What is silent music? Explore the boundaries between silence and sound, and its deep roots in East Asian philosophies, in an immersive concert experience presented by Tangram.

Our Silence Is Your Silence is a meditation on transcultural spaces and identities, and brings together music written across North America, Asia, and Europe, including a response to John Cage’s 4’33’’. In the 70th anniversary year of the piece’s first performance, 4’33’’ continues to provoke questions about the place of silence in Western Classical music today. Drawing on Daoist practices, the evening centres a new performance piece for Chinese string instrument the yangqin by Reylon Yount and a new commission from Sun Keting.

Tangram are a trailblazing, London-based music collective growing transnational community by creatively celebrating Chinese cultures. Their compositions and performances delve into the joys and multiplicity of transnational Chinese experience, encouraging audiences to engage in nuanced cultural exchange and deep listening across perceived borders. In this performance, they are directed by Naomi Woo, and joined by guest artists including Ukrainian soprano Inna Husieva and the Ligeti Quartet.

Programme

Huang Ruo A DUST IN TIME
Valentin Silvestrov Selections from ‘Silent Songs’
Qu Xiao-Song Ji No 1
Sun Keting it’s distance that makes mountains mountains (world premiere)
Reylon Yount Everything is Music 萬物皆音樂 – A Response to John Cage (world premiere)

Naomi Woo conductor & director
Reylon Yount yangqin
Daniel Shao flute
Beibei Wang percussion
Ligeti Quartet string quartet
Inna Husieva soprano
Satoshi Kubo piano
Anna Hashimoto clarinet
Emma Prince double bass
Alex Ho creative producer