Music Series

East meets West in live music, dance, and theater performances from across Asia. Experience classical and contemporary forms through formal concerts in the Meyer Auditorium and intimate presentations alongside exhibitions. Our chamber music series focuses on renowned artists performing the latest works by Asian composers and music inspired by Asia.

Episodes:

Bell Yung plays a Chinese qin that was made in 1640 during the Ming dynasty. The Freer Gallery collection includes two qin from the same period: one inscribed with the name “Spring Breeze,” and an even older instrument from the Tang or Northern Song dynasties (7th-12th centuries), which was evocatively called "Dragon's Moan." (Photos courtesy of Bell Yung)

Ancient Music for the Chinese Zither

Imagine a Buddhist monk deep in the scenic mountains of China, contemplating the towering pines, babbling brooks, and shape-shifting clouds as he plays a qin. Virtuoso Bell Yung preserves the musical tradition of this ancient Chinese zither, one of the few types of music in the world that is played primarily for the enjoyment of the performer. Bell Yung, emeritus professor of music at the University of Pittsburgh, recorded this concert at the Freer Gallery in 2005.

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Tan Dun’s Map Project and China’s Endangered Music

Internationally acclaimed composer/conductor Tan Dun, whose many accomplishments include an Academy Award for his score to the hit film “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” leads this discussion/demonstration exploring the vanishing musical cultures of ethnic minorities in western Hunan. His discusses his most recent creation, The Map, which combines a stone-drumming ensemble, cello soloist, the Shanghai Symphony, and video of traditional dance. The talk follows the American premiere of the work at the Kennedy Center on October 17, 2005. A co-presentation with the Kennedy Center’s Performance Plus program. Recorded live at the Freer Gallery October 18, 2005. (46:41).

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Formosa Aboriginal Song and Dance Troupe

Experience the haunting choral melodies and evocative dances of the aboriginal Bunun and Ami tribes of Taiwan’s high central mountains and rugged east coast. The troupe appeared at Lincoln Center’s Out of Doors Festival, prompting the New York Times to delare, “The city’s busy skyscape paled before the authority, simplicity, and radiant humanity of the company.” The surprisingly modern choral sounds of the Bunun shocked musicologists who first heard it 60 years ago, and Bunun musicians were featured on the recent CD with ECM recording artist, cellist David Darling. To preserve and share the island’s rich aboriginal culture, the ensemble draws its membership from Taiwan’s twelve native tribes. This concert was presented in cooperation with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office. Recorded live at the Freer Gallery October 9, 2005. (26:30).

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Sufi Music from Rajasthan: Rangeela

Travel to the fabled caravan routes of desert India with this eight-member ensemble. Their infectious rhythms spring from thirty-six generations of musicians who performed for Rajput maharajas and at temple festivals, where Muslim musicians, Hindu devotion, and rich local culture blended with invigorating results. Presented in cooperation with Folk Arts Rajasthan. Recorded live at the Freer Gallery September 18, 2005. (1:09:16)

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This is one of Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, by Katsushika Hokusai (1760—1849), a series that was so popular in Japan that it eventually ran to forty-six images. Whistler was introduced to the work of Hokusai in the 1850s through a copy of Hokusai's Manga, a collection of informal prints that later gave rise to the current rage in the West for Japanese comic-novels (also called manga) and animation (anime). Manga was also Debussy's introduction to Japanese prints, first shown to him in the 1880s by sculptor Camille Claudel. He later became familiar with Hokusai's Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji and Hiroshige's Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido. The Sazaido Hall of the Temple, Gohyakurakanji, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji; by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849); Japan, Edo period, ca. 1823-1831; woodblock print; ink and color on paper; gift of the family of Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer, F1974.63

Whistler and Music: Ieva Jokubaviciute, piano

This piano performance explores the influence of American expatriate artist James McNeill Whistler on the music of French composer Claude Debussy, as well as their mutual connections to Japan. Whistler borrowed the title of Frédéric Chopin’s piano nocturnes of the 1830s for his nighttime landscapes of the 1870s, which in turn inspired Debussy’s orchestral nocturnes of the 1890s. In addition, both Whistler and Debussy admired Japanese woodblock prints and incorporated them into their work.

