Jon Jangtet – Friday, May 10 at 8 pm
Jon Jangtet
Jon Jang, piano; Hitomi Oba, tenor saxophone; Nick DePinna, trombone; Gary Brown, double bass; Deszon X. Claiborne, percussion
with guest artist Genny Lim, poet performer
Jon Jang A Chinaman’s Chance, A Choy’s Chance! World Premiere
Jon Jang Yank Sing Work Song
The Butterfly Lover’s Song Shaoxing Opera / Chen Gang / He Zhang Hao / Jon Jang
This performance of the Jon Jangtet features the World Premiere of Jon Jang’s new work, A Chinaman’s Chance, A Choy’s Chance!, in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the US built by Chinese immigrant workers. This new work was made possible through a grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission Cultural Equity Individual Artist Commission through the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center.
Jon Jang became the first American born Chinese to compose a symphonic work, The Chinese American Symphony, that honors Chinese American history through the accomplishment such as the building of the first transcontinental railroad by Chinese immigrant workers. For almost four decades, composer and pianist Jon Jang gives a musical voice to a history that has been silent. A majority of his works represents a chronology of Chinese American history in San Francisco. The New York Times described composer Jon Jang’s music: “In Mr. Jang’s suites, saxophones quote Chinese opera interludes, while Chinese instruments roam into blues territory. Like the “Third Stream” composers who married jazz and classical music, Jang honors two idioms without fully merging them.” During 1999-2001, Jang toured with the legendary Max Roach as part of the Beijing Trio at the Library of Congress in Washington DC, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Zurich, Berlin, Milan and the Royal Festival Hall in London.