Tag Archives: Olivier Messiaen

HANOISE! The Fifth Season of the Hà Nội New Music Ensemble Begins

05 Thursday Sep 2019

Posted by in Ancient Ensemble of Tonkin, Arditti Quartet, Composers, Contemporary Music, Ensemble Modern, Hanoi, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Jorg Widmann, Lucas Fels, New Jogjakarta Contemporary Ensemble, Nguyen Thien Dao, Nina Janssen-Deinzer, Tetsuji Honna, Uncategorized, Vietnam, Vu Nhat Tan, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

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Members of the Hà Nội New Music Ensemble.

It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop. Confucius

Days are long but years are short. The last short five years bear witness to many long days of hard work, resulting now in the inspiring progress of my friends and colleagues in the Hà Nội New Music Ensemble. I’m proud to announce our impressive fifth anniversary season, HANOISE!

International collaborations define our fifth season, as we build new friendships and strengthen old partnerships with each concert. We’ll be working with two Vietnamese ancient music groups, the Phú Xuân Ensemble of Huế and the Đông Kinh Cổ Nhạc/Ancient Ensemble of Tonkin of Hà Nội as well as members of the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble in March of 2020. In October 2019, members of the Ensemble Modern in Germany and Arditti String Quartet will join my friends in concerts both in Hà Nội and Hồ Chí Minh City, sponsored by the Goethe Institut. The season opens Friday September 6th at 20h00 at the Vietnam National Academy of Music as we present The New Yogyakarta Contemporary Ensemble and concludes in April 2020 with a final concert I’m looking forward to conducting.

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In the Path of the Ancestors with the Hà Nội New Music Ensemble

21 Thursday Mar 2019

Posted by in Ancient Ensemble of Tonkin, Composers, Contemporary Music, Hamburg, Hanoi, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Minh Dam Quang, Music, Nguyen Thien Dao, Uncategorized, Vietnam, Vu Nhat Tan

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National treasures of Việt Nam, Thanh Hoài and Xuân Hoạch.

In the Path of the Ancestors is my next concert with the Hà Nội New Music Ensemble. My friends here always find wonderful and poetic titles for our programs, they can’t do otherwise. In a long career devoted to new music, conducting over forty world premieres, numerous recording sessions, securing commissions, animating second performances, planning tours and collaborations, this concert at 20h00 in the Grand Hall of the Việt Nam National Conservatory of Music on Friday March 22, 2019 still looms as a milestone.

Three generations of composers are coming together. My Hà Nội New Music Ensemble will be joined by a cast of national treasures, whiz-bang technology, guests from the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, and the light bearing Ancient Ensemble of Tonkin/Đông Kinh Cổ Nhạc led by Đàm Quang Minh. Cue national and international television broadcast by the major network of Việt Nam, VTV1!

For a new music concert? For a new music group four years old? Yes. After thirty years of new music work in the United States, this Vietnamese recognition is, trust me, a genuine milestone.

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“The Ancient is New & The New is Ancient” at L’espace in Hà Nội

26 Monday Nov 2018

Posted by in Ancient Ensemble of Tonkin, Buddhism, Contemporary Music, Hanoi, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Japan, Minh Dam Quang, Nguyen Thien Dao, Toru Takemitsu, Uncategorized, Vietnam

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A silhouette of my friend Hương Lan in Huế.

“I have been trying not to view Japan as an absolute but as a duality, otherwise the tradition does not come alive but remains an unavoidable antique.”

In 1989 Toru Takemitsu wrote for me an essential article, Sound of East, Sound of West. His perspective gives the serious reader a magnetic compass for navigating the shifting soundscapes of our musical world. And like any map locating an unknown destination, my dog eared copy of this East Meets West article, a transcription of a lecture Takemitsu delivered at Columbia University in New York City, has been read and re-read more times than I can count.

On Saturday night December 1st, 2018 at 20h00, the Institut-Français Hà Nội sponsors the ongoing collaboration of the Hà Nội New Music Ensemble and the Đông Kinh Cổ Nhạc/Ancient Ensemble of Tonkin at L’espace at 24-26 Tràng Tiền near the Hà Nội Opera House in the Hoàn Kiếm District. Thank you, France!

