CYBER-RAVE: Concerto for Timpani and Chinese Orchestra / 《賽博狂歡》定音鼓協奏曲 — 給定音鼓與國樂團

CYBER-RAVE is a timpani concerto that brings together two musical traditions that I am deeply passionate about: The timpani performance practice and the traditional Chinese performance practice. The inspiration of the work was rave culture. My interest is to find ways to communicate rave-inspired music through Chinese traditional instruments in an attempt to bridge the past with the present in symphonic form. Rave culture was (and still is) a vibrant part of our culture that defined my generation and collective identity. This project was an opportunity to express that part of my identity through a medium that is (normally) far removed from such aesthetics. Thus, incorporating rave-inspired music within a Chinese orchestral work offered ample opportunity to discover new possibilities for me to re-interpret how traditional Chinese orchestras can be heard, performed, and written for. This was so meaningful to me: Embracing the performance practice of traditional Chinese instruments while expressing them through a modern lens. East meets West, tradition meets modernity—a true representation of my bicultural identity in symphonic form.

I greatly thank the Taipei Chinese Orchestra and their Principle Timpanist, Hsin Fang, for commissioning me to write this work, and to The Canada Council for the Arts and The SOCAN Foundation for their support.

《賽博狂歡》（CYBER-RAVE）是一部定音鼓協奏曲，它融合了我深爱的两種音樂傳統：定音鼓演奏技法和中國傳統音樂演奏技法。这部作品的靈感源自銳舞文化。我希望探索如何通過中國傳統樂器來詮釋銳舞風格的音樂，從而以交響樂的形式連接過去與現在。銳舞文化曾經是（現在依然是）我們文化中充滿活力的一部分，它定義了我這一代人以及我們的集體認同。這個項目讓我有機會通過一種（通常）與這種美學截然不同的媒介來表達我身份認同的這一部分。因此，將銳舞風格的音樂融入民族管弦樂作品中，為我提供了充分的機會去探索新的可能性，讓我重新詮釋如何聆聽、演奏和創作民族管弦樂團的作品。這對我來說意義非凡：在傳承中國傳統樂器演奏技法的同時，用現代的視角來詮釋它們。東西方交融，傳統與現代碰撞——這正是我以交響樂形式呈現的雙重文化身份的真實寫照。

我非常感謝臺北市立國樂團及其首席定音鼓演奏家方馨委約我創作這部作品，並感謝加拿大藝術委員會和SOCAN基金會的支持。

Poster credit: Scott Mushens
Photo credit: Chen-Chou Chang, provided by The Taipei Chinese Orchestra