AboutOfficial Site: http://www.tandunonline.com/The conceptual and multifaceted composer/conductor Tan Dun has made an indelible mark on the world’s music scene with a creative repertoire that spans the boundaries of classical, multimedia, Eastern and Western musical traditions. A winner of today’s most prestigious honors—the Grawemeyer Award for classical composition, Grammy Award, Academy Award, and Musical America’s “Composer of The Year” —Tan Dun’s music has been played throughout the world by the leading orchestras, opera houses, international festivals, and on radio and television. His latest work, Secret Land for Orchestra and Twelve Violoncelli for the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle premiered in June 2004 in Berlin. Tan Dun’s current commissions include a new opera for the Metropolitan Opera to premiere in December 2006, and a new work for pianist Lang Lang to premiere in 2008. Tan Dun’s primary interest lies in creating new works and programs that reach a new and diverse audience, and those that break the boundaries between the classical and non-classical, East and West, avant-garde and indigenous art forms. As a conductor, he has led many of the world’s most renowned orchestras including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Philadelphia Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lyon, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and the London Sinfonietta. Central to Tan Dun’s body of work are several distinct series that reflect his individual compositional concepts and personal ideals. Among them are the Orchestral Theatre Series, which brings his memories of shamanistic ritual into symphonic performances, from which The Gate was premiered by the NHK Symphony, conducted by Charles Dutoit; Organic Music, consisting of works which incorporate elements from the natural world, such as the Water Concerto for Water Percussion and Orchestra, commissioned and premiered by the New York Philharmonic with Kurt Masur, and Paper Concerto for Paper Instruments and Orchestra for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Esa-Pekka Salonen for the openings of the Walt Disney Concert Hall in October 2003; and Multimedia & Orchestra, including the symbolic work The Map: Concerto for Cello, Video and Orchestra premiered by Boston Symphony Orchestra and Yo-Yo Ma with the composer conducting. The Map was released on DVD by Deutsche Grammophon in 2004, to worldwide acclaim. Opera has played a significant role in Tan Dun's creative output during the past decade. Marco Polo (1995-96), set to a libretto by Paul Griffiths, has had three different productions and has been performed in more than 20 cities worldwide. Peony Pavilion (1998), based on a text by Tang Xianzu (1598), and directed by Peter Sellars, had more than 50 performances at major festivals in Vienna, Paris, London and Rome. Tea (2002) with a libretto by Xu Ying and Tan Dun, set to music of ceramic, stone and paper instruments with orchestra, premiered at Japan’s Suntory Hall with the Netherlands Opera and Pierre Audi directing; another new production debuted at Lyon National Opera in June 2004 with Stanislas Nordey directing. In March 2005, Deutsche Grammophon released a DVD of Tea. Other key works include: Water Passion after St. Matthew, for the Internationale Bachakadamie in Stuttgart, commemorating the 250th anniversary of Bach’s death; Eight Memories in Watercolor, performed internationally by pianist Lang Lang; the Oscar Award-winning original score for Ang Lee’s film, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; and Ghost Opera, toured worldwide by the Kronos Quartet. Based in New York, Tan Dun was born in Hunan, China. Having served as a rice-planter and performer of Peking opera during the Cultural Revolution, he later studied at Beijing’s Central Conservatory. There he encountered Western classical music for the first time, discovering a range of 20th-century repertoire previously suppressed in China. Tan Dun soon became the leading composer of the “New Wave” of contemporary music in China, which embraced a new cultural pluralism in the arts that began to develop in the early 1980s. Tan Dun moved to New York in 1986 upon receiving a scholarship from Columbia University, where he completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree (1993). Tan Dun was elected by Toru Takemitsu for the Glenn Gould Prize in Music Communication, and by Hans Werner Henze for the Munich International Music Theatre Award. Tan Dun was the music director of the Tanglewood Contemporary Music Festival in 1999 and artistic director of the London Barbican Centre’s international festival in 2000. Currently, he is the music director of a multimedia festival with the Orchestre de la Radio Flamande. Tan Dun records for Deutsche Grammophon and Sony Classical. His recordings have garnered many accolades, including a Grammy Award (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Japan’s Recording Academy Awards 2003 for Best Contemporary Music CD (Water Passion after St. Matthew) and the BBC's Best Orchestral Album (Death and Fire). Dec 2005 |
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Tan Dun
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Tan Dun Newsletter |
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Tan Dun Discography (5titles)
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