During the first half of this concert music by Tan Dun (Concerto for Six), Yi-Wen Jiang (Selections from ChinaSong) and Bright Sheng (Four Movements For Piano Trio) will be performed.

Wang was born in China and joined the LA Phil in 1994. She’s a beautiful musician and audiences may know her best from her on-stage collaborations with composer John Williams. Wang is the featured soloist any year in which the Theme from Schindler’s List is played as part of the Maestro of the Movies concerts.

Wang has performed under music directors Esa-Pekka Salonen and Gustavo Dudamel. She will soon find her third music director on the podium after Dudamel leaves for the New York Philharmonic.

Last week I spoke with Wang about this concert, the significance of the music she programmed and about her musical partnership with Williams. What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity. To see the full interview with Wang, please go to our YouTube channel.

Q: What does the New Year mean to you personally and do you associate any particular music with the New Year?

All New Years means so much for many of us coming from Asia. I heard a comparison that it is like Thanksgiving and Christmas combined. I have to say it is that combined and much more. There are many traditions. Traditions with foods that we eat for Lunar New Year and of course, music. What I’m going to perform, it’s not really traditional New Year’s music. But certainly, as people will hear, it’s very effective. It’s very colorful. It’s going to be very festive. 

I guess being colorful and festive makes it easier for Western audiences to hear Chinese music. 

In fact, as I was practicing Harvest Celebration [one of the ChinaSongs], it came to my mind this is exactly the drum beats and the percussive rhythm that people would feel at a local dance. I’m going to speak at the beginning of the concert. I will ask people who has seen a Lion Dance. They will really associate that with the rhythm that they will hear in Harvest Celebration.

The concert opens with Yi-Wen Jiang’s adaptations of traditional songs. Then you’ve got music by Bright Sheng and Tan Dun. The second half of the program is Mendelssohn’s string quintet. What’s the conversation that you see taking place between the first half of the concert and the second half of the concert?

I actually wouldn’t be the expert right now to tell you. But I do want to mention that to the audience that viola quintet is a form of chamber music that’s less common than a string quartet and a piano trio. Bright Sheng’s piano trio brings back a lot of familiar memories to me melodically. So I recommended that piece and I suggested Yi-Wen Jiang’s transcription of the three string quartet pieces. In terms of Mendelssohn viola quintet, it’s a master work of the chamber music repertoire. What is the connection? I cannot just ignore that when I introduce the program. In terms of how I see that, it’s as if we give you some beautiful hamburgers on the Chinese banquet table.

Selections from ChinaSongs opens the concert. Those are based on traditional songs. What can you tell me about those songs and their cultural significance? 

The first piece is Yao Dance. It means dances of the Yao People. The Yao People is from the south west of China. They are a minority. They love to sing and dance and they have beautiful music. The second one is Shepherd’s Song, and this is folk music from the Inner Mongolia. [It’s] really about the shepherds in the prairie and has a lot to do with singing. Shepherd Song and Harvest Celebration are both very well known as solo music for violin with piano accompaniment. So these two are the pieces that I played many times when I was growing up in China.

Shepherd Song is slow. It’s beautiful. It’s music originally written for a Chinese instrument, which is called suona, which is a double reed instrument. It sounds like an extremely loud oboe. It’s an instrument that people play in festival settings like weddings and New Years. It’s very loud. A composer transcribed that for violin. It’s really a great piece that always brings down the hall because it’s so lively and loud. It’s exciting. It has syncopation. It has rhythmic changes. It’s always a fantastic piece for a performance.

Where do you believe Tan Dun’s work stands in the world of contemporary classical music in general, and in the music by Chinese-American composers?

I really think Tan Dun is very important, if not the most important, living Chinese composer. I always thought that from the very beginning. He always incorporates a lot of elements from back home and not only the familiar melodies that I grew up listening to. He went into places in China that we’ve never been to. I think he’s so innovative. I feel he’s always ahead of all time.

Tan Dun and Bright Sheng were in the same composition class at the Central Conservatory in Beijing. That’s the first class right after culture revolution ended. We always consider that to be the most important and the greatest composition class period in Chinese history. So they both attended and were in that class, and they both came to Columbia University and had their doctorate at Columbia University. We actually turned out to have two composers from the same background and education.

What does it mean to you to have Chinese music part of the programing at the Los Angeles Philharmonic or any other orchestral institution that chooses to program it?

I feel it’s very important. Not only in L.A. Society is so diverse and it’s important that we understand each other’s music and background. So I’m always thrilled to be the interpreter or to introduce that music to a broader audience. Obviously in L.A., needless to say, we have so many people of Chinese heritage.

Increased exposure to non-traditional music and contemporary classical music began in earnest under Esa-Pekka Salonen. Gustavo Dudamel has done a wonderful job of continuing that tradition. What are your hopes that whomever the new music director is announced to replace Gustavo Dudamel will follow in those footsteps and continue to present music from other cultures and from newer composers that don’t traditionally fit into programing?

I have no doubt whoever our next music director will be will be innovative and will bring their new angle and strength in this following champions of modern music. Gustavo came and look at how much music he brought in. We’ve played so much music of South American composers that we really had not a lot of exposure to before. So I feel whoever will come will bring their unique angle on this.

Is it time for a woman to be the music director?

Maybe. We will see. I think we are trying not to put an expectation to fulfill a certain agenda or a role. Yes, we are looking. We are taking our time. We are hopeful. We’ve had Gustavo for 17 years.

I noticed how carefully you skirted around that question. If Gustavo said, hey, there’s a place for you at the New York Philharmonic, would you join him?

I have to say this, I will not. My home is in LA and my part is here. 

One of the advantages of having your home in Los Angeles is the relationship that you’ve developed off-stage and on-stage with John Williams. What can you tell me about your close musical relationship with him and how that developed? 

It all started after I joined the L.A. Phil. My first summer was 1995, and then, in 1998, I remember very clearly when he first programmed a violin solo. On that program it was Sabrina and he was so thrilled. We connected and the rest is history. We have have performed yearly ever since then. So it’s more than 25 years now. I’ve also toured with him. There’s nothing else quite like that.

When I’m asked your favorite conductor, I will bring up John Williams’ name. Who will give you this kind of experience for me?

When you are on stage, immersed in this music and you look up the composer looking down at you – that kind of connection, that kind of gift and experience cannot be replaced.

He has written a violin concerto or two. Maybe you could be a soloist on one of those.

It is my goal. Yes. Someday I will play one of those concertos and not just the three minute solo, which I do love. 

Being a young girl growing up in China, could you ever have imagined this kind of experience with the most beloved film composer of all times, with arguably the greatest orchestra in the United States? What does it mean to you every night when you get on stage, whether you’re a member of of a small ensemble, as you will be Tuesday, or a soloist with the entire Philharmonic?

Thank you for asking me that question, because I feel that every day. I could not have imagined. When I attended the Middle School of Shanghai Conservatory and practiced around the clock. When I came here on a full scholarship to attend Peabody Conservatory. Then when I attended Manhattan’s School of Music and studied under Glen Dicterow, who is a colleague at USC Thornton School of Music. I could not have imagined that my professional path would have taken me this far. Even when I joined the L.A. Phil at age of 26, I could not have imagined how my professional development have evolved and grown.

I have an important part of my career that is teaching now. I already have one former student in the orchestra and I have another incoming former student. This is really the greatest feeling to see the next generation, developing under my guidance.

On your page on USC’s website, you are quoted about your teaching philosophy that, “The intent is always to motivate and to inspire them to become better instrumentalists and complete musicians.” I was intrigued by complete musician. When did you realize you were a complete musician and what does it mean to you? Or how do you define what a complete musician is?

I hope I live by example. You don’t only win the job and play the notes and make a salary. Complete musicians means you’re devoted. That you are involved in music. Your responsibility includes sharing, cultivating, giving, which is so important. I would say at my ripe old age, I feel I’m still changing and hopefully getting better. I’m still hoping to become a better musician, artist and a teacher. That, for me, means you’re complete musician. You are immersed and giving.

Berl Sinofsky [one of Wang’s former teachers] is quoted as saying that, “Music is a higher calling than just a profession or living. It is an effort in understanding something bigger than yourself. It is an effort at striving to be something bigger than you are.” In what ways has music given you that understanding of something bigger and that ability to be something bigger? 

I doubt I can give really a deserving answer to your question. I think that’s a great statement that he gave. I hope to do more is really part of my answer. It’s going to be what I said earlier. I think by really doing good with my music and really becoming more than just a musician by really helping others and be involved and immersed in a community. I think that’s that’s what I’m hoping to do.

To watch the full interview with Bing Wang, please go here.

All photos courtesy of Los Angeles Philharmonic

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With the balance of this season already cancelled and the Hollywood Bowl season a big question mark, this series offers a great opportunity to see one of the world’s finest orchestras in action.

If you haven’t seen Season 1, those performances will be available through late this year. Sound/Stage Season 2 performances will be available for one year from their debut.

Here is the schedule for Sound/Stage Season 2:

March 5th: Camille Saint-Saëns’ The Carnival of the Animals

You might be familiar with this work as one of the earliest pieces of classical music you heard. With its musical evocations of lions, donkeys, elephants, cuckoos and swans, The Carnival of the Animals is often used as a way of introducing the sounds of an orchestra to young listeners.

So it is completely appropriate that Music Director Gustavo Dudamel will be accompanied by his son, Martín, as co-host.

This arrangement is for two pianos and orchestra. The soloists in this performance are Yuja Wang and David Fung. Dudamel will be leading the LA Philharmonic in this performance.

Narration will be provided by El Sistema students Arão (12) from the The Recanto Youth Orchestra in Santa Maria, Brazil; Afra (14), Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (YOLA) at EXPO Center and Maya (8) from The Sydney Russell School in London, England. Traditionally the narration is the text written by Ogden Nash.

This performance will also incorporate animation.

March 19th: A Pan-American Musical Feast

Dudamel and the LA Phil welcome José Andrés as his special guest for this program. The two will been seen in a conversation. Andrés has been donation a lot of time and resources to helping feed people in the aftermath of natural disasters and also for those caught up in other crises. Last year they activated in the Albania; Bahamas; California; Central America; Haiti; Mozambique; Nebraska; Puerto Rico; South Dakota; Venezuela; Washington, D.C. and more.

For this concert the orchestra will be performing:

Fanfarria by Tania León

This is a perfect pairing of material. The Cuban-born León wrote Fanfarria after receiving a commission from the Library of Congress to write a piece in celebration of the centennial of composer Aaron Copland in 2000. (See what they are doing there with this program?)

Sinfonia Burocratica ed’Amazzonica: “Bananera” by Paul Desenne

Written and premiered in 2004, Desenne’s Sinfonia Burocratica ed’Amazzonica is a five moment chamber symphony. Bananera is the fourth movement. Desenne uses cumbia as the foundation for this movement.

Appalachian Spring Suite (chamber orchestra version) by Aaron Copland

Dancer/choreographer Martha Graham commissioned this work from Copland in 1942 for a ballet. Two years later Appalachian Spring had its world premiere. One year later Copland was commissioned again to create a symphony version.

The LA Phil will be performing the smaller version as it was first performed which calls for 13 instruments.

April 4th: Easter Sunrise at the Hollywood Bowl

The tradition of having an Easter sunrise service at the Hollywood Bowl dates back to 1921. For the 100th Anniversary of that tradition, Dudamel and the Hollywood Bowl welcome gospel singers Mary, Mary and soprano Nadine Sierra to the stage for this concert.

On the program are:

Air pour les trompettes by Johann Sebastian Bach

This work was originally written for harpsichord. It can be performed with as few as two trumpets (with an organ) or for a full eleven brass musicians. It is very short and runs less than two minutes. This is the Michael Allen arrangement.

Exsultate, jubilate by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Mozart composed the piece of music for soprano and orchestra. It had its world premiere in Milan in 1773.

There are four parts to this work whose name translates to Exult, rejoice. Originally written for a castrato, it is far more commonly performed by a soprano.

If you’ve been following the Metropolitan Opera’s weekly streaming concerts, you would have seen Sierra in productions of Mozart’s Idomeneo. She also appeared in San Francisco Opera’s production of Romeo and Juliet by Charles Gounod that was available in January.

All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name – a traditional hymn arranged by Carlos Simon

Edward Perronet is the composer of this hymn which he wrote in 1780.

Sisters Erica and Tina Atkins are the duo who make up Mary Mary. They have had their recordings on the Billboard charts and their songs have been recorded by a multitude of artists.

April 16th: Grand Pianola Music

John Adams’ Grand Pianola Music will be performed in this concert. Joining Dudamel and the LA Phil are sopranos Elissa Johnston and Holly Sedillos and mezzo-soprano Kristen Toedtman.

Adams composed Grand Pianola Music in 1981. The work had its world premiere in 1982 by the San Francisco Symphony with the composer leading the performance. The score calls for three amplified female voices and two pianos.

When Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times reviewed a performance by the LA Philharmonic of this work in January, 2019, he wrote, “…what had seemed regressive in 1982, Adams’ supposed cheapening of pure minimalism with show-off, almost Liberace-esque effects doesn’t sound so regressive anymore.

“In an expansive performance, Adams brought out a range of colors from the L.A. Phil winds. His soloists focused on rhythmic intricacies. Climaxes were operatic. Once booed, Grand Pianola Music is now wildly cheered. With perspective, the regressive has become progressive. You can hear in its theatricality the birth of an opera composer.”

Adams will participate in a conversation with Dudamel during the program. The performance will be accompanied by visuals created by Deborah O’Grady.

April 30th: Unfinished

Classical music fans know that the word unfinished is closely associated with composer Franz Schubert and his 8th Symphony. Indeed, that is the work being performed in this concert.

This symphony did not remain unfinished because the composer died. In fact, Schubert lived another six years after the two complete movements were finished in 1822. There’s speculation as to why he didn’t finish this work, but no definitive reason is known.

There have been several attempts to finish the symphony based on piano scores and what little was orchestrated for additional movements. But this symphony is traditionally performed with just the two completed movements.

Dudamel leads the LA Phil in this concert.

June 18th: Dudamel and Common

In August of 2018, I attended a concert at the Hollywood Bowl with Queen Latifah and Common. Common opened and once he was finished I knew the Queen would have a mighty big challenge in front of her. Common was so powerful and so dynamic that she risked being seen as the runner-up in that evening’s concert. That didn’t happen, but I still walked away completely blown away by Common’s performance.

The program for this concert has not been announced. But it will undoubtedly be good.

Oh and if you don’t know Common, he’s an Oscar, Grammy and Emmy award-winning performer, composer and writer. He joined the LA Phil for their recent Icons and Inspirations which you can still watch here.

June 25th: Dudamel and Carlos Vives

Composer Carlos Vives will be featured in both conversation and performance in this concert. With Dudamel leading the LA Phil, Vives will perform an acoustic set.

Vives is best known as one of Colomobia’s finest sons. With two Grammy Awards and 11 Latin Grammys, his music has been entertaining audiences and selling records for over 30 years.

There is no announced set list for this show.

You might have noticed there’s a big gap between episodes in Sound/Stage Season 2. There won’t be official episodes of Sound/Stage during that time, but there will be a series of five chamber music performances. Four of them were filmed at The Ford and one at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

May 7th: Chamber Music: Tchaikovsky – Filmed at The Ford

Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence is performed in this program. The composer wrote the work for two violins, two violas and two cellos in 1890. He revised the work in 1891-1892 before it had its world premiere in 1892.

There are four movements in Souvenir de Florence and the piece runs a little more than half an hour.

Performing in this concert are violinist Nathan Cole and Gabriela Peña-Kim; violists Ingrid Hutman and Ben Ullery and cellists Jason Lippmann and Gloria Lum.

May 14th: Chamber Music: Piazzolla – Filmed at The Ford

Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla is synonymous with the tango. The work being performed in this concert is his Tango Ballet for String Quartet. It’s a brief piece, running just 14 minutes or so, but is an immensely popular one.

The musicians for this concert are violinists Sydney Adedamola and Bing Wang, violist Dana Lawson and cellist Jason Lippmann.

May 28th: Chamber Music: Mendelssohn – Filmed at Walt Disney Concert Hall

Fanny Mendelssohn is the older sister of her better-known composer brother, Felix. She never gained the same level of success or popularity as Felix did, despite his attempts to bring her work to a wider audience and to have her compositions published in the last year of her life.

She is primarily known for her songs (lieder) than her orchestral compositions. She, herself, felt that composing lieder was more suited to her abilities.

The String Quartet in E-flat was composed in 1834. It was only performed once, privately. Her brother was harsh in his criticism of the work. She never composed another quartet, but this work remains one of the few surviving quartets written by a woman.

This performance of selections from the quartet will feature Martin Chalifour and Lyndon Johnston Taylor on violin; Teng Li on viola and Robert DeMaine on cello.

May 28th: Chamber Music: Schumann – Filmed at The Ford

Composer Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio in G minor is being performed in this companion piece to the Mendelssohn work just above. Schumann was married to composer Robert Schumann and she composed this, her only trio, in 1846.

It was a tumultuous time for the couple. During that year her husband was battling serious health issues. She also suffered a miscarriage. A year after this work’s premiere her husband published his first piano trio.

Performing in this concert are Joanne Pearce Martin on piano; Rebecca Reale on violin and Dahae Kim on cello.

June 4th: Chamber Music: Márquez – Filmed at The Ford

Mexican composer Arturo Márquez is a prolific 20th and 21st century composer. The work being performed in this concert dates back to 1993: Homenaje a Gismonti.

The work is dedicated to Cuarteto Latinoamericano, a classical music ensemble founded in Mexico in 1982. They included Homenaje a Gismonti on their 1998 album, Four, For Tango.

In this performance Sydney Adedamola and Bing Wang play violin; Dana Lawson on viola and Jason Lippmann on cello.

As a reminder, all Sound/Stage Season 2 concerts will remain available online, for free, for one year from their debut.

Photo: Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic on the stage of the Hollywood Bowl (Courtesy LA Philharmonic)

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