This concert, by the young Lithuanian-born pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute, was recorded as part of the Bill and Mary Meyer Concert Series at the Freer Gallery of Art on March 4, 2004.

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The Legacy of Munir Bashir: Omar Bashir, ’ud

Enjoy the expressive warmth of the Arab ’ud (lute) with virtuoso Omar Bashir in this concert honoring the memory of his father, Munir Bashir, who elevated the instrument to new prominence in the twentieth century. Omar Bashir coaxes a wealth of emotions from the guitar-like instrument, utilizing a variety of Arab melodic modes (maqam) and interpreting works made famous by his legendary father, including Love and Peace, Seville, and Andalusian Señora. This concert took place in the Freer Gallery of Art on September 14, 2003.

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This image of a setar player appears in a painting that was created around 1600 in present-day Uzbekistan. The musician performs for a companion who is drinking a cup of wine. Detail, album folio, A Seated Princess (Right-Hand Half of a Double-Page Composition), painting attributed to Muhammad-Sharif Musawwir, borders signed by Muhammad Murad Samarqandi; ca. 1600; opaque watercolor and gold on paper; origin: possibly Bukhara, Uzbekistan. Purchase--Smithsonian Unrestricted Trust Funds, Smithsonian Collections Acquisition Program, and Dr. Arthur M. Sackler. S1986.304

Master of Persian Music: Hossein Alizadeh, tar and setar

Hear the ancient improvisational tradition of Persian classical music played masterfully by one of Iran’s greatest musical legends. Hossein Alizadeh is a two-time Grammy nominee, once for his solo album Endless Vision and again as a member of the Masters of Persian Music ensemble, with which he has toured internationally.

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Contemporary Music for Japanese Instruments: Sawai Koto Ensemble

Hear the exhilarating music of the late Japanese composer Tadao Sawai and his son Hikaru Sawai, performed by this twenty-piece ensemble of traditional Japanese instruments. Kazue Sawai’s ensemble features traditional koto, bass koto, shamisen (lute), and shakuhachi (flute). They have collaborated with such composers as John Zorn, John Cage, and Sofia Gubaidulina, and appeared at Lincoln Center and the Bang on a Can Festival in New York. This performance took place in the Freer Gallerys Meyer Auditorium on May 4, 2001, and was co-sponsored by the Embassy of Japan. Recorded on March 4, 2001.

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A leading performer on the Chinese pipa, Wu Man has appeared at major venues around the world, in solo recitals, and with leading ensembles, such as the Kronos Quartet and Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble. She was named 2013 Instrumentalist of the Year by Musical America, making her the first traditional musician ever to receive the award.

Master of the Chinese Pipa: Wu Man

A Grammy Award nominee and the first traditional artist to be named Instrumentalist of the Year by Musical America, Wu Man is widely considered the premiere soloist on the pipa, an ancient Chinese lute. Enjoy her virtuosic renditions of classical pieces meant to evoke Chinese sunsets, Buddhist chanting, and an ancient battle. This 1999 concert at the Freer Gallery concludes with a contemporary work written for her by composer Bung-Ching Lam.

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The changing of the seasons is represented in the last piece on the recording, Minoru Miki’s Hanayagi (The Greening). According to the composer, his music “sings in praise of the brilliant life-power of the seasons as they slowly shift from spring to early summer.” The Japanese screen above, from the Edo period (1615–1868), is meant to be read from right to left, as the flowers transition from spring to summer blossoms, a technique frequently employed in Japanese screen paintings to depict multiple seasons in a single narrative image. Flowers and a Brook. Japan, Edo period (1615–1868). Six-panel screen; color over gold on paper. Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1897.27-28

Reiko Kimura: Traditional and Contemporary Music for Japanese Koto

Three centuries of music for Japanese koto are performed by virtuoso Reiko Kimura in this concert, recorded at the Freer Gallery on January 15, 1998. Compositions range from the exquisitely delicate to the rambunctiously adventuresome, and feature both the traditional thirteen-string koto and the contemporary twenty-string koto. This concert was presented in cooperation with Music From Japan, Inc. (New York) as part of the Music From Japan Festival 1998. Four years earlier, Kimura joined the New York Philharmonic Orchestra as guest koto player for the premiere of Minoru Miki’s Symphony of Two Worlds at Lincoln Center.

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