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PEM’S YIN YU TANG HOUSE INSPIRES KRONOS QUARTET COMMISSION

Released October 30, 2009

Yin Yu Tang

 WORLD PREMIERE OF ‘A CHINESE HOME’
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3RD AT CARNEGIE HALL

 


The Kronos Quartet joins internationally-acclaimed musician and composer, Wu Man, in the world premiere performance of A Chinese Home at Carnegie Hall on November 3rd. The commission was inspired by Yin Yu Tang, a 200-year-old Chinese house at the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, Massachusetts. Yin Yu Tang was a merchant family’s home in a southeastern Chinese village – it was dismantled and re-built at PEM piece-by-piece in 2003 and is the only example of vernacular Chinese architecture in North America.

Wu Man, recalls her visit to PEM’s Yin Yu Tang house: “While standing in this meticulously reconstructed home you cannot help but to imagine what life was like for the people who lived there – what they experienced and how they lived from day to day. Yin Yu Tang became the key for us to unlock the past and explore the music of China not only from the time of this house, but across the centuries.”

Drawing on the metaphors embodied by Yin Yu Tang of displacement and migration, privacy  and public display, A Chinese Home explores China’s evolving identity through works ranging from folk tunes to electronic music, enhanced with staging and video elements by acclaimed stage and film director Chen Shi-Zheng, and with instruments constructed expressly for this work by MacArthur fellow Walter Kitundu.

A Chinese Home makes its world premiere at New York’s Carnegie Hall on Tuesday, November 3rd and will tour nationally to the following venues:

Tuesday, November 3, 2009 | 7:30 PM
Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall (New York, NY)


Saturday, January 16, 2010 | 8:00 PM
Lively Arts, Stanford University (Stanford, CA)

Thursday, January 28, 2010 | 7:30 PM
Krannert Center, University of Illinois (Urbana, IL)

Friday, February 13, 2010 | 8:00 PM
Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland (College Park, MD)

Saturday, March 27, 2010 | 7:30 PM
Debartolo Performing Arts Center, University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, IN)

About the Peabody Essex Museum
The Peabody Essex Museum presents art and culture from New England and around the world. The museum's collections are among the finest of their kind, showcasing an unrivaled spectrum of American art and architecture (including four National Historic Landmark buildings) and outstanding Asian, Asian Export, Native American, African, Oceanic, Maritime and Photography collections. In addition to its vast collections, the museum offers a vibrant schedule of changing exhibitions and a hands-on education center. The museum campus features numerous parks, period gardens and 22 historic properties, including Yin Yu Tang, a 200-year-old house that is the only example of Chinese domestic architecture on display in the United States.

HOURS: Open Tuesday-Sunday and holiday Mondays, 10 am-5 pm. Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. 

ADMISSION: Adults $15; seniors $13; students $11. Additional admission to Yin Yu Tang: $5. Members, youth 16 and under and residents of Salem enjoy free general admission and free admission to Yin Yu Tang.

INFO: Call 866-745-1876 or visit our Web site at www.pem.org.

 

April Swieconek
Public Relations Manager
Phone: 978-745-9500, ext. 3109
Whitney Riepe
Senior Public Relations Associate
Phone: 978-745-9500, ext. 3228

PR Contacts:

April Swieconek  -  Director of Public Relations  -  978-745-9500 X3109  -  april@pem.org

Whitney Van Dyke  -  Senior Press Officer  -  978-745-9500 X3228  -  whitney_vandyke@pem.org

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