He has cooperated with major orchestras all over the world with his distinctive and challenging music concept. The most important orchestras he has conducted include: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in the Netherlands, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, French National Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra in the United States, BBC Symphony Orchestra in Britain, Montreal Symphony Orchestra in Canada, NHK Symphony Orchestra in Japan, Lyon Symphony Orchestra in France, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra in Brazil, London Sinfonietta and China Philharmonic Orchestra.
Who's Tan Dun?
1957 Aug 18 Tan Dun was born in Simaochong, a suburb of Changsha, Hunan Province. He was deeply influenced by Chu culture in China since he was a child. High school jumped the queue and transferred to the countryside, and began his career as a professional musician in the county Peking Opera Troupe. From 65438 to 0978, Tan Dun took a violin with only three strings and was admitted to the Composition Department of the Central Conservatory of Music. He studied under Zhao Daodao and Li Yinhai until he got a master's degree in composition. From 65438 to 0986, Tan Dun received a scholarship from Columbia University, where he studied under David Dovski and Zhou Wenzhong, and received his doctorate. So far, Tan Dun lives in new york, USA.
As early as in college, Tan Dun was one of the famous "four great talents" of the Central Conservatory of Music at that time. 1979, 22-year-old Tan Dun wrote his first symphony "Li Sao", which caused controversy because of the use of drums, flutes and other acoustics and technologies that were considered avant-garde at that time. Called an "absolute genius" by his classmate Guo Wenjing, he won the international composition award for his symphony "Ode to Ya" at 1983, and published many tracks such as "Sky Shadow" and "Double Que" at the "Tan Dun China Instrumental Concert" held at 1984, which caused a lot of criticism, but also shocked him. Because of his persistent exploration in sound and technology, he is regarded as an important representative of avantgarde music, China. After arriving in the United States, Tan Dun once had the experience of playing the piano in the street to make a living. 1989, after the publication of Nine Songs, a self-made musical instrument, Tan Dun finally succeeded in the international music scene, and continued to become an important composer who attracted more and more attention in the international music scene with his amazing creation.
Starting from 1990, Tan Dun made a series of band theaters, trying to combine theater performances with bands. Among them, The Playing of Ghosts written for the famous kronos String Quartet and The Door written for the Japanese NHK Symphony Orchestra caused a sensation because of their special expressive techniques. Symphony 1997- Heaven and Earth Man was premiered by cellist Yo Yo Ma, Hong Kong Symphony Orchestra and China Chiming Orchestra at the 1997 Hong Kong Reunification Concert. In the same year, the opera Kyle Polo became the most sensational and important performance in the international music scene, and won many praises and international awards for Tan Dun. In addition, his opera Peony Pavilion, concerto Water for New York Philharmonic, symphony of the same name Today 2000 for the global TV celebration program Today 2000, and the Passion of Matthew commissioned by Bach Conservatory of Music to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Bach's death have all been successfully staged, and Tan Dun's diversified music has made his reputation grow day by day.
1995 recommended by the famous German composer Hans Werner Hanze, Tan Dun became a judge of the Munich International Music and Drama Competition; 1996 was nominated by the famous Japanese composer Turu Wuguang and won the glenn gould Prize); In Canada; From 65438 to 0997, he was named "one of the top ten most important musicians in the international music scene this year" by The New York Times, and "the best composer of the year" by the authoritative German music magazine Opera World in the same year. 1999 Tan Dun won the most authoritative Gweiwenmeier composition award in the world today; 200 1 won the Oscar for best original music with the music of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and became famous in one fell swoop.
This series of processes is the successful process of Tan Dun. Why he succeeded is more interesting than this process.
What does Tan Dun mean?
Someone asked Tan Dun, "What is the future of music?" He replied: "The future of music is my present, and what I am doing now must be the future." At the Oscar ceremony of 200 1, he gave a famous answer in exactly 45 seconds: "As a composer, my dream is to make music a borderless and interdisciplinary art ... The original music of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has built a bridge between East and West in culture, emotion and action, elegance and popularization, and opened a new journey of multicultural integration. This proves once again that the profound China culture is the source of my creative inspiration. Now this dream and this effort have been widely spread through the Oscar awards and audiences in the East and West, which is really gratifying. Another important idea of my music creation is to integrate the music that is divided into different categories by the inherent culture, so as to bring out the best in each other: for example, through the delicate interpretation of the spiritual and emotional world, the film music is more artistic; By introducing new expressions and innovative ideas, classical music will be more challenging and attract many young listeners. " Although it is the music of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, it expresses Tan Dun's consistent musical concept and pursuit goal.
