Loosely drawing the idea of colour /sight notation from John Cage’s Aria and honouring the traditional meaning of Aria as an expressive moment frozen in time where the nuances of our thoughts can linger . Xin and Michael will Weave a net of sounds that the young ears can lean into. It might be the bells of a monastery, a street call from southern China, a chromatic scale from a recitation or some rhythmic repetitions that invigorate the room. A young ear is an open one, who knows what they will weave in their years to come?
One of the most visually striking graphic scores ever created, John Cage’s ‘Aria’ was composed in 1958 as a theatrical tour de force for the soprano Cathy Berberian. It consists of 20 pages of colourful graphic prompts and provocations to the singer, each page equating to 30 seconds in performance.
In this unique adaptation created especially for babies and toddlers by Xin Wang and percussionist Michael Murphy, the principal of the scoring Aria is kept, sounds are represented consistently by different visual cues/ objects; a group of sounds are predetermined and used in various paces and pitch centres. But with the age of the audience in mind, an openness to respond to the sounds in the room will also be an integral part of the piece. Together, the sounds bring each person to the present where children always are.
For 8 babies and up to 2 caregivers per child
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.
About Xin Wang with Michael Murphy
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Visit the Xin Wang with Michael Murphy website
