Chih-Lin Chou, was born in Taiwan R.O.C., the artistic director of Canadian Association of Oriental Fine Arts (CAoFA) and Gu-Zheng Ensemble of Montreal (GZEM),is a Chinese-Canadian virtuoso of the gu-zheng, the 21-string Chinese zither. Ms Chou’s CV attests to her status as a virtuoso performer and for the past years she has worked to present traditional and contemporary music to a mixed, but largely Chinese-Canadian audience in a concert environment.
Ms Chou’s dedication to promoting greater knowledge and public awareness of this important instrument has been on-going for over a decade, first through weekly public performances, and also through CDs, invited appearances in Montreal and Ottawa, and teaching, and has now expanded her activities to include concert presentations in first-class concert venues, notably the Oscar Peterson Concert Hall in Montreal.
An important development in 2002 was the formalization of the Gu-zheng Ensemble of Montreal (GZEM), which has started to produce events and perform in the Montreal region. As an extension of this outreach initiative, a non-profit organization; CAoFA was formed in 2005 with the objective of placing the gu-zheng in the wider musical and artistic communities in Montreal through contacts with other Chinese arts, notably those of painting and calligraphy.
Chih-Lin Chou and GZEM have worked with local Canadian and Chinese musicians (violin, cello, percussion, erhu, zheng etc) playing traditional, arrangements and new pieces in concert, and Ms Chou continues to compose and arrange in both traditional and contemporary styles.
The traditional Chinese repertoire for the zheng, original and in arrangement, is enormous, and in order to make the programs as attractive as possible for both Chinese and Canadian audience member, the concerts have combined traditional melodies, arrangement of Chinese folk songs, arrangements of traditional materials with electroacoustic accompaniment, new pieces in somewhat traditional styles and new works for gu-zheng and electroacoustic sounds which are aimed at being new without being difficult for an ordinary audience to grasp. The original works are composed by Ms Chou and Kevin Austin.
One of the new pieces composed by Kevin Austin in 2004 (Waves and Tides of Time) was requested for performance at the Qi and Complexity Conference in Beijing in November of 2004. This Canadian presence in the Chinese capital has enhanced the profile of Canadian composition on the international concert stage while contributing to the development of the concept of zheng and electroacoustics. A new large-scale work for gu-zheng, 8-channel sound and video has been commissioned and will be going into rehearsal early in 2006. It is to be noted here that GZEM and Ms Chou continue to show support for new music initiatives quite beyond the traditional. To listen to a complete works for gu-zheng and electroacoustics, please find:
http://www.sonus.ca/app/ui/search_s.php?Language=en&Last _Name=&First_Name=&Title=Waves&RPP=10&CP=1&a mp;SubType=Submit http://www.sonus.ca/app/ui/search_s.php?Language=en&Last _Name=Austin&First_Name=&Title=&RPP=10&CP=1& amp;SubType=Submit
Grant applications of Canadian Council for the arts such as CD recording project, commissioning of Canadian Composer, and community-based concerts production (through and in conjunction with Multi-Music of Montreal and Montreal Asian Heritage Festival) have been connected to the inclusion of non-chinese instrumentation, dance and mediatic forms of presentation.
The concert in June 2006 is another point of focus for this on-going development as it will combine asian and western instruments in greater number, dance and mediatic presentation (electroacoustic and video). Now, not the first step in the process of group and audience development, in February 2007 Oriented Towards Sound I at Oscar Peterson Concert Hall is another important stage in the continued growth and strength with the Chinese-Canadian and general Montreal arts / cultural communities.
To expand the culture of Chinese music, Canadian Association of Oriental Fine Arts in collaboration with B.C. Chinese Music Association will host the 2nd overseas Chinese Instrumental Performance Grade Examination in November 2007 at Montreal, Canada. Participants will be tested by the Central Conservatory of Music (CCOM) criteria material, and subsequently will be issued a Certificate of Accomplishment by the CCOM. The aim of this collaboration is to raise the professional quality of Chinese music performance, and to encourage the local development of Chinese music.
The Oriented Toward Sound (OTS) concert series in February and October every year is a project organized by Concordia University Music Department and CAoFA. The purpose is to provide emerging artists a concert environment to develop their music career, and to promote oriental music to more general public. Concerts are webcasted by Concordia University to make the event world-wide.
OTSI concert recording:
http://music.concordia.ca/Oriented_Towards_Sound_Series/OTS_
I-2007.html
OTSII concert recording:
http://music.concordia.ca/Oriented_Towards_Sound_Series/OTS_ II_2007.html
OTSIII concert recording:
http://music.concordia.ca/Oriented_Towards_Sound_Series/ OTS_III_2008.html
As community access and outreach are at the core of the function of these concerts, many resources have been devoted to assuring large, receptive audiences, and the development of a broader base for the understanding and cross-cultural impact of the traditional and new works presented.