Feb. 26, 2009

CONTACTS:
Sean Kearns
Media Relations Director
(323) 343-3050
or
Margie Low
Public Affairs Specialist
(323) 343-3047

Cal State L.A.
Office of Public Affairs
(323) 343-3050
Fax: (323) 343-6405

 

Notes to editors and news directors: 

• The story of Hainu Tan’s emergence is an opportunity of particular relevance to journalists who cover new music and/or Chinese American communities.
• Reporters and photographers are welcome to attend a Cal State L.A. scholarly conference Friday, Feb. 27, where Tan will discuss how her composition Sound of Wind “represents the mystical sights and sounds that flow in nature.” The 20-minute presentation will be at 9:20 a.m. in the San Gabriel Room of the University-Student Union.  For help in arranging coverage, contact Public Affairs personnel listed above.
• Photos are available upon request. A profile is posted here: http://www.calstatela.edu/univ/ppa/spotlight/archive/2009/hainu_tan.php

 

EVOKING ‘SOUND OF WIND,’ ‘THE DREAM OF BERLIN,’

CSULA’S HAINU TAN TAKES HER STRING WORKS GLOBAL

After compositions garner applause in Europe, China, U.S.,
grad student prepares to discuss ‘mystical sights and sounds’ at Friday’s symposium 

Los Angeles, CA – Whether in China, Germany, Las Vegas or Indiana, Hainu Tan knows applause as an international language. A Cal State L.A. graduate student originally from China, Tan is making a mark as a composer of music that transcends borders and fuses varying cultures:

• Last summer in Germany, she heard her piece The Dream of Berlin—a trio for viola and clarinet—performed at the “From Us to You–New Chamber Music from America” concert.

 

• In another work, Sound of Wind, she merges U.S.-based Western composition technique with 5,000 years of Chinese music history to create a quintet piece for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano. It was recently performed in San Francisco at “Illumination and Reflections,” a symposium exploring 21st-century music.

 

• In Indiana last October the Society of Composers, Inc., selected Tan’s paper, “The Conflict and Fusion of Japanese and Arabian Music Culture,” for presentation at its 2008 Student National Conference.

 

• This April, Tan will head to Las Vegas to participate in the University of Nevada’s Encounters of New Music festival.

 

Tan said, “My experience in Germany, with its illuminating cacophony of European architecture, allowed me to absorb Western culture more fully. The conflict and fusion of American and German cultures have inspired my compositions.”

At the San Francisco symposium, Tan was selected as one of seven “emerging composers.” The other six so honored were doctoral candidates and professors from Berklee College of Music, Yale School of Music, Brandeis University, University of Chicago, University of Michigan, and Harvard University.

Tan immigrated to the United States in 2004. She will complete her master’s degree in music at Cal State L.A. this spring. She obtained her B.A. in music composition at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China. She has also studied at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

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