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Symphony Silicon ValleyFor its first concert of the new year, the symphony performs a premiere by local composer Gordon Leeby Staff on Jan 07, 2010GORDON LEE is a lucky guy. As the director of the Firebird Youth Chinese Orchestra in San Jose, he had the privilege of being part of one of the first performances after the reopening of the restored California Theatre in 2004. The orchestra’s performance made an impression on Symphony Silicon Valley’s president, who was in the audience that night. After working with Symphony Silicon Valley to premiere <i>Winchester House</i>, a symphonic suite based on the story of Sarah Winchester, Lee was again approached by the symphony to create a piece combining Eastern and Western sounds and using the Chinese instruments. The result, a symphonic suite for erhu, pipa and sheng called Young Impressions of the Old City, gets its world premiere this weekend in a program called “Scheherazade—Tales From the East.” Though his life’s work is teaching children to play Chinese instruments in an orchestra, an orchestra is something that was not heard in Chinese music until very recently. “It’s very uncommon for the traditional instruments to be played with one another,” says Lee. “There is no real composition technique in Chinese music. Instruments are taught in a conservatory, but written music is not taught often in China.” Although incorporating 300 years of solo performances with a full orchestra might strike some people as a formidable challenge, Lee had no problem. “It came very naturally to me,” says Lee. “People would always ask me ‘When are you going to write?’ but it happened without thinking.” After two years of preparation, planning and creation, Lee’s Young Impressions of the Old City is ready for its world premiere at the California Theatre. The work is based on Lee’s memories of his life in the countryside near Beijing, where he came of age during the Cultural Revolution. “Fifty years ago, there were no tall buildings,” says Lee, who used the changing landscape of modern China as inspiration for his work. “Now, everything you see is new.” The premiere will also feature performances from FYCO instructors Wanpeng Guo, Shenshen Zhang and Su-Chen Liu. SYMPHONY SILICON VALLEY presents Gordon Lee’s ‘Young Impressions of the Old City,’ Rossini’s Overture to ‘La gazza ladra’ and Rimsky-Korsakov’s ‘Scheherazade’ with guest conductor Paul Polivnick. The performances are Saturday, Jan. 9, at 8pm and Sunday, Jan. 10, at 2:30pm at the California Theatre, 345 S. First St., San Jose. Tickets $39–$75. (408.286.2600) by Staff on Jan 07, 2010 |
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