE FESTIVAL
2082 Business Center Drive, Suite 100
Irvine, CA. 92612-1113
TEL: (949) 553-2422

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“CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON” / “THE GATE: ORCHESTRAL THEATRE IV” TAN DUN, COMPOSER AND CONDUCTOR
Friday and Saturday, October 19-20, 2001 at 8pm Sunday, October 21, 2001 at 3 pm Irvine Barclay Theatre

WHAT: The world premiere of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Suite for Erhu and Orchestra with images from the Academy Award winning film, and the United States premiere of The Gate: Orchestral Theatre IV as part of the Philharmonic Society’s third annual Eclectic Orange Festival. Tan Dun’s unconventional musical works bridge the worlds of Eastern and Western culture. His earliest musical influences, birthed in ancient Chinese folk music and Peking Opera, have paved the way for works that celebrate multiculturalism and push traditional musical boundaries.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Suite for Erhu and Orchestra is a concerto that was written for the film, but was never included in the motion picture as originally written. Karen Han is the featured soloist on the erhu, an ancient Chinese 2-string, bowed instrument, in the world premiere performances of the film score as originally composed by Tan Dun. Images from the film will be projected on a screen simultaneously during the orchestra’s performance of the concerto.

The Gate: Orchestral Theatre IV asks ageless questions about love, death and the afterlife. In his exploration of multimedia and multiculturalism, Tan and video artist Elaine McCarthy integrate video images from the stage action, highlighting and intensifying the live experience for the audience. For the musical concept for the work, the composer unites three disparate musical and narrative traditions. Tan uniquely juxtaposes three heroines of different dramatic genres and unites them as martyrs of sacrificial love: “Yu-Ji,” performed by a Peking Opera actress, portrays “Shi Min” from “Farewell My Concubine,” a Western-style soprano characterizes Shakespeare’s “Juliet,” and “Koharu-san” from “The Love Suicides at Amijima” is portrayed by a Japanese joruri-style puppeteer.

In Tan’s libretto, each heroine tells her story in her own voice with respect for the original voices of the characters and their creators. To further emphasize the supernatural yet immediate aspect of The Gate: Orchestral Theatre IV, Tan employs a setup of the orchestra and the performers that draws the audience into a “surround sound” experience. The stage becomes the scene of “the gate” to the afterlife, while the conductor and musicians serve as keepers of the gate. The image of the concert hall is that of a courtroom in hell, with the audience not merely observers of a musical event, but also as active witnesses to the defense of the characters’ lives and loves. The composer notes, “There is such a terrible lack of love today; resurrection for these three women seemed a very important symbolic task.”

WHO: Tan Dun, born in the Hunan province of China, spent his childhood in a rural Chinese village. During the Cultural Revolution of the 1970s Tan lived among a commune of rice planting peasant farmers for two years; there, he began to collect folk songs and eventually became a village music leader. Using whatever folk instruments he had at his disposal (including metal cooking pots), Tan explored a variety of creative sounds to produce his own ad hoc musical arrangements.

As a graduate of the prestigious Central Conservatory in Beijing, Tan’s first symphony Li Sao was awarded a national “incentive” prize despite its controversial departure from existing traditions, thus confirming its status as the flagship for new music in China. His orchestral work, On Taoism (1985) marked an important breakthrough; it was the piece that he admitted to have changed him “more than anything else I wrote during my student years in China.” This piece was a victory over the supremacy of Western musical influences that dominated Chinese music for fifty years. Tan’s music continues to explore Asian techniques on Western instruments.

Tan became the youngest composer to date to receive the prestigious Suntory prize commission (Japan), joining the ranks of such composers as Cage, Takemitsu and Xenakis. In 1998, he became the youngest winner of the Grawemeyer Award, the world’s most prestigious composition prize, for his opera Marco Polo. In 1997, Tan Dun was named one of the New York Times’ “Classical Musicians of the Year.” Worldwide audiences became familiar with Tan Dun’s music during the BBC’s live, 27-hour coverage of the global millennium celebration. Tan composed a signature theme for the coverage and an elaborate suite that was heard throughout the world as viewers welcomed the new millennium. Recently, Tan received an Academy Award for Best Film Score for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. John Cage quoted about Tan Dun’s music: “…in the music of Tan Dun, sounds are central to the nature in which we live but to which we have too long not listened. Tan Dun’s music is one we need as East and West come together as our one home…”

WHY: With the advent of the new millennium and the rapidly moving pace of technology and communication, the world also seeks to answer questions about humanity and the eternal. The increasing relevance of multiculturalism makes this a strategic time to celebrate formerly separate worlds as one; this is the message of Tan Dun in his artistic creations. According to Tan Dun, the music of today is not about what is avant-garde or traditional, nor about East or West - “it is a path towards reconciliation of one’s own personal past and present and a quest for human roots. It is music for and about people.”

In this quest to understand the essence of love and the eternal, “The Gate: Orchestral Theatre IV” presents characters from three vastly different contexts to universally represent the power of true love. Tan continues to revisit these themes in a way that is refreshingly original; the work essentially challenges the audience to seek answers about life, love and spirituality. Further, beyond the mere link of East and West, the vision is now to celebrate humanity and its common values for their own sake. The martial arts-styled romance of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” is also founded upon the universal theme of sacrificial love and nobility. Tan Dun seeks multi-dimensional ways to traditional music forms, namely orchestral. To him, music, philosophy and theatre have a synergistic relationship; musical sounds are not an end in itself, but they also illustrate theatrical and philosophical ideas. Tan clearly exemplifies the Eclectic Orange Festival’s aim to challenge existing perceptions of musical performance, dance and theatre.

THE SMALL PRINT: Among many other awards, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon won Academy Awards for “Best Film Score” and “Best Foreign Language Film.” The Gate: Orchestral Theatre IV premiered in Tokyo with Charles Dutoit and the NHK Symphony in 1999. Tan’s recordings, including “Heaven Earth Mankind,” “Marco Polo” and his new film soundtrack for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, featuring cellist Yo-Yo Ma, can be heard on Sony Classical.

Source: Philharmonic Society of Orange County / Eclectic Orange Festival

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