No one can be such an ideal existence like Tan Dun, to break the multi-cultures, such as East and West, beautiful chin and spring snow, tradition and modernity, simplicity and complexity: an Oriental who grew up in China is comfortable in the cultural world of East and West; A former farmer in the countryside, Xialiba, is now a VIP in the world cultural circle; A musician who often uses ancient and natural instruments will often make these instruments make the most incredible and pioneering sounds; A composer regarded as an avant-garde pioneer has the most popular music audience; However, an able person in the music industry combines his music with drama, installations and other artistic categories ... His own multicultural background constantly provides him with the pressure and possibility to break all kinds of boundaries and create multiculturalism, and his breaking and creation constantly enriches his background.
"deviant"
The first thing that made him famous internationally was to create music with "pottery" and "paper". In addition, "stone" and "water" are also very popular in his music. Famous experimental works such as mud songs, water songs and paper songs have attracted the attention of the international music community. Tan Dun not only used "pottery" and "paper" as the soundtrack of his music, but also preferred cello, chime and other musical instruments as the soundtrack, but it was not necessarily the traditional cello sound. In Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Tan Dun asked Yo-Yo Ma to pull the cello out of the erhu sound, while in Symphony 1997- Heaven and Earth, the cello sound can only be.
The fusion of eastern and western music is Tan Dun's usual technique. In Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, African drum partners and China music are just a piece of cake. In the opera "Kelpolo", he combined western opera with Chinese Peking Opera, created a brand-new opera language, and brought shock to the international music scene. In the string quartet Ghost Play, he mixed Chinese shadow play, folk song cabbage and pipa, and paper and water became a musical instrument. At the same time, every performer is like a performer of a play. This integration is even worse in the multimedia symphonic works "Door" and "Six Dances in the Zhou Dynasty", which combines Beijing Opera, traditional Chinese opera, puppet show and symphony. The Door tells the story of three protagonists in a love tragedy, namely, China's concubine, Japanese Koharu's rebirth and western Juliet, who showed their views on love before their death. Composer Tan Dun is both a conductor and a judge of life and death. This musical work also organically combines the sound of running water with the typing sound of the old English typewriter with music, which is memorable. Six Dances in the Zhou Dynasty is a tailor-made work by Tan Dun for China dancer Huang Doudou. It uses bronze bells as a means of expression, and with Tan Dun's personalized high-five singing, it reproduces the pre-Qin sacrificial scene.
These constantly refreshing creations did not win applause from the beginning. Previously, the famous The New York Times rated Tan Dun as "one of the ten most important musicians in the international music scene" and scolded him like a dog: "Why does this China person have to let us mix beer and wine?" Why does this man have to write the violin like Jinghu? "Even in the West, many people have said that the East is the East and the West is the West, and the two can never be together. For many years, China artists have been tirelessly exploring a way to cross the cultural gap between the East and the West, and this dialogue is long and difficult. Not only that, Tan Dun himself said: "There are many barriers between Yangchun Baixue and Xialiba people, between popular and non-popular, between mainstream culture and marginal culture, and between eastern culture and western culture. It is difficult to break through these obstacles. "The debate between the purity and integration of art has been endless for a long time. Integration means either new vitality or nothing. In all the disputes, Tan Dun persisted and succeeded.
Today, there is a voice that Tan Dun's success has something to do with the post-modern collage trend prevailing in 1980s and 1990s. Tan Dun himself does not agree with this statement: "I am not interested in putting China's culture or anything else together with American culture in such a parallel way." In his view, his success in the international music scene and the Oscar-winning film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon are important phenomena for China and the world culture, especially for the promotion of oriental culture in the world mainstream culture.
