Tan Dun
Tan Dun (Chinese谭盾/谭盾, Pinyin Tan Dun, born August 18, 1957 in Si Mao, Hunan ) is a New York based Chinese composer and conductor.
Life
Dun was born in the village Simaonae, Changsha in Hunan Province. During the Cultural Revolution in China, he had to work as a rice farmer from 1974. To escape the cramped quarters, he joined as a violinist and arranger, a Peking Opera Group. In Beijing, he studied from 1978 to 1983 composition with Li and Zhao Yinghai Xingdao at the Central Conservatory. He was given the opportunity to seminars with known composers such as Hans Werner Henze, Chou Wen-chung, Yun I- sang, Alexander George, George Crumb and Tōru Takemitsu participate.
In the 80s he moved to New York and studied with Chou Wen-chung, George Edwards and Mario Davidovsky and a doctorate ( Ph.D.) from Columbia University. The American metropolis opened his contacts with the experimental musicians such as Philip Glass, John Cage, Meredith Monk and Steve Reich.
In 2010, he was a cultural ambassador for the Expo in Shanghai.
As a conductor he led, inter alia, Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Filarmonica della Scala, Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.
Compositions
In his compositions he combines classical and modern music elements and combines Asian with European musical styles.
In addition to orchestral music, he composed operas and film music. From 1992 to 1996 his first opera Marco Polo, which was praised by critics, 1998, followed by the opera Peony Pavilion ( first performed under the direction of Peter Sellars ) was born. 2006, the opera The First Emperor, conducted by James Levine with Plácido Domingo in the title role at the New York Metropolitan Opera premiered. In 2000 took place in Stuttgart the premiere of Water Passion after St. Matthew's Gospel instead; The client was the International Bach Academy, which awarded the contract for new compositions of the four Gospels, each to a well-known modern composers of the 250th anniversary of the death of Johann Sebastian Bach.
For a wider audience Tan Dun became known in 2000 for his Oscar-winning film score for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The Piano Concerto HEAR & NOW was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra commissioned and premiered in April 2008 with pianist Lang Lang under the direction of Leonard Slatkin. In the same year he was commissioned by Google Internet Symphony No.. 1 to compose. YouTube Symphony Orchestra. In summer 2009, Tan Dun took over the music festival Grafenegg the role as composer in residence. In this context, he gave a composition workshop, in the compositions for film and multimedia were in the foreground. On September 6, 2009, he has to be with the Musicians' Orchestra of Lower Austria and a number of renowned percussion soloist Earth Concerto for ceramic instruments and orchestra to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Gustav Mahler 's birth, brought a commission for the Grafenegg Music Festival for the premiere.
In the season 2012/13 he will be at the MDR Symphony Orchestra Composer in Residence.
Works (selection)
- Eight Memories in Watercolor (1978), [1 Missing Moon, 2 Staccato Beans, 3 herdboy 's Song, 4 Blue Nun, 5 Ancient Burial, 6 Floating Clouds, 7 Red Wild Mess, 8 Sunrain ]
- Heaven Earth Mankind ( Symphony 1997)
- 2000 Today: A World Symphony for the Millennium ( 1999)
- Four Secret Roads of Marco Polo ( For 12 cellist and orchestra)
- Concerto for Zheng and String Orchestra
- Water Passion After St.Matthew
- The First Emperor (2006)
- Concerto for Piano, Percussion and Orchestra (2008)
- Internet Symphony No.. 1 " Eroica " for YouTube ( 2008) ( performance )
- The Tears of Nature, Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra ( 2012)