The Han-Tang Yuefu Ensemble
www.hantang.com.tw
Friday, August 29, 2003, 8 PM
John Hancock Hall, Boston

Free Lecture and Demonstration
Tuesday, August 26, 2-4 PM at Harvard Yenching Library

(The New York Times 8/23 called Han-Tang Yuefu "spell-binding... that was the effect of Han-Tang Yuefu..." in a review after their 8/21 performance at Lincoln Center Out of Doors. Read the article entitled "When Ancient Movements Cast a Timeless Spell".)

To purchase your ticket online, please click here
"Online ticketing will be closed at 3 PM on Friday, August 29 for Han-Tang Yuefu Ensemble. Tickets can be purchased at door starts at 6:30 PM the same day at John Hancock Hall, 180 Berkeley Street, Boston."

Tickets:

Online order: $25, $20
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Mail this form with a stamped, self-addressed envelope with money order/check payable to:
Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts
3 Partridge Lane, Lincoln, MA 01773
Tel: 781-259-8195, Fax: 781-259-9147
Email: Foundation@ChinesePerformingArts.net
Website: www.ChinesePerformingArts.net
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Ticket prices: $25, $20
Children under 6 are not admitted
Senior and Students: $2 off per ticket
Group Discount: 10% off for minimum 20 tickets

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Tickets can be ordered online at:
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Pogram

 
"The Folk Ballads of the Han and Tang lured the audience in Avignon into a dream-like state of exotic intoxication. Under the starry sky of Provence, this ancient dance opera is just as enchanting as it ever was."
Le Figaro, France

"As beautiful as a bird's song. A paradise rediscovered."
Spain National, Spain

"This music is a priceless treasure - its ritural, mythological, and ceremonial characteristics lead us into the highest state of meditation..."
The Salzburg News, Austria

The Han-Tang Yuefu Music Ensemble was founded in 1983 in Taiwan by Miss Chen Mei-O of Nankuan fame. The music that has been referred to as Nankuan, or "Southern Wind" in Taiwan was actually first known as Nanyin, or "Southern Tones" before its importation from Fujian to Taiwan at the end of the sixteenth century with the first waves of immigrants from the southern part of that province.

Over the years, Nankuan Musicology, a field devoted to tracing the origins of this long lost Chinese musical tradition, has established itself as a discipline in its own right. Han Tang Yuefu's main goals are restoring Nankuan's place in the history of Chinese music, tracing the tradition's origins to its earliest sources, and training singers and instrumentalists in the proper art of performing Nankuan music. Through these efforts, an ancient tradition has been revitalized and rescued from the brink of oblivion.

In preserving the essence of the ancient Nankuan tradition, Han-Tang Yuefu also elaborated upon the Liyuan xi or "Musical Theatre of the Pear Orchard," a branch of southern music popular during the Song and Yuan dynasties (twelfth to fourteenth centuries). Here in the telling of a tale, deeply introverted Nankuan music is combined with highly refined songs and subtle modern movements inspired by the ancient tradition of Liyuan music. Establishing their "Liyuan Dance Studio," the troupe created programs of classic musicals that are traditional in spirit but contemporary in form.

The company has been featured in several prestigious international festivals, including the Avignon Festival (1998) and Lyon Dance Festival (2000) in France and the Bergen International Festival (2003) in Norway. The company has also been invited to perform their opera production of The Feast of Han Xizai by Het Muziekthetaer in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The company's extensive tour in Europe has won critical acclaim.