Aidan Chan concert programme
Irish-Chinese pianist Aidan Chan takes to the University Hall stage showcasing a dynamic programme featuring Wagner transcriptions by Kocsis and Liszt, and work from Chen Yi. We're also delighted to commission a new work from award-winning British-Chinese composer Alex Ho, that will be premiered at this event.
Programme:
Wagner/Kocsis: Prelude to Tristan und Isolde
Wagner/Liszt: Feierlicher Marsch zum heiligen Gral (from Parsifal)
Wagner/Busoni: Siegfried’s Funeral March (from Götterdämmerung)
Chen Yi: Duo Ye (1984)
Alex Ho: torn, to the ground, exhausted, sobbing (world premiere)
Wagner/Liszt: Isolde's Liebestod (from Tristan und Isolde)
On November 30 2023, the Met Opera's production of Tannhäuser was interrupted by a group of Extinction Rebellion protestors. Halfway through the second act, as Wolfram compared love to a miraculous spring, protestors began to shout "Wolfram, wake up!", "the spring is polluted!". This of course was met with uproar from fellow audience members, who told them to "shut up", "go home". I was particularly inspired by the negative responses to this protest, which in a way exposes an uncomfortable, yet in this moment crucial, question about the culture of Western classical music: do we go to concert halls to escape the real world, or to be willingly ignorant of it? Would people really prefer to watch a 4 and a half hour long opera while the world literally burns outside the doors of the opera house?
Wagner was and will always be a controversial figure in the history of Western art. As many have pointed out, among many others, there is a Nazi Wagner, a socialist Wagner, a white supremacist Wagner, Black Wagner, a Christian Wagner, a mythical Wagner, a gay Wagner, depending on how his work is interpreted. He was particularly interested in revolution, and saw himself as a Messiah who would bring forth both an end of Western classical art as was known as the time, and also a rebirth.
With the context of this programme and current events in mind, the works curated in this programme are all related to the themes of death, rebirth and the transience of time. Tristan und Isolde is a famously slow burn (both in plot and harmony) that inevitably culminates in the tragic death of two protagonist lovers, Parsifal explores redemption and renewal/rebirth through Christian ideals, and Götterdämmerung is an allegory for the cyclical nature of power, the consequences of hubris, and the inevitability of change and renewal.
Chen Yi's Duo Ye (1984) unearths a glimpse into the consumption and absorption of Western classical music in post Cultural Revolution China, with hints of influence by Stravinsky and Bartók.
Alex Ho's torn, to the ground, exhausted sobbing, commissioned by NTU, responds to Puccini's Turandot, which problematically portrays China, its cultures, and its people. The piece hinges on one of the opera's arias, which Puccini heard on a music box.