Credit: SFSO
Lunar New Year is in tune with the lunisolar calendar from China’s Xia Dynasty and since this is the Year of the Rabbit the cuddly bunny, according to traditional Chinese culture is associated with the moon and includes characteristics of politeness, patience, scholarship and career oriented goals. Many cities across Asia and beyond are engaged in celebration including San Francisco Symphony’s Lunar New Year concert February 5 at Davies Symphony Hall - led by acclaimed Korean-Canadian conductor Earl Lee. The event also offers an apres-concert banquet and festivities. The City by the Bay boasts the largest population of Chinese Americans in the nation which is an added draw and well – strolling through the back streets of San Francisco’s so-called Chinatown is such a cool hang for visitors and locals.
The program includes repertoire by past and modern Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese composers with a guest appearance by soprano Sumi Jo whose long career has given us many wide-ranging and splendid vocal moments. There is a fascination in hearing works that are mostly unfamiliar, especially to American audiences whose last encounter with Asian composers might have occurred in 1970 when the Yellow River Piano Concerto premiered – during China’s Cultural Revolution.
Lee seems to embrace eclectic repertoire as evidenced by the rising star’s programs as the new Music Director of Ann Arbor Symphony – that include Mahler’s 2nd symphony, Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique and Adams Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? – having previous posts with the Toronto, Pittsburgh and Boston symphonies. No surprise that he received the 2022 Sir George Solti Conducting Award and is also an accomplished cellist – having studied at The Julliard School with David Soyer and performed at Marlboro Music Festival and Ravinia Steans Institute. Lee’s instrumental career took an unexpected turn as a result of being diagnosed with focal dystonia, a neurological disorder often affecting the hands – which can cause a lack of control.
Lee reflects on the lifestyle shift from cellist to conductor. “I spent a few years retraining and restructuring how I play the cello and eventually made a transition to conducting because I love being a performer on stage and making music with other people.” His appearances in North America and Asia include debuts with the New York Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony.so the Lunar New Year concert seems like a great opportunity for listeners to reconnect with Lee and experience an intriguing assortment of works that will be performed.
“We wanted this concert to reflect two main ideas: music that is fun and entertaining and also meaningful to the Asian communities in the US so we wanted to feature Asian composers living in America who are an integral part of our cultural community,” says Lee. It seems that many of this program’s works focus on nature, folk legends or romance and use a soundscape of multiculturalism such as in the traditional Three Wishes of a Rose by Huang Tzu and Geung-Su Lim’s As the Spring Approaches Across the River. “There are many art songs in Korea which we call Ga-Gok and Sumi Jo has recorded pretty much all of them. They are often very heartfelt, nostalgic and longing in character. I am very happy she will be joining us to share some of these songs with the audience.”
The Lunar New Year concert also highlights composers of our time, as Lee describes. “Two of the four programmed orchestral works were written by two very active Chinese composers living in the US, Huang Ruo and Zhou Tian.” Selections from Folk Songs for Orchestra by Ruo, who is on the faculty of Mannes School of Music will be performed as well as selections from Transcend by Zhou Tian, whose recent works include a Flute Concerto, Violin Concerto Night Tour and Grammy nominated Concerto for Orchestra.
“We wanted to program a piece that reflects the history of Chinese immigrants in the US and particularly wanted to share this idea through music based on Chinese railroad workers. Zhou Tian is a good friend of mine who I went to school with at the Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School.” Lee adds that his composer friend attended a concert he was conducting in Ann Arbor and later at dinner they discussed the possibility of including a piece on San Francisco’s Lunar New Year concert based on the transcontinental railroad.
“Zhou Tian replied, ‘I wrote one already.’ So we will be performing the 2nd and final movements of his Transcend to close the concert. The last movement is based on rhythm of the Morse code that was sent out across the country at the completion of the railroad which spells out D-O-N-E.”
Lee’s imaginative and inspired programming with Ann Arbor Symphony also guides his vision for the upcoming San Francisco Symphony Lunar New Year concert. “My bottom line goal is to always have good music that will help enrich our community and help our orchestra develop artistically.”