DESCRIPTION:
《幽兰》You Lan (The Solitary Orchid)
The earliest score for this piece is 1400 years old, so it is probably the oldest surviving score anywhere in the world that is still played today. It is closely associated with Confucius. He travelled to various states in China , attempting to promote his ideas of ethics and virtue as an ideal of government, but was constantly rejected. One day he saw an orchid growing alone among ordinary plants. He likened it to a wise man whose ideas are not in tune with the time, and who consequently associates with the common people.

This performance is from NAGA's new production "Beyond a Museum Piece two: From Before the Tang Dynasty to Today" on May 30th, 2010 at 7:30pm at Fort Mason Center, San Francisco.

Highlights

1. According to the traditional Chinese view, if you didn't know the guqin, one could not be considered either cultured or a beautiful woman! The guqin was the first of the four skills required of a scholar, and first of the 13 requirements for a beautiful woman. This exciting multidisciplinary production will take the audience on a special musical journey that highlights Chinese culture and music from various past dynasties through to the present day.

2. "Listening to the qin" is a recurring title and theme in many famous Chinese poems and paintings. But nothing can replace actually "listening to the qin".

The concert is truly a live "Listen to the qin" by a renowned guqin player, NAGA director Wang Fei. It includes renderings of some of the world's oldest known musical scores, dating back over 1,400 years, as well as newly composed guqin music and improvisations.

3. This performance will take advantage of the lighting, staging, and projection of a very intimate theatre. It can only be truly appreciated live, in this specific venue. Wang Fei will use a storytelling approach to share the legends and folktales behind the music, and her own commentary and insights to bring these ancient works to life and enable the audience to listen, watch, and feel, a comprehensive way to appreciate guqin music.

The climax will be Wang Fei's new work, developed during her residency at CounterPulse, "From Beijing to San Francisco".

4. Guqin improvisation was popular before and during the Tang Dynasty, but the tradition was lost about 1000 years ago. Wang Fei has developed her own style of improvisation that combines guqin improvisation with reciting poems, both Chinese and English. For recitals in English, she has adapted techniques from Chinese opera and the four tones of Mandarin, breaking the flow of the words into a rhythm and pace appropriate to guqin music. She will interpret some of the great poems from before the Tang dynasty to today, as well as one of her own poems.

I urge you my friend

To drink one more cup of wine.

There will be no more old friends once we say goodbye.

-- Seeing Off Envoy Yuan Er, by Wang Wei (Tang dynasty)

Remember if you will,

Or, better still, forget

The light we exchanged in this encounter.

-- Chance, by Xu Zhimo

Seven strings are my orchestra;

My hands, the conductor.

-- From Beijing to San Francisco, by Wang Fei
Renowned guqin performer Wang Fei takes the audience on a special musical journey that highlights Chinese culture and music ranging from various past dynasties through to the present day. The concert includes renderings of some of the world's oldest known musical scores, dating back over 1,400 years, to newly composed guqin music and improvisations.

Wang Fei will also share the legends and folktales behind the music and use her own commentary and insights to bring these ancient works to life. This exciting multidisciplinary production will feature various programs and masters integrating guqin music with xiao (Chinese bamboo flute), storytelling, narrative, poetry recitation and Tai Chi.

This concert will be featured at the San Francisco International Art Festival 2010 and will be followed by an SFIAF celebration party.

Special acknowledgments
This concert is funded from The Alliance for California Traditional Arts, in partnership with the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation, and The Metabolic Studio, a direct charitable activity of the Annenberg Foundation; Chinese music specialist Beijingers.com and Chinese Culture Net.
Special thanks to the crew of SFIAF,CounterPULSE, Zellerbach Family Foundation, H & F Hewlett Foundation, Meet the Composer, The Patsy Lu Fund and Open Meadows, and friends of the North American Guqin Association Julian Joseph, Yvonne Ng, Xiaopei He Gelb, E. Moy and K. Chu。