Oscar winner Tan Dun to present concert

Tan Dun's upcoming concert in Beijing is a dialogue between the East and the West to inspire people's imaginations with classical music. Photos provided to China Daily

Chinese composer and conductor Tan Dun, who won the Oscar for the original score of the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, has always been ahead of the curve.

Tan, a native of Changsha, Hunan province, was trained at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Despite his classical training, Tan has created music with the sounds of water, wind and paper. He has also documented nyushu, an ancient language used mostly by women in Hunan.

Now, he is collaborating with folk musicians of the China National Traditional Orchestra to present his works－the Fire Ritual Violin Concerto and the Cello Concerto Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon－at the capital's National Center for the Performing Arts on Friday.

Tan says the idea was inspired by his trip to Dunhuang, Gansu province, three years ago, where he saw the famous cave paintings.

"Big orchestras, musicians and various instruments were displayed in those large paintings, which told me how diverse Chinese music was thousands of years ago," says Tan, adding that he wants to reinterpret ancient scores with the help of a modern orchestra to connect the old and the new.

Norwegian violinist Eldbjorg Hemsing, who will perform in the Fire Ritual Violin Concerto, says: "Tan Dun's vision is not to introduce China to the world but to introduce the world to China."

Using the classical violin with an orchestra of traditional Chinese instruments is not known to have been done here before, she says.

She calls the concert "a truly special event".