Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra hosts Mei Han and Randy Raine-Reusch in Rekindle the Fire, December 20

Co-presentation with Red Chamber Cultural Society combines improvisation with Chinese zheng, plus rare wind and string instruments

SPONSORED POST BY Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra

Mei Han (left) and Randy Raine-Reusch.

The Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra (VICO) and Red Chamber Cultural Society present Rekindle the Fire, featuring zheng player Mei Han and multi-instrumentalist Randy Raine-Reusch, at the Annex on December 20 at 8 pm.

The winter solstice concert celebrates the music of Han and Raine-Reusch, two virtuoso performers who explore the potential of improvisation in compositions for a range of different ensemble configurations. Partners in both music and life, the pair were founding roster members with VICO when it was incorporated as a society in 2001.

Han and Raine-Reusch are joined by the VICO Tentet and special guest vocalist D’arcy Han to perform the world premieres of new works by Vancouver composers Lisa Cay Miller and John Oliver, alongside a selection of Raine-Reusch’s rarely performed distinctive graphic scores for non-western instruments. Also featured are new orchestral arrangements of the duo’s repertoire by Mark Armanini, Moshe Denburg, and Farshid Samandari.

“Developing repertoire that integrates both score-based and aural-improvisatory musical traditions and techniques from all over the world has been a major artistic focus for the VICO since its inception,” says Mark Armanini, artistic director of the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra, in a release.

VICO Tentet. Photo by Alistair Eagle

Han is heralded as a leading performer of the contemporary zheng, with deep roots in traditional Chinese aesthetics. She has performed with symphony orchestras, at major international festivals, and on concert tours globally. Highlights include WOMAD Australia and Singapore, the Rainforest World Music Festival in Borneo, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, BBC’s Women of the World Festival, Shanghai International Arts Festival, and an appearance on CCTV 1 China’s Chant the Classics with an international audience numbering over 500 million.

Raine-Reusch is an improvisation-based artist-composer who studies and performs on an astonishing variety of rare, endangered instruments from his over 1000-piece collection. A two-time Juno Award nominee, Raine-Reusch has played and recorded with a wide range of artists, from Aerosmith and The Cranberries to Issui Minegishi, a magnate of the Japanese single-string ichigenkin.

Together, Han and Raine-Reusch combine improvisational structures, contemporary performance techniques, and extended listening practices with ancient Asian musical philosophies to create a unique artistic expression.

Tickets to the concert and more details are available at VICO.

Post sponsored by Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra.