MRU Presents: Wu Man & Friends

MUSIC TO YOUR EARS CONCERT SEASON 2016/17

BELLA CONCERT HALL • MARCH 3, 2017 • 7:30 P.M.

M R U C O N S E R VAT O RY P R E S E N T S

WU MAN & FRIENDS

Wu Man, Pipa James Makubuya, endongo, adungu, and voice Lee Knight, banjo, dulcimer, mouth bow and voice

 @MRUPERFORMS • #BELLASTYLE #MRUBELLA  @MRUCONSERVATORY • #BELLASTYLE #MRUBELLA  MOUNT ROYAL UNIVERSITY CONSERVATORY

Message from the Conservatory WELCOME TO THE MUSIC TO YOUR EARS concert season at the Bella Concert Hall in the Taylor Centre for the Performing Arts! We are so excited to launch our inaugural season featuring seven separate series with over 25 diverse events.

As a world-class centre for arts education and training, we are committed to providing education and performance opportunities for our students as well as showcasing exemplary artistic achievement in music and speech arts.

From reggae legends and jazz aficionados to eastern classical masters to Canadian astronauts, this year’s line-up quite literally has something for everyone.

Wu Man is a brilliant example of what we like to showcase in our Soundscape Series… a master musician. As a master, she is a global example of musical excellence in her solo and collaborative work and we’re excited to host her in the Bella Concert Hall.

The Bella Concert Hall is an award-winning venue with perfect acoustics to amplify the finest artistic voices of our time. For upcoming artists, visit mru.ca/enjoy.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Wu Man to the Bella.

Mark DeJong Artistic Program Coordinator

Recognized as the world’s premier pipa virtuoso and leading ambassador of Chinese music, Grammy Award-nominated musician Wu Man has carved out a career as a soloist, educator and composer giving her lute-like instrument – which has a history of over 2,000 years in China – a new role in both traditional and contemporary music. Through numerous concert tours, Wu Man has premiered hundreds of new works for the pipa, while spearheading multimedia projects to both preserve and create awareness of China’s ancient musical traditions. Her adventurous spirit and virtuosity have led to collaborations across artistic disciplines allowing Wu Man to reach wider audiences as she works to break through cultural and musical borders. Wu Man’s efforts were recognized when she was named Musical America’s 2013 Instrumentalist of the Year, marking the first time this prestigious award has been bestowed on a player of a non-Western instrument.

Having been brought up in the Pudong School of pipa playing, one of the most prestigious classical styles of Imperial China, Wu Man is now recognized as an outstanding exponent of the traditional repertoire as well as a leading interpreter of contemporary pipa music by today’s most prominent composers. She was awarded The Bunting Fellowship at Harvard University in 1998, and was the first Chinese traditional musician to receive The United States Artist Fellowship in 2008. She is also the first artist from China to perform at the White House. Wu Man’s discography includes over 40 albums including the Grammy nominated recordings Our World in Song, Traditions and Transformations: Sounds of the Silk Road Chicago, her recording of Tan Dun’s Pipa Concerto with Yuri Bashmet and the Moscow Soloists, and You’ve Stolen My Heart featuring Wu Man and the Kronos Quartet. She is a featured artist in the Silk Road Ensemble’s 2015 documentary The Music of Strangers: Yo-

Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, as well as on the companion recording Sing Me Home, to be released in April 2016, as both performer and composer.

During the 2015-16 season, Wu Man embarks on an extensive North American tour with longtime friends and colleagues, the Shanghai Quartet. The tour will take them to more than a dozen cities across the U.S. Wu Man travels to Brussels and Geneva to collaborate with Uyghur singer Sanubar Tursun for performances presented by the Aga Khan Music Initiative, an interregional music and arts education program. Orchestral highlights of the season include a performance of Zhao Jiping’s Pipa Concerto No. 2, which was written for her, with the West Michigan Symphony.

Born in Hangzhou, China, Wu Man studied with Lin Shicheng, Kuang Yuzhong, Chen Zemin, and Liu Dehai at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, where she became the first recipient of a master’s degree in pipa. Accepted into the conservatory at age 13, Wu Man’s audition was covered by national newspapers and she was hailed as a child prodigy, becoming a nationally recognized role model for young pipa players.

For more information on Wu Man, please visit www.wumanpipa.org or follow her at facebook.com/wumanpipa and twitter.com/wumanpipa.

She subsequently received first prize in the First National Music Performance Competition among many other awards, and she participated in many premieres of works by a new generation of Chinese composers. Wu Man’s first exposure to western classical music came in 1979 when she saw Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra performing in Beijing. In 1980 she participated in an open master class with violinist Isaac Stern and in 1985 she made her first visit to the United States as a member of the China Youth Arts Troupe. Wu Man moved to the U.S. in 1990 and currently resides with her husband and son in California.

403.974.8255

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Acquisition of our Hamburg Steinway Piano was made possible through generous support from an anonymous donor and The Community Facility Enhancement Program, Alberta Culture and Tourism.

Take Your Seat at the Bella Concert Hall Ensure that you always have the best seat in the house. A tax-deductible donation of $1000 is all it takes to place your name on a seat in Calgary's brand new Bella Concert Hall in the Taylor Centre for the Performing Arts. With only 300 seats left, now is the time to support your arts community by sponsoring in your name, or the name of a loved one. Each seat sponsorship comes with the gift of a pair of concert tickets to an MRU Conservatory event of your choice at the Bella in 2017.

To take your seat, and for more information, contact Heidi Christophel at 403.440.6591.

MRU CONSERVATORY Chinese Classical Music Studies All Ages Conservatory Strings Ages 12 to 16 Calgary Zhi-Yin Choir Ages 18+

Carnatic Raga Music All Ages Academy for Young Artists Ages 8+ Advanced Performance Program Ages 15+

mru.ca/conservatory

MUSIC TO YOUR EARS

Tickets at mru.ca/enjoy

The Queen, The Bear and The Bumblebee

Antigona

APR. 23, 2017

Soledad Barrio and Noche Flamenca MAR. 10, 2017

Journey LIVE!

Fifth House Ensemble MAY 5, 2017

Kronos Quartet MAR. 22, 2017

Cowtown Opera APR. 2, 2017

Land’s End Ensemble with Evelyn Glennie MAY 26, 2017

Pedrito Martinez

Group APR. 22, 2017

Avital Meets Avital MAR. 15, 2017

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Music to our ears Thank you to our partners and sponsors for helping us bring concerts, community and culture to our hometown through the performing arts.