A musical lecture-performance for two pianos, live cameras, and video projection, 75mins.
Commissioned by steirischer herbst ’22 and Singapore Art Museum.
Staged as a cross between an international piano competition and a table-tennis match, two concert pianists ping-pong passages back and forth between the classical music "anthems" of the US and China — Rhapsody in Blue (George Gershwin, 1924) and the Yellow River Concerto (arranged by committee during the Cultural Revolution from Xian Xinghai's 1939 Yellow River Cantata). Accompanied by archival footage and spoken word, the performance reflects on 50 years of Sino-US "ping pong" diplomacy.
The two pianists tell stories that reveal surprisingly similar biographical, historical and political threads behind these two musical “self-portraits", and their shared role as cultural symbols of nations on the rise.
Above them, archival materials from my personal collection are projected, referencing Nixon's historic China visit, concert footage and ping pong matches. This audio-visual "rhapsody" charts the changing balance of power between the two nations, questioning the role of sport and music as populist symbols co-opted by nationalism.
excerpts from “Rhapsody in Yellow” (04:25) (to be added soon)