July 7th 2019 Cloud and Red Plum Fantasies Concert

The B.C. Chinese Music Association (BCCMA) has been promoting Chinese music culture to local communities and enriching Canadian multiculturalism since its establishment 24 years ago. As the largest and most influential Chinese orchestra in North America, B.C. Chinese Orchestra (BCCO) strongly believes that good music is borderless and is able to penetrate into the hearts of every audience.

In May and July of 2019, BCCO will showcase two concerts in Vancouver and Surrey. Cloud and Red Plum Fantasies will be hosted at the Bell Performing Arts Centre on Sunday July 7th. Under the direction of Resident Conductor Ms. Peggy Hua, more than 60 members will perform a wide-variety of repertoire on Chinese traditional instruments.  Furthermore, we’ve invited local art groups to perform with us, including guzheng, Peking Opera, and Taichi sword. The concert features two visiting musicians, Jessica Huang and Ingrid Yang, as well as Taichi fan/sword performer Sunny Li.

Audience will be experiencing the rich Chinese historic and cultural value in our music. A list of popular classical pieces, including Erhu Concerto Red Plum Capriccio, Pipa Concerto Cloud and Flower Fantasies, Spring Festival Overture, Flying Apsaras etc. would certainly touch the audience with the flavorful resemblance with traditional folk songs. The thrilling concerto Red Plum Capriccio employs themes from an opera to express the praise for Red Plum’s persistence in the extreme coldness. It portrays the optimism and idealism of the noble virtue and spirit of the Red Plum. Cloud and Flower Fantasies is a new concerto composed on the basis of a classical Chinese poem written by the most well-known poet Li Bai from the Tang Dynasty. The Poem fully describes the poet’s deep love to a great beauty goddess in his mind.

“I always think of her silver clothing surrounded by drifting cloud and her stunning appearance in resemblance of flowers.”

Spring Festival Overture is a timeless Chinese masterpiece that portrays a flourishing scene of prosperity. It has been performed around the globe by numerous Chinese and Western symphony orchestras since its composition in 1955.