The Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra presents Global Soundscapes Festival, June 6 to 9

The fest is a rich feast of music from across Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Canada

SPONSORED POST BY the vancouver inter-cultural orchestra

BC Chinese Music Ensemble.

The Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra’s Global Soundscapes Festival presents four days (June 6 to 9, 2024) of adventurous classical and world music—a rich feast of sounds and rhythms from Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Canada. Festival concerts will showcase outstanding local musicians alongside acclaimed national and international guest ensembles.

In the intimate atmosphere of the Historic Theatre at The Cultch, audiences can expect to see and hear many virtuoso performers playing instruments from different cultures, rarely seen together on the same stage. The Festival offers a beautifully diverse sound palette and a range of innovative, inspiring approaches to making music that transcends borders.

Chih-Sheng Chen, Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra.

Thursday, June 6 at 7:30 pm is a continent-spanning double bill with Zeellia (Vancouver) and Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra (Taipei). Zeellia combines the powerful, piercing harmonies and mournful, minor key melodies of Slavic folk music with a modern artist’s approach to arranging, sung both a capella and with bass, violin, accordion, and hurdy gurdy accompaniment. Then, the Festival’s featured international guest ensemble, Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra (LGCCO), takes the stage under the baton of founding artistic director Chih-Sheng Chen. A strong musical force in Taiwan, LGCCO represents a new generation of Chinese orchestral music, demonstrating the energy, passion, and proficiency of its dedicated musicians with every performance.

Friday, June 7 at 7:30 pm is another exciting double bill: Borderland (Vancouver), a new cross-cultural musical collaboration originally developed by the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra (VICO) with five virtuoso performers on traditional Indian and Persian instruments; and Mativetsky, Amiri & Pagé (Montreal), a trio of musical adventurers, a dynamic coming together of santur, harp, and tabla unlike anything you’ve heard before.

Mativetsky, Amiri & Pagé.

Saturday, June 8 at 7:30 pm features VICO with members of Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra conducted by Chih-Sheng Chen. The concert marks the culmination of a major international collaboration undertaken by the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra with Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra. Part 1 of this project saw the VICO Tentet and members of LGCCO performing at two prestigious festivals in Taiwan and South Korea in early April 2024; now in Part 2, the VICO hosts LGCCO in Vancouver and will present its touring repertoire to the hometown crowd.

Sunday, June 9 at a Matinee Concert at 3 pm is the BC Chinese Music Ensemble with members of Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra and conductor Chih-Sheng Chen. The BCCME is unique in Canada as a large traditional music ensemble capable of playing demanding contemporary work alongside the classics of Chinese traditional music.

Tickets and more details are at https://www.vi-co.org.

Post sponsored by The Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra.