Music From China & Talujon

The New York-based ensembles Music From China and Talujon Percussion partner in a rare concert of contemporary music for percussion quartet and Chinese instruments. The program features works by Zhou Long, Qu Xiao-Song, Xie Peng, Wang Guowei, and a new work by composer Harold Meltzer commissioned especially for the two ensembles. The collaboration synthesizes the sounds of a modern percussion quartet with the sounds of a Chinese ensemble, providing fertile ground for exploration of Chinese themes. Harold Meltzer’s Guangzhou Circle, making its world premiere, represents the composer’s intimate response to a work of architecture, a circular skyscraper in Guangzhou, China called Guangzhou Circle. The building is an attempt to fuse the architect’s Italian heritage with ancient and iconic Chinese image of double jade discs (symbols for infinity) where the disc-shaped building is “doubled” by its reflection in the Pearl River. Written for soloist on different kinds of Chinese 2-string fiddles and percussion quartet, Zhou Long’s Tales from the Cave is inspired by the art of the Dunhuang Mogaoku grottoes and folk music from this Silk Road region. Using Chinese ensemble and percussion quartet, Ling Long by composer Xie Peng is a metaphor for a state of exquisite beauty, drawing from elements of Beijing opera. On its own, Talujon performs Qu Xiao-Song’s Lam Mot for three percussionists. Music From China performs Wang Guowei’s Drinking Alone with the Moon, based on the immortal poem by the Tang dynasty poet Li Bai.

Music From China is a chamber ensemble performing eclectic programs of traditional Chinese music and contemporary work. Established in 1984, the group has performed at such venues as the Library of Congress, Asia Society, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, San Diego Museum of Art, Chautauqua Institution, 92nd Street Y, Freer & Sackler Galleries of Art; festivals including the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, American Folk Festival, Boston Early Music Festival, Ecstatic Music Festival, Skaneateles Music Festival; and colleges and universities across the U.S. including Princeton, Duke, Colgate, Vermont, Rhode Island, Texas A&M, Dayton, Pittsburgh, Southern Illinois, Indiana State, Bowdoin, Vassar, William & Mary, Peabody Conservatory and Eastman School of Music, among others. A proponent of new music, Music From China has commissioned and performed works by celebrated composers such as Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Bright Sheng, Huang Ruo, Eric Moe, Lei Liang, and Derek Bermel. In recognition for creative programs that combine the music of East and West, Music From China is recipient of a Chamber Music America/ASCAP Adventurous Programming Commendation.

Described by the New York Times as an ensemble possessing an “edgy, unflagging energy,” Talujon has been mesmerizing audiences since 1990. Talujon is thoroughly committed to the expansion of the contemporary percussion repertoire as well as the education and diversification of its worldwide audience. Over the past 20 years, Talujon has commissioned dozens of new works for percussion, leading to widespread recognition such as a Chamber Music America Award for Adventurous Programming.

Recent Talujon commissions include works by Alvin Lucier, Henry Threadgill, Ralph Shapey, Nick Brooke, Wayne Peterson, Julia Wolfe, Ushio Torikai, Louis Karchin, Eric Moe, Steve Ricks, and Chien-Yin Chen. Based in New York, the group’s performances have included collaborations with Steve Reich, James Tenney, Chou Wen-chung, The Brooklyn Philharmonic, Meredith Monk, and Tan Dun at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Merkin Concert Hall, Symphony Space, The Kitchen, and the Knitting Factory.   

Talujon has appeared in universities and concert halls throughout the US, and at such festivals as Taipei’s Lantern Festival, BAM’s Next Wave Festival, Muzik3 Festival, Chautauqua, Festival of New American Music, and a recent European tour with Steve Reich and Bang on a Can. For the Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concerts series, Talujon developed the program “A World of Influences,” which incorporates Talujon group compositions featuring homemade instruments and traditional instruments. The group has also given master classes/workshops at institutions such as the Juilliard School, Stanford University, University of Virginia, State University of New York at Buffalo, Harvard University, and the University of Oregon.