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A Circle of Trust: the Hà Nội New Music Ensemble Season Begins Sunday October 23

19 Wednesday Oct 2016

Posted by in Composers, Contemporary Music, Diplomacy, Education, Food, Hanoi, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Kim Ngoc Tran, LA International New Music Festival, Music, Paris, Travel, Uncategorized, Vietnam, Vu Nhat Tan

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Working on every detail with Vu Khanh Linh and Giang Dương.

Working on every detail with Vũ Khánh Linh and Giang Dương.

Being creative is like riding a bicycle: either you keep going forward or you fall off. – Pierre Boulez

Sunday night at 8 PM the Hà Nội New Music Ensemble begins its second season at L’espace, sponsored by the l’Institut français du Việt Nam-Hà Nội. A group whose time is long overdue, I’m honored to be to help these hard working Vietnamese musicians as their artistic advisor and conductor.

A triangle of countries, France, Việt Nam and the United States, blends with a triangle of cities, Paris, Hà Nội and Los Angeles, for this second season opener. The new music world potential for my friends is vast, but much hard work has to come first. Excepting the usual suspects of classical music, you name the 20th century composer and you might be leading a Vietnamese premiere!

Looking over the horizon, I predict you will see a new music wave in the next few years cresting in Southeast Asia with the emergence of the Hà Nội New Music Ensemble!

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And The River Sings of Eternity: From Huế to Paris for Tôn Thất Tiết

30 Thursday Jun 2016

Posted by in Composers, Contemporary Music, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, LA International New Music Festival, Music, Paris, Travel, Uncategorized, Vietnam

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Sunset in Paris on the Seine from the Pont des Arts.

My friend Tôn Thất Tiết, who I would describe as a hybrid Vietnamese French composer who is fundamentally Vietnamese, writes the most patient music I’ve ever encountered. Poised from years of Buddhist thought and traditions, his command of stillness inspires me. And like the metaphor of water he often invokes, his music conceals endless energy underneath a calm surface.

Tiết was born in Huế, Việt Nam in 1933, went to Paris in 1958, studied with Messiaen’s friend André Jolivet and became a French citizen in 1971. In 1993 he founded the France-Việt Nam Music Association to promote the development of traditional music in Việt Nam.

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French Connections and A Favorite Paris Restaurant of Pierre Boulez

23 Thursday Jun 2016

Posted by in Contemporary Music, Food, Hanoi, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Kent Nagano, Kyoto, LA International New Music Festival, Music, Paris, Travel, Uncategorized, Vietnam

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A glass of Lillet on Rue du Buci in St. Germain.

A glass of Lillet on Rue du Buci in St. Germain.

Paris is always a good idea. Audrey Hepburn

If there was an Academy Award for the most influential city in the world, Paris would probably win hands down. It’s certainly played a leading role in the world of music, art, literature, cuisine, fashion, history, colonialism, architecture, poetry, sculpture, science, film, romance, photography, you name it and Paris has had a starring part.

My wife Jan and I went to Paris in May to create French connections for the Hanoi New Music Ensemble and the Los Angeles International New Music Festival. It’s not coincidental but my next concert in October is hosted by the Alliance Française in Hanoi. We realized that as Americans in Paris we’d be able to build bridges for the French music community back to their former colony and formidable enemy in Southeast Asia.

I like a good story and this is one of the best!

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The Buddha on the Mantle and My Path to Việt Nam

01 Thursday Oct 2015

Posted by in Composers, Contemporary Music, Hanoi, LA International New Music Festival, Los Angeles, Music, Southwest Chamber Music, Travel, Vietnam, Vu Nhat Tan

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The new Old Quarter Cultural Exchange will host the first concert of the Hanoi New Music Ensemble on October 25.

The new Old Quarter Cultural Exchange will host the first concert of the Hà Nội New Music Ensemble on October 25.

Why Việt Nam?

Jan and I are looking forward to going to Hà Nội soon, and I’m excited to announce the inaugural concerts of the Hà Nội New Music Ensemble as we begin our roles as artistic advisors to this new group and the Hà Nội Philharmonic Orchestra in October. The concerts are October 25 at the new Old Quarter Cultural Exchange, October 29 at the Manzi Art Space and October 31 in the Grand Hall of the Việt Nam National Academy of Music.

One thing, as they say, leads to another. But why Việt Nam?

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