Southwest Chamber Welcomes American and Vietnamese Musicians
Southwest Chamber performs in Hanoi with Hanoi Conservatory of Music students
Musicians and staff of Southwest Chamber Music are facing multiple challenges this week as they prepare for five concert series that will bring together the brightest and most accomplished younger American composers with their Vietnamese counterparts to introduce contemporary music in a cultural exchange between the United States and Vietnam performed by both the Southwest Chamber musicians and students from the Hanoi Conservatory of Music. The series starts at 8:00 p.m. Friday, April 16 at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, moving to the Colburn School for the Performing Arts in downtown Los Angeles for the remaining concerts which will follow, all at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 17, Saturday, April 24, Friday, April 30 and Monday, May 3.
Among the challenges are meeting various flights at local airports as 19 Vietnamese musicians from the Hanoi Conservatory arrive and also pick up the composers who are arriving over several hours on differing airlines and see that they have places to stay and get them all to rehearsals and performances on time. Jan Karlin, founder and Executive Director of Southwest Chamber Music, has been manning the phones at the organization’s headquarters in Pasadena with her usual aplomb. Since Southwest has been on many junkets over the years, she is used to the confusion and for the most part keeps a stiff upper lip.
“Our Welcoming Ceremony is today [April 15] at City Hall hosted by Mayor Bill Bogaard and the Pasadena City Council,” Karlin said. She didn’t go into the complications that abound for her over the next two-plus weeks as nearly military precision will be needed to see that everyone is available and on time for rehearsals, performances, and run-out concerts at local schools. The excitement surrounding these performances is due to an historic cultural exchange between Vietnam and the United States being sponsored by the U S State Department’ Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the largest cultural exchange between the two countries. The exchange marks the 15th anniversary of normalization of relations between the countries. Southwest Chamber musicians and American composers Alexandra du Bois and Kurt Rohde visited Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in March. The concerts here, as they were in Vietnam, will be both singular and collaborative performances by musicians of both countries.
The first concert in the series, Friday, April 16 at the Armory Center for the Arts, will introduce three Vietnamese composers all of whom will have their works given their U.S. premiere. Although Southwest Chamber has performed the works of U.S. composers du Bois and Rohde in the past, at the opening concerts du Bois’ “Chanson d’orage for 2 Violins” and Rohde’s “Toccata” are a first for Southwest.
The three Vietnamese composers are Ton That Tiet, whose “Trung dzoung” will be heard; Nguyen Thien Doa’s “Khoi Truong”; and Vu Nhat Tan’s “Green Silk” which will be performed on April 16.
The April 17 concert at Zipper Concert Hall of the Colburn School of Performing Arts will introduce yet more works of the U.S. and the Vietnamese composers. The April 24, April 30 and May 3 programs will continue with enhanced music of such U.S. composers as John Cage, Elliott Carter, Arnold Schoenberg, Igor Stravinsky, and Aaron Copland in addition to premieres of Vietnamese music by Pham Minh Thanh and Vu Nhat Tan Ky Uc.
Alexandra du Bois poses with the Beaux Arts Trio. The trio commissioned a work from the U S composer.
Kurt Rohde
Du Bois and Rohde are among the top new composers to provide a whole new generation of music. Du Bois has had her compositions performed (and in many cases commissioned by) nationally recognized ensembles as The Beaux Arts Trio and the Kronos Quartet in addition to groups around the world. Rohde, whose resume is filled with top awards, is now receiving many commissions for dance and music groups in addition to a number of film projects.
Southwest Chamber’s foray into exciting music is attracting a decidedly younger audience and constantly growing the list of advocates of more mature listeners who are craving something new and fresh.
Tickets are $38, general; $28 seniors; and $10 students. For information, please call (800) 726-7147.
By Bill Peters
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