This season brings an international celebration of Tan Dun’s music with a host of major operatic and orchestral events.
This fall, on the heels of its US premiere in a new production by Amon Miyamoto at the Santa Fe Opera, Tan’s opera Tea: A Mirror of Soul receives two new productions: its Austrian premiere at the Neue Oper Wien (Vienna) in September (directed by Carlos Wagner) and the November Nordic premiere at the Stockholm International Composers Festival (in a production by Chiang Ching). Tea brings an ancient tale to the 21st century as Tan combines the lyricism of Italianate opera, lush Western orchestration, a male “Greek chorus,” gamelan-like percussion, and the organic sounds of nature — water, paper, and stones.
In October, Tan’s multi-media concerto The Map comes to the Baltimore Symphony for three concerts featuring Ilya Finkelshteyn as soloist. In November, the composer travels to Stockholm — not only for the Tea performances — but also as the featured composer in the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic’s week-long festival celebrating his orchestral and chamber music. Acclaimed festival performers include violinist Cho-Liang Lin, cellist Anssi Kartunen, and percussionists David Cossin, Tamao Inano, and Haruka Fujii. Tan conducts the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and soloist Yuan Li in the first performances of his Concerto for Zheng and String Orchestra (an arrangement of the Pipa Concerto). Also in October, Tan’s Secret Land is featured at the Beijing Music Festival.
In December, the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival introduces New York audiences to The Gate: Orchestral Theatre IV. Brooklyn Philharmonic music director Michael Christie conducts the New York-premiere performances and has a post-event dialogue with the composer on the 7th.
Tan’s spring schedule includes a Piano Concerto premiered by the New York Philharmonic and soloist Lang Lang (conducted by Leonard Slatkin) and the Metropolitan Opera’s revival of The First Emperor in May with Plácido Domingo in the title role.
