Lao Can Impression

Investigate the relationship between East and West through the works of Debussy and Chinese writer Liu E in a performance combining music and drama.

Based on Liu E’s Travels of Lao Can and Debussy’s chamber and orchestral music, Lao Can Impression explores the cultural exchange between East and West by combining Chinese and Western approaches to music and drama.

Three musicians highlight the Eastern influences in Debussy’s music, while two actors tell Liu E’s story about westernisation in China in the 1900s. By fusing the two artforms together, the piece looks at modernisation and how we can move forward by using our past, not destroying it.

The performance features music by Debussy including La mer, Images and Cello Sonata, played by Li-Chi Chiang on piano, Yun-Ju Chen on flute and Jen-Hsin Kung on cello.

The actors and devisers are Hsu Hua-Chien and Chih-l Chan. Directed and written by An-Ting Chang.

Presented by Chinese Arts Now and Concert Theatre as part of CAN Festival 2019

The Concert Theatre performance company aims to create a new, heightened form of expression

FINANCIAL TIMES

”

Performers

Yun-Ju Chen flute
Jen-Hsin Kung cello
Li Chi Chiang piano
Hsu Hua-Chien actor
Chih-l Chang actor

Repertoire

Debussy: De l'aube à midi sur la mer from La Mer arr. An-Ting Chang for flute, cello & piano; Pour invoquer Pan, dieu du vent d'été from 6 Epigraphes antiques arr. Yun-Ju Chen for flute; Pour remercier la pluie au matin from 6 Epigraphes antiques arr. An-Ting Chang for flute, cello & piano; Reflets dans l'eau; Mouvement from Images arr. An-Ting Chang for flute, cello & piano; Sonata for flute, viola & harp arr. for flute, cello & piano; Sonata in D minor for cello & piano
Traditional: Wild geese descending on the sandbank arr. An-Ting Chang & Jen-Hsin Kung for cello