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Tan Dun: Water Concerto & Marco Polo

May 20-22, 2027
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Overview

Explore the kaleidoscopic musical world of Tan Dun, who leads the CSO in three of his inventive works that bridge Asian and Western traditions. His utterly distinct Water Concerto harnesses the percussive possibilities of water to enchanting effect, while the Concerto for Orchestra takes inspiration from Marco Polo’s legendary travels from Italy to China. Combining the ancient with the modern, Passacaglia brings nature to life by blending live symphonic music with recorded bird songs — played by audience and orchestra members on their phones.

Schedule
Program
Tan Dun

Passacaglia: Secret of Wind and Birds

Tan Dun

Water Concerto

Tan Dun

Concerto for Orchestra from Marco Polo


Discover more on Experience CSO
The three-movement Water Concerto (1998) by Chinese-American composer Tan Dun uses the sound of splashes and flows of water as a solo musical instrument: "I want to present music that is for listening in a visual way."
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In this video titled "Composing Myself," Tan Dun explains how he always has been drawn to the avant-garde, from Beethoven and Wagner to contemporaries such as Philip Glass and John Cage. “My instrument is the orchestra.”
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For his "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," score, composer Tan Dun reports that the martial-arts scenes were the most difficult: "It’s like a ballet, every second is choreographed, and every second needs to be to be synchronized."
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