North American Guqin Association

Don't miss NAGA's guqin concert 5/30

From Before the Tang Dynasty to Today

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Save the date! NAGA's new production “Beyond a Museum Piece two: From Before the Tang Dynasty to Today” on May 30th, 2010 at 7:30pm at Fort Mason Center, San Francisco.

Highlights

1.     According to the traditional Chinese view, if you didn't know the guqin, one could not be considered either cultured or a beautiful woman! The guqin was the first of the four skills required of a scholar, and first of the 13 requirements for a beautiful woman. This exciting multidisciplinary production will take the audience on a special musical journey that highlights Chinese culture and music from various past dynasties through to the present day.

2.     “Listening to the qin” is a recurring title and theme in many famous Chinese poems and paintings. But nothing can replace actually “listening to the qin”.

The concert is truly a live “Listen to the qin” by a renowned guqin player, NAGA director Wang Fei. It includes renderings of some of the world's oldest known musical scores, dating back over 1,400 years, as well as newly composed guqin music and improvisations.

3.     This performance will take advantage of the lighting, staging, and projection of a very intimate theatre. It can only be truly appreciated live, in this specific venue. Wang Fei will use a storytelling approach to share the legends and folktales behind the music, and her own commentary and insights to bring these ancient works to life and enable the audience to listen, watch, and feel, a comprehensive way to appreciate guqin music.

The climax will be Wang Fei's new work, developed during her residency at CounterPulse, “From Beijing to San Francisco”.

4.     Guqin improvisation was popular before and during the Tang Dynasty, but the tradition was lost about 1000 years ago. Wang Fei has developed her own style of improvisation that combines guqin improvisation with reciting poems, both Chinese and English. For recitals in English, she has adapted techniques from Chinese opera and the four tones of Mandarin, breaking the flow of the words into a rhythm and pace appropriate to guqin music. She will interpret some of the great poems from before the Tang dynasty to today, as well as one of her own poems.

I urge you my friend

To drink one more cup of wine.

There will be no more old friends once we say goodbye.

– Seeing Off Envoy Yuan Er, by Wang Wei (Tang dynasty)

Remember if you will,

Or, better still, forget

The light we exchanged in this encounter.

– Chance, by Xu Zhimo

Seven strings are my orchestra;

My hands, the conductor.

– From Beijing to San Francisco, by Wang Fei

5.     This concert will be featured at the San Francisco International Art Festival 2010 and will be followed by an SFIAF celebration party. Tickets to this show include entry to the party.

This concert is funded by The Alliance for California Traditional Arts, Chinese musical specialist Beijingers.com and Chinese Culture Net.Special thanks to CounterPULSE, Zellerbach Family Foundation, H & F Hewlett Foundation, Meet the Composer, The Patsy Lu Fund and Open Meadows, and friends of the North American Guqin Association Julian Joseph, Xiaopei He Gelb, E. Moy and K. Chu.

Wang Fei was featured in the latest issue of California Diaspora by Sarah Bhatia  http://diasporacalifornia.blogspot.com/2010/05/wang-fei-guiqin-artist-and-educator.html

WHAT: From Before the Tang Dynasty to Today—An Evening of Guqin Music With Wang Fei

WHERE: Southside Theatre, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco

WHEN: Sunday May 30 7:30pm

How to claim a free ticket:

1.     Become a NAGA donor and donate $100 or more before May 23. This is IRS tax-deductible to the extent provided by law; your name will be acknowledged on our web site as a friend of NAGA as well as in the program notes and you will get one free ticket (for every $100 donation you will get one free VIP ticket).

Online donation at https://www.networkforgood.org/donation/MakeDonation.aspx?ORGID2=20-5263250&source=GS&cmpgn=DNT&vlrStratCode=jwS6P5T0nhkRSxl7gbhL12bEgsy4gahQJ%2fDmTj%2f3pX%2b%2fTw5ngp4hbYVEGgfLn7ce .

2.     Enroll in NAGA's upcoming class by 5/29.

3.     Become a volunteer, for example, a receptionist for NAGA's booth.

TICKETS

Asian Art Museum members: $15
Full time students with ID & seniors: $16
Single purchase advance tickets: $20
At the Door Ticket Prices: $25

BOX OFFICE

www.sfiaf.org, 1-800-838-3006
Order tickets online at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/104739 or by calling 1-800-838-3006.

About NAGA

The North American Guqin Association (NAGA) is a nonprofit cultural arts organization dedicated to the public presentation and preservation of the art of the guqin, spreading community appreciation of Chinese culture through the traditional art of the guqin and building a bridge for cultural exchange and mutual understanding between the Chinese and American communities. NAGA offers guqin classes, performances, recordings, workshops etc.

Please subscribe to the following NAGA social networks to stay tuned for incoming news and events:

·        NAGA: http://www.guqin.org

·        NAGA E-Newsletter: http://www.chineseculture.net/guqin/joinus.html

·        Twitter: http://twitter.com/nagaguqin

·        Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/chineseculture

·        Facebook fan page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/North-American-Guqin-Association/166689747257

·        Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/#/group.php?gid=28237180454

·        Ning: http://chineseguqin.ning.com/

·        LinkedIn group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2681353

 

 

The Patsy Lu Fund and



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