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Photo by Byron Dazey
$20 general, $15 seniors, $10 students and alumni (with ID)
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The Seattle Chinese Orchestra
March 24, 2013, 7:00 pm
PONCHO Hall
710 East Roy Street, Seattle, WA
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The Seattle Chinese Orchestra featuring Warren Chang, erhu, Roger Nelson, conductor, and special guest artists presents an eclectic concert of both traditional and contemporary works from China and the U.S.
The Seattle Chinese Orchestra (SCO) is the only traditional Chinese orchestra in the Pacific Northwest. Its mission is to advocate and promote traditional Chinese music. Since its inception in 1986, the SCO has hosted numerous concerts and dance shows with live orchestra accompaniment and has been widely applauded and praised. Over the years, the orchestra has grown. Currently, the SCO has over forty members, organized into four divisions: bow-stringed instruments, plucked instruments, woodwind instruments and percussion. The Seattle Chinese Orchestra’s repertoire is very rich and diverse, and includes traditional Chinese music, Chinese regional and folk music, music by contemporary Chinese composers, as well as European classical music and music from other parts of the world arranged for Chinese instruments.
Seattle Chinese Orchestra founder and music director Warren Chang is one of the foremost erhu experts in the United States. He has performed extensively and has made numerous television and radio appearances both nationally and in China. He has traveled throughout country lecturing and performing to introduce Chinese music to the American public. His incomparable determination and continuing efforts to introduce Chinese music to the Western world has gained a great deal of respect and admiration from both professional musicians and music lovers in general. In January 1995, he was invited by the Japanese producer to record the soundtrack for the epic movie “The Soong Sisters”, with the original score by the famous contemporary composer, Kitaro. During the recordings, he was also invited to play all the erhu segments for the entire soundtrack. Chang has performed erhu concert pieces with the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra, Cascade Symphony, Port Angeles Symphony, Seattle Symphony, and Whatcom Symphony Orchestra.
A member of the Cornish faculty since 1979, Roger Nelson performs frequently as a pianist and conductor. He holds a B.A. degree from Pomona College and an M.M. in Choral Conducting from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. His early teachers were Adolph Baller and John Steele Ritter. Nelson’s previous conducting appearances have included engagements with the Minnesota Opera’s New Music Theater Ensemble, the George Coates Performance Works, and the Floating Opera on Puget Sound. Nelson also served as conductor of the Bainbridge Orchestra from 1987 to 2000 and was the pianist with the New Performance Group from 1979 until 1997. During the 1997-98 academic year Nelson was a visiting professor at Qufu Teachers University in China. As a composer, Nelson has produced a book of fiddle tunes for violin and piano in a variety of styles. He has written more than 1,200 fiddle tunes as well as choral works and ensemble pieces. He currently conducts and sings with Canzonetta, an a cappella ensemble. He has conducted the Seattle Chinese Orchestra since 2006.
