The Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) will usher within the 12 months of the Snake on February 8, 2025 with a live performance that has emerged as one of many metropolis’s distinguished celebrations of Chinese language cultural heritage. 12 months of the Snake: A Lunar New 12 months Celebration might be hosted and narrated by comic Dashan (Mark Rowswell), and music that pulls 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 Pageant 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 previous historical past, and Fei makes use of the musical language of custom in modern 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 the moment 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 Pageant, and the Europalia Pageant, amongst others.
Violinist Stella Chen leap 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 Heart Rising Artist Award. She was additionally named the Gramophone 2023 Younger Artist of the 12 months.
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 Heart in New York Metropolis, together with the Vienna Musikverein and Berlin Philharmonie.
Chen can 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 may 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 12 months 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 buddies 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 may even function a brand-new orchestral piece: Ode to the Crimson Cliffs, based mostly on a Music 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 Lodge. 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 the perfect 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 a wide range 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.