“Do you know why cheese is yellow?” This question and much else is answered next weekend in the Taipei revival of The Mice War, an opera for children by the US polymath David Chesky.
Chesky has pioneered the mixture of contemporary classical, jazz, Latin, hip-hop and funk into a unique musical style that he calls “urban music.” He’s also come up with innovative recording techniques, incorporated the electric guitar into classical compositions, and is the only jazz composer ever to have been nominated for a Grammy in the Best Contemporary Classical Composition category.
The Mice War celebrates cultural diversity, of course, but it does more than just that. It argues for the absurdity of war, and this message is appropriately aimed at children. At the same time Chesky is eager to expose young listeners to the rhythmic and other varieties of music currently available in New York, where his opera was premiered in 2007 to great acclaim.
Photo courtesy of NTCH
Chesky was the National Symphony Orchestra’s composer in residence from 2008 to 2009, and together they mounted the opera’s Asian premiere here in March 2009. It was a big hit with both parents and children and so is being revived for another five performances in Taipei’s Experimental Theater next weekend. Various NSO musicians will form the band and the conductor will be Chang Yin-fang (張尹芳).
Meanwhile, tonight the full NSO is giving a concert in Taipei’s National Concert Hall devoted to the high-profile use of percussion in orchestral compositions. Master percussionist Peter Sadlo will lead the way in performances of Sibelius’ En Saga, Milhaud’s Marimba and Vibraphone Concerto and, after the interval, Bartok’s celebrated Concerto for Orchestra.
Performing with the orchestra is Evelyn Glennie, who despite being deaf has honed a career as a percussionist.
In charge of proceedings will be the Australian conductor Nicholas Milton, music director of the Philharmonie Jena in Germany from 2004 to last year, and chief conductor of the Canberra Symphony Orchestra since 2007. You can watch Sadlo giving a workshop (on Ferran Cruixent’s Focs d’Artifici) on YouTube.
The Queen of Percussion — Evelyn Glennie (擊樂天后 - 依芙琳.葛蘭妮) is today at 7:30pm at the National Concert Hall, Taipei City. Tickets are NT$400 to NT$1,500, available through NTCH ticketing or online at www.artsticket.com.tw.
The Mice War is April 29 and April 30 at 7:30pm and April and May 1 at 2:30pm. All shows are sold out.
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