TAP-Seattle Taiwanese-American Heritage Week Event Series #2: “Remembrance”

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The Event:
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Join TAP-Seattle for an evening with the Northwest Sinfonietta! As lead-in to next year’s 2015 NW Sinfonietta concert, “Taiwan Connection,” NW Sinfonietta is including a special performance of “Remembrance (思想起),” composed by prominent Taiwanese composer Gordon Shi-Wen Chin in their Beethoven Violin Concerto program. They are also offering heavily discounted tickcets to the event for the Taiwanese-American community.

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1399955293620234/?ref=4
Time: Friday, May 16th, 7:30pm – 10:00pm
Location: Benaroya Hall, 200 University Street, Seattle, WA 98101

The program:
Beethoven: Violin Concerto. Brittany Boulding, violin
Rossini: The Barber of Seville: Overture
Chin: Fantasy based on the Folk Tune “Remembrance” for Orchestra. World Premiere!
Pasatieri: Symphony No. 3. World Premiere!

Program source web page:
http://www.northwestsinfonietta.org/schedule/events-calendar/beethoven-violin-concerto-/2014-05-16-

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Notes from the Composer, Gordon Chin
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‘Remembrance’ is a folk song originated in the southern tip of Taiwan, some references mentioned it is likely from an aboriginal source. The lyrics and the melody expresses a deep sense of homesickness. When I was a child it is a tune I heard countless times through the broadcast of a train that I rode ninety-minute each way biweekly to take the piano lesson. The tune ever since stuck with me and even magnified its intensity of yearning after I set off to abroad to study when I was Thirteen years old.
Although I did use the whole tune for this Fantasy, and I am sure people who are familiar with the tune will undoubtedly recognize it, but at the same time they will find it in a rather strange environment. It has an aged quality to it, like seabirds crying while flying low under the gloomy sky, or like an ancient wind disturbing the shadow of trees on a window in a cold night, or willfully the tune stubbornly grabbing one’s past while teasing it, and left one sobbing for a tune sung too quietly, and ended too early.
When I was composing this work, I witnessed the Sunflower Student Movement in Taiwan, and subsequently the KMT government’s bloody crackdown. This is the reason why you will hear some unsettled, unwanted and probably misplaced sound of fury, frustration in the work.

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About Northwest Sinfonietta
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One of the common complaints about classical music concerts is that they can be rigid, formal and often uninvolving. How do you combat that? In 1991, co-founders Christophe Chagnard and Kathryn Habedank decided to take up that challenge. Over twenty years later, we’ve gathered 35 of the finest musicians that Puget Sound has to offer, built a nationally acclaimed chamber orchestra of the highest caliber, and now perform at three of the best, most intimate venues in Seattle, Tacoma, and Puyallup.
NW Sinfonietta website: http://www.northwestsinfonietta.org/

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Ticket Information:
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** Please contact eric.chang@tap-seattle.org for special discounted $20 tickets. Normal ticket price is $40.

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About Seattle Taiwanese American Heritage Week:
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May is Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month – a celebration of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States. Every year in the month of May, Taiwanese American Heritage Foundation coordinates series of programs to exhibit and celebrate our unique Taiwanese heritage. This year, TAP-Seattle cordially invite you to participate these events with us for such a celebration to enjoy Taiwanese folk dance, Taiwanese music, and learn more about the beauty and tour information of Taiwan.
This year’s Heritage week features “Taiwan Impression” cultural dance performance, an arrangement of “Remembrance (Su Siong Khi)” as part of NW Sinfonietta’s Beethoven Violin Concerto, “Taiwan Showcase” Exhibition at University District Street Fair, and “Beyond Beauty: Taiwan from above” documentary movie. TAP-Seattle welcomes you to participate in our series of events for this meaningful month embracing Taiwan’s tradition and heritage.

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Join our other wonderful TAP-Seattle events this month in celebrating 2014 Seattle Taiwanese American Heritage Week
(Links to the following events will be updated):
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** Taiwanese cultural dance performance: “Taiwan Impression”, presented by the Culture Arts Performing Team of National Taiwan University of Physical Education and Sports (NTUPES)
5/13 (Tuesday) 7pm Meydenbauer Center, Bellevue
Event site: https://www.facebook.com/events/848066645221888/?ref=2&ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming

** “Taiwan Showcase” Exhibition at University District Street Fair: Volunteer with TAP-Seattle
TAPS is assisting STAS to host an information booth at University Street Fair to promote Taiwan.
(About STAS: https://www.facebook.com/supporttaiwanatseattle)
To sign up for volunteering, please visit https://www.facebook.com/events/528017523985565/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming
If you can’t volunteer, come by visit our booth!
Location: NE 47th and University Way, across from Bank of America, booth number #54
Time: 5/17 (Saturday) 5/18 (Sunday), 10 am – 6 pm, University District, Seattle

** Movie about Taiwan: “Beyond Beauty: Taiwan from Above”.
An astonishing aerial cinematography reveals the shorelines, mountaintops, cityscapes, farmer’s fields, rivers, and social life of the island nation, delivering a sweet environmentalist and humanist message. 93 minutes. Director: Chi Po-Lin. Narrated by: Wu Nien-Jen
5/21 (Wednesday), 7:00pm, Pacific Place, Downtown Seattle

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Other great events for Seattle Taiwanese American Heritage Week:
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** “I See Taiwan” Night Market
Time: 5/10 (Saturday) 5pm to 8pm
Place: Red Square in UW Seattle campus
Host: Taiwanese Student Association of UW (TSAUW)
https://www.facebook.com/events/383181868491311/

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About the Origin of Asian American Heritage Week:
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May is Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month – a celebration of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States. Asian-Pacific Heritage Month originated in a congressional bill:
** In June 1977, Reps. Frank Horton of New York and Norman Y. Mineta of California introduced a House resolution that called upon the president to proclaim the first ten days of May as Asian-Pacific Heritage Week.
** The following month, senators Daniel Inouye and Spark Matsunaga introduced a similar bill in the Senate. Both were passed.
** On October 5, 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed a Joint Resolution designating the annual celebration.
** Twelve years later, President George H.W. Bush signed an extension making the week-long celebration into a month-long celebration.
** In 1992, the official designation of May as Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month was signed into law.

The month of May was chosen to commemorate the immigration of the first Japanese to the United States on May 7, 1843, and to mark the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869. The majority of the workers who laid the tracks were Chinese immigrants..

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