Ensemble Shui Mo is a group of dynamic young players on the UK scene dedicated to commissioning and performing new repertoires of contemporary music mixing traditional East Asian and Western instruments. Shui Mo looks to create a new repertoire unbounded by eastern or western aesthetics, to provide new palettes for transculturally-minded composers and innovators of the 21st century ‘Shui Mo’ (水墨 in Mandarin— ‘Sumi-e’ 墨 絵 in Japanese, Sumug (수묵) in Korean, Shu-Mo in Cantonese refers to water and ink painting. Shui Mo ensemble is in residence at the University of Bristol.
Shui Mo’s 20 November Bath Spa University programme blank canvas features Yuting Chang’s (Taiwan) reflection on impermanence inher Kintsugi, Eunseog Lee’s Shaking Mountains, Roaring Rivers (2024), features special narrator Niall Hoskin. Michael Ellison’s (USA/Turkey) new revised, shamanic-rhythms-inspired Doğu Invocation (2024/25), and Yingying Wen’s Camel Xiáng (2024) evoke the arid landscapes of Sichuan province, Korea and Xinjiang. Zhihong Guo’s The Vanishing Parasol Leaves (2024) also reflects on impermanence, with the composer’s evocation of the sound of wind, and fleeting timbres.
Tickets (free):
Previews may be found here https://www.shuimo.org.uk/projects from BBC Radio 3’s New Music Show.
Musicians and instruments:
Kiku Day キク デイ(shakuhachi), Hyelim Kim 김혜림 (daegeum), PENG Cheng 彭程 (érhú), HE Shuiqingqing 何,水清清 (guzhēng), Jingyu Chew 周荆玉 (shēng), George Owen (‘cello).
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