In addition, we might as well know that Tan Dun, as a typical representative of multiculturalism, is becoming more and more popular, which is related to the rising trend of cultural pluralism and integration around the world, and he is undoubtedly the leading figure among them. Talking about "what is the future of music", Tan Dun also said: "The future of music has no boundaries, but it is pluralistic. My biggest dream in 2 1 century is that Chengdu snacks are still that taste. " Some people don't quite understand the meaning of his second half sentence. Since he said that world culture is breaking boundaries and moving towards integration, why should "Chengdu snacks still taste the same"? But in Tan Dun's view, music has no boundaries, but is more diversified. "The taste of Chengdu snacks" is probably the cultural heritage of China in him.
At the 200 1 Beijing Music Festival, his concertos Eternal Water and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon left a deep impression on the audience with absolutely new visual and auditory shocks.
It is worth mentioning that the performance of "water" is very special. The stage is full of water. Water is a solo instrument. Tan Dun has specially made more than 50 kinds of water-related devices, which can make water make different sounds. Tan Dun said: "Our daily life is related to water, but do you hear the sound of water?" He told a story about this: On an island in new york, an old Jewish man sat by the sea watching the water every day. Tan Dun asked him, "What do you watch every day?" He replied, "Water is very interesting. On land, it can be divided into the United States and Canada, but it can't be opened. Maybe he came from his hometown yesterday and will flow to other places tomorrow. You see this water is the same every day, and I think it is different every day. " Tan Dun said that this work first emphasizes people's lives and voices that have never been heard before, and the audience will definitely have different feelings; Second, it can be regarded as environmental protection. Shen Congwen has a few words to the effect that water not only flows through mountains and rivers, but also whether it flows through your mind and body, whether you can hear clearly and quietly, which is also the requirement of the material environment for people.
Listen to the voice and find your way.
On June 365438+1October 3 1 day, 2004, at the 7th Beijing Music Festival, a musical work named Map by composer Tan Dun attracted much attention. In this musical work, Tan Dun combines the original Xiangxi local music in the image with the live symphony, and calls it multimedia landscape music. In the past two years, Tan Dun has taken this work on tour at home and abroad, especially when she performed in Fenghuang, Xiangxi. Tan Dun once set up a performance stage on the Tuojiang River at the North Gate Pier of Fenghuang Ancient City, where more than 3,000 local residents gathered to listen to the first symphony concert in their lives.
In fact, the word "map" is actually a map of mental progress, a map of culture, a map of looking for the past and the future, a map of looking for the roots and prospects, which is quite consistent with the traditional phenomenon, because music existed before the invention of human language. Before the invention of language, they listened to sounds to find their way. After crossing the stockade and the village, you must leave your song. Then I think the sound spectrum may be eternal. It may surpass the drawn map, computer map and radar map, because it is such a thing that connects our life with the roots of the past. Therefore, from the perspective of composition, the meaning of a map is actually a piece of music and concept created on the basis of new technology, new media and new TV. The most important thing is to concentrate the sound, music and the roots of this tradition.
Tan Dun's distinctive music concept and China's cultural heritage made him embark on a road of music creation beyond convention. He made unconventional music such as water music and stone music, and his works and characters were controversial. However, this music master, who was labeled as an alternative, left the deepest impression on people with his passionate personality and persistence in music.
For more than 20 years, Tan Dun spread China culture to the world through his music, which was respected and loved by music lovers everywhere. His main works are: five symphonic drama series, concept music-nature series, opera Tea, multimedia symphonic concerto series, Death and Fire: Dialogue with painter Klee, Quartet and Pipa Ghost Drama, opera Peony Pavilion, and Kyle Polo entrusted by Edinburgh Art Festival in England and Bach International Association in Germany. Original music for Zhang Yimou's film Hero, Symphony: Heaven and Earth, World Symphony for the return of Hong Kong, Memories of Eight Watercolor Paintings adapted and created for the world famous pianist Lang Lang, etc. Most of these works are performed by world-famous conductors and orchestras and great performers like Paalmann and Yo Yo Ma. These impressive achievements are enough to show that Tan Dun has been based on China culture, integrated into the world music atmosphere, and completely accepted and welcomed by the world.