Xin and Michael will offer a rich musical journey that the young ears can lean into woven from the music of Aperghis, Berio, and Canada’s own acclaimed composer Ana Sokolovic. Performed in an intimate setting with an array of percussion and vocal sounds recalling the bells of a monastery, a street call from southern China, rhythmic repetitions, and “I love you” sung in multiple languages, Xin and Michael play and connect with each other and the young audience in an unforgettable performance that will linger long after it ends.
Coo is a WeeFestival Commission and was performed under the title Aria as part of the 2024 WeeFestival
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About Xin Wang with Michael Murphy
Xin Wang was born in Yunnan, a South western province of China. She arrived alone in Canada at the age of 18 to study singing. Her path took her from Winnipeg to Toronto where she settled and built her home of three beautifully loud children and a charismatic husband with many saxophones. Xin is most interested in the mechanism of the singing body and is most stimulated by the learning of intricate music. This has led her to the world of contemporary repertoire. The learning of complex contemporary repertoire has been a gift. These musical puzzles push her towards her threshold while build her up from within, a similar experience as motherhood.
Michael Murphy
Hailed as “excellent” (New York Times, 2022) and “captivating” (Myanmar Times, 2018), Chinese-Canadian percussionist Michael Murphy has toured North America, Scandinavia, Europe, and Asia as a chamber and solo musician. Though having performed in groups such as the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Philharmonisches Orchester Freiburg, his focus is in contemporary music and performance of new works. In Canada, this involves him in groups such as New Music Concerts, Array Music, Soundstreams, and the Esprit Orchestra, and with festivals such as Nuit Blanche, the New Creations Festival, 21C Festival at Koerner, and the Luminato Festival. Internationally, this has brought him on multiple occasions to the 2D2D Festival in the Ukraine and the Darmstadt Ferienkurse für neue Musik in Germany, among others.
Visit the Xin Wang with Michael Murphy website
