Two Flowers on a Stem
"Two
Flowers on a Stem," is a metaphor expressing the symbiotic relationship
of Jon Jang's cultural identity as a Chinese American as well as his
musical philosphy of honoring tradtion and encouraging innovation.
"My music does not come from the third stream, but the flowing stream."
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News:
To the Max!
Max Roach Unlimited
By Jon Jang
In his own words, the great artist and humanitarian Max Roach has gone "to the great hunting ground in the sky." Since 1989, Max and I have shared some "bright moments" as artists and friends. In his convincing manner of tone, Max always reminded me," Jon, we are making history."
Click here to read more...
Grant Awards
Jon Jang was awarded a:
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SFAC's Individial Artist Commission to compose Unbound Voices - A Musical Tribute to Alice Fong Yu
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Creative Work Fund grant to collaborate with Michael Morgan and the Oakland East Bay Symphony
as well as a
Upcoming Events:
The Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra has launched California Compositions, an ambitious multi-year project to celebrate the states greatest achievers in the arts and other fields by commissioning new works of music in their honor and premiering them in the Sacramento area.
The first of these commissioned works is by composer Andr Previn. It honors internationally-acclaimed Sacramento painter Wayne Thiebaud and will premiere on October 14, 2006 at the Sacramento Community Center Theater. The second project, Gold Mountain, a tribute to the Chinese, will feature new works by Jon Jang and Gang Situ, January and April 28 of 2007, respectively.
Future projects will honor the accomplishments of specific ethnic groups in the state, using these new works to generate community dialogue regarding diversity, as well as common themes of humanity.
Articles
Music
review: 'Symphony' hits the mark
By Edward Ortiz - Bee Arts Critic
April 30, 2007
http://www.sacbee.com/124/story/163395.html
Some works are so descriptive and thematic they can't help but be thought of as program music.
Jon Jang's vivid one-movement work "Chinese American Symphony" is one of those. That was clearly evident in the Sacramento Philharmonic's performance of the work Saturday at the Community Center Theater. It was the highlight of a deceptively scattershot program that included Sibelius's Symphony No. 7, Ottorino Respighi's "Pines of Rome" and Brahms's "Tragic Overture."
Jang's work begins with the slow rhythmic strike of an anvil, and 20 minutes later ends with a haunting variant of the same. The anvil strike is a sonic signifier of spikes driven into the ground by Chinese immigrants during the building of the Transcontinental Railroad.
"Symphony" is highly evocative music that clearly hits the musical mark of what the Philharmonic's groundbreaking Gold Mountain commission project set out to achieve.
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Jon
Jang: Echoes of history
By Edward Ortiz - Bee Arts Critic
From Sacramento
Bee
http://www.sacbee.com/124/story/158162.html
The sound of a hammer striking an anvil is what ends the musical journey of Jon Jang's "Chinese American Symphony."
It's the sound that resonated across the valleys, peaks and tunnels of the Sierra in the 1860s, when Chinese immigrants laid miles of track from sunrise to sunset during the building of the transcontinental railroad.
"The ending of this symphony is very spiritual," said Jang.
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That's because Jang, who is a descendant of Chinese immigrants, sees the ending of the work as a sonic symbol of the beginning of the Chinese American immigrant experience in California.
It's a beginning of sorts for Jang, too. [click here to read more]