A Burnaby composer's work is featured in an upcoming concert by the award-winning Orchid Ensemble.
The Juno-nominated group is performing on Sunday, Feb. 8 at 2 p.m. in Vancouver's Pyatt Hall.
The Orchid Ensemble is renowned for transforming its Chinese roots and breaking down boundaries between musical genres. The ensemble is known for taking ingredients from Chinese, Indian, Jewish and Central Asian music, reconstructing them within a contemporary framework and adding improvisation.
It includes artistic director Lan Tung, who plays the erhu (or Chinese violin) and provides vocals. Jonathan Bernard plays marimba and percussion, while Yu-Chen Wang plays the zheng, or Chinese zither.
For their Pyatt Hall concert, they will be joined by Burnaby's Jin Zhang, who will conduct the Hua Yi Choir with the ensemble in a performance of his piece, Fire - which describes the great fire that destroyed Nanaimo's Chinatown in 1960.
The ensemble will also perform Zhang's No Rush, which "explores contrasts such as tenderness and strength, and forcefulness and tranquility," according to a press release.
Also on the program are Dorothy Chang's From a Dream, depicting the fast-moving clouds over the peaks of China's famous Yellow Mountain, and Farshid Samandari's Ghosts of the Living, which describes characters who breathe, act and haunt others as ghosts, along with other contemporary and traditional works.
Tickets for the concert are $20 regular, or $15 for students, seniors and children. Buy through orchidensemble.brownpapertickets.com or at the door. Pyatt Hall is at the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra School of Music at 843 Seymour St.
Zhang will also give a free talk about his music on Thursday, Feb. 5 at 7:30 p.m. at the Canadian Music Centre at 837 Davie St.
