Shane Koyczan, Amir Amiri, and Brooklyn Rider join Chan Centre for the Performing Arts' Dot Com Series lineup
Lan Tung, Kunji Mark Ikeda, and others join the multicultural, multidisciplinary streamed programming
Beloved BC spoken-word artist Shane Koyczan performs in March 12.
THE CHAN CENTRE for the Performing Arts has announced an eight-show 2021 winter-spring digital season, and it features a new full-length work by BC spoken-word star Shane Koyczan and a concert by Latin vocalist Magos Herrera with the string quartet Brooklyn Rider.
The Dot Com Series kicks off on January 29 with the Persian sounds of the Amir Amiri Ensemble, featuring the Tehran-born, Montreal-based santur artist with oud player Sardar Mohamad Jani, ghaychak virtuoso Reza Abaee, percussionist Hamin Honari, and violist Omar Abu Afech.
February 12 finds Herrera performing with eclectic violinists Johnny Gandelsman and Colin Jacobsen, violist Nicholas Cords, cellist Michael Nicolas, and percussionist Mathias Kunzli in Dreamers, reinterpreting the Ibero-American songbook alongside new pieces adapted from beloved texts.
Latin vocalist Magos Herrera performs with the string quartet Brooklyn Rider.
On February 26, tune in for composer, erhu player, and vocalist Lan Tung performing two world premieres for erhu and string quintet by Canadian composer Tim Brady—Concerto Étude and Peripheral Visions—as well as an improvisation with Portuguese-born cellist Marina Hasselberg, Lan’s partner in Have Bow Will Travel.
Beloved poet Koyczan, known for everything from his viral poem about bullying “To This Day” to his autobiographical opera Stickboy, appears March 12 with all new material. Following that, on March 19, Parāśakti employs classical Indian music and dance to explore the stories of the titular goddess, featuring Vancouver-based dance artist Arno Kamolika, Hindustani vocalist Akhil Jobanputra, along with percussionist/mridangist Curtis Andrews, sitar player Sharanjeet Singh Mand, and violinist Kaushik Sivaramakrishnan. Later the same month, March 26, the interdisciplinaru Sansei: The Storyteller explores the internment of thousands of Japanese-Canadians following the attack on Pearl Harbor, created and performed by Kunji Mark Ikeda.
Star violist Marina Thibeault plays from her 2020 JUNO Award-nominated album ELLES, honouring groundbreaking female and nonbinary composers—including Ana Sokolović, Dorothy Chang, and Melody McKiver.
And Silkroad Ensemble rounds out the programming April 23 with Home Within, an audio-visual performance conceived by Syrian composer and clarinetist Kinan Azmeh and Syrian Armenian visual artist Kevork Mourad, ruminating on living in times of conflict.
Filming locations include the Chan Shun Concert Hall, as well as studios and stages in artists’ home cities around the world.
All eight performances will be available for on demand viewing from designated premiere dates throughout the spring until May 31, 2021. Complementary ancillary events will also be available to watch through the Chan Centre Connects series.
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