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| Jin Xiang is a renowned Chinese composer, conductor, and music critic whose works have been performed around the world. He composes for both Western and Chinese instruments, combining contemporary Western techniques with an Eastern aesthetic. His award winning compositions range from operas and symphonies to background music for film and TV. His opera "Savage Land" is the only Chinese opera ever performed by a leading U.S. opera company. Jin is Professor of Composition at the China Conservatory in Beijing and is also Founder and Artistic