Limelight：Brisbane Multicultural Arts Centre (BEMAC): Echo of Jade (Copy)

An innovative performance of cross-cultural chamber music featuring traditional Chinese instruments such as the guzheng, erhu, dizi, zhongruan and pipa, performing works by contemporary Australian and international composers to showcase the versatility of ethnic instruments and honour the connection between East and West.

Echo of Jade is conducted by Ray Lin, winner of the 2020 Contemporary Classical Song of the Year at the Queensland Music Awards and the 2022 David Blumberg Award from the American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers.

This concert was developed to bridge cultural barriers in music while embracing the challenge of exploring and presenting the multi-faceted possibilities of cross-cultural musicmaking in a chamber format. The ensemble features a stellar ensemble of traditional instrumentalists including Yuren (Cara) Chen on guzheng (zither), Fanghui (Anna) Chen on erhu (spked fiddle), Jing Ma on dizi (transverse flute), Sally Xi and Chuchu Zhang on zhongruan and pipa, respectively, both stringed plucked instruments, and Sean Cai on piano.

Together, they perform a repertoire of works by living composers from Australia and abroad to showcase the versatility of the ethnic instruments within the modern musical world, as well as special arrangements of iconic western classical repertoires arranged for the ensemble, honouring a connection between the traditions across the East and the West.

Echo of Jade’s concert delivers a social message of cultural harmony through a performance of the highest quality by an ensemble that tackles music old and new, from both the East and the West, truly embodying the universal language of music.