The Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) will usher within the Yr of the Snake on February 8, 2025 with a live performance that has emerged as one of many metropolis’s outstanding celebrations of Chinese language cultural heritage. Yr of the Snake: A Lunar New Yr Celebration will likely be hosted and narrated by comic Dashan (Mark Rowswell), and music that attracts from the classical traditions of each Western and Chinese language tradition.
One this system are iconic seasonal works like The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto and the Spring Competition Overture as carried out by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, led by conductor Naomi Woo.
A Showcase of Pan-Asian Artists
A sequence of Pan-Asian visitor artists will take the stage.
Classically skilled composer Wu Fei is a grasp of the guzheng, a 21-string Chinese language zither, and a vocalist. The guzheng is a musical instrument with a 2,500 + 12 months outdated historical past, and Fei makes use of the musical language of custom in up to date works that defy categorization. Her compositions have received awards and been carried out globally.
She is a local of Beijing, China, the place she studied on the China Conservatory of Music. She later got here to the USA to review at Mills Faculty at Northeastern College, and is at present based mostly in Nashville, TN.
As a musician, she has taken the stage at venues that embody the Forbidden Metropolis, New York’s MoMA, Quai Branly Museum in Paris, the North Sea Jazz Competition, and the Europalia Competition, amongst others.
Violinist Stella Chen bounce began her worldwide profession with a first-prize win on the 2019 Queen Elizabeth Worldwide Violin Competitors. Different accolades and recognition would observe, together with the 2020 Avery Fisher Profession Grant and 2020 Lincoln Middle Rising Artist Award. She was additionally named the Gramophone 2023 Younger Artist of the Yr.
Stella has carried out with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Israel Symphony, and Belgian Nationwide Orchestra, amongst different worldwide ensembles. She has taken the stage at Carnegie Corridor and the Lincoln Middle in New York Metropolis, together with the Vienna Musikverein and Berlin Philharmonie.
Chen can also be a devoted chamber musician who has appeared at festivals throughout Europe and the US. She performs on the 1720 Basic Kyd Stradivarius, on beneficiant mortgage from Dr. Ryuji Ueno and Uncommon Violins In Consortium, Artists and Benefactors Collaborative and the 1708 Huggins Stradivarius courtesy of the Nippon Music Basis.
Yang Yang Dance Studio of Mississauga can even carry out.
“This celebratory event is all the time a spotlight of my 12 months, and I’m delighted to reunite with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra to ring within the Yr of the Snake,” says Maestro Naomi Woo in an announcement.
“I really like the best way this vacation brings individuals collectively, so it’s becoming to be joined by my pals Stella Chen and Dashan, and to work with the enduring Wu Fei for the primary time. It’s all the time good luck to put on new garments for the brand new 12 months, so this live performance can even characteristic a brand-new orchestral piece: Ode to the Purple Cliffs, based mostly on a Tune Dynasty poem, with music by Shawn Moore and recitation by Dashan.”
Pre-Live performance Enjoyable
Earlier than the live performance, you should buy a particular ticket that features the pre-concert cocktail reception and dinner on the Shangri-La Resort. You’ll be capable of get pleasure from a lion dance efficiency and guzheng efficiency by Wu Fei when you quaff, with host Dashan and conductor Naomi Woo in attendance.
After dinner, you’ll get a ceremonial escort from the Shangri-La down Simcoe Road to Roy Thomson Corridor, the place you’ll discover your seats in one of the best sections.
- Discover tickets and extra details about that possibility [HERE].
Along with your common ticket, the celebrations begin within the Roy Thomson Corridor foyer at 7:00 p.m. an hour earlier than the live performance begins. That features a lion dance efficiency, and an Asian-Canadian distributors market with quite a lot of items.
- Discover extra particulars and tickets [HERE].
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Anya Wassenberg is a Toronto Metropolis Editor at Ludwig Van. She is an skilled freelance author, blogger and writing teacher.
