Shanghai / New York: Future Histories — A Showcase of New Composers from China

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Please note: This performance will also take place at 5:00 pm.

China Shanghai International Arts Festival (CSIAF) has launched a groundbreaking new project, Rising Artists Works (RAW), a platform that commissions young, emerging artists from across China. Asia Society and Performance Space 122 have teamed up with CSIAF for the United States Premiere of three short, music-focused, multidisciplinary ensemble works by composers Sam Wu (dolphin song), Qin Yi (Mirror Mind), and Zulan (Death and the Maiden). These three artists are articulating new forms that are locally-sourced, yet distinct in their engagement with international audiences.

APAP and ISPA members can reserve tickets by emailing RSVPculture@asiasociety.org

About the performances:

Sam Wu is a self-taught 18-year-old wunderkind whose award-winning chamber music compositions have been described as "warm, sincere, and characteristic of a compassionate 21st-century metropolitan youth." His chamber composition dolphin song is a lamentation on the recent extinction of Yangtze River "baiji" White Dolphins, played by the violin, the viola, the cello, the piano, the bamboo flute, and percussion. He is currently studying at Harvard University.

Watch an excerpt from dolphin song (1 min., 4 sec.)

Qin Yi is a contemporary electronic music pioneer who has created Mirror Mind, a crossover experiment combining dramatic performance, live percussion, interactive multi-channel electronic music, and new-media visual arts. Mirror Mind explores the multilayered nature of human existence with a "pan-acoustic" narrative approach.

Watch an excerpt from Mirror Mind (32 sec.)

Zulan is an internationally recognized composer who created a special new music piece based on the prize-winning play Death and the Maiden, using music to describe the "Six Desires of a Human Being" — a Buddhist concept which describes the six sensory pleasures derived from the eyes, ears, nose, body, and mind.

Watch an excerpt from Death and the Maiden (1 min., 5 sec.)

Shanghai / New York: Future Histories is a co-presentation by Asia Society and Performance Space 122 as part of the COIL 2015 Festival and the China Shanghai International Arts Festival, sponsored by Shanghai Cultural Development Foundation and National Base for International Cultural Trade (Shanghai). All participating artists are within RAW (Rising Artists Works), a new series of the CSIAF and a platform that develops new ideas and emerging artists from across China.

COIL is Performance Space 122's annual performance festival that demonstrates the constant vitality of live performance in New York City, featuring work created locally, across the U.S., and around the world.