Abstract
The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) ends its 22nd season with A Thousand Mountains, A Million Streams: a one-night only concert of Chinese-influenced orchestral music. BMOP presents four vibrant and inventive musical voices who combine Chinese heritage with Western avant-garde influences. Music by composers Yu-Hui Chang, Huang Ruo, Anthony Paul De Ritis, and Lei Liang fill out this dynamic program.
Celebrating their world premieres are Pixelandia (2015) by Yu-Hui Chang, A Thousand Mountains, A Million Streams (2017) by Lei Liang, and The Legend of Cowherd and Weaver Girl (2018) by Anthony Paul De Ritis.
"The idea of Pixelandia came when one day I saw my husband teaching my two little daughters how to play “The Legend of Zelda”, a series of Nintendo video games that first started in 1986. It occurred to me how my generation was the first to grow up with video games when they were in their earlier developing stages in the 70s and 80s, before they became multi-billion dollar business, and before they exist ubiquitously in everyone’s smart phone. I began to recall my first encounters with some of the games when I was a child, such as “Space Invaders,” “Breakout,” and “Pac-Man.” I wanted to write a piece commenting on this unique experience, when kids could have tremendous joy with 2D games and with graphics so primitive that every scan line and pixel was visible. After the piece was finished, I realized what I wrote was not just about video games, but about a simpler time, and the youth that will never return." -- Yu-Hui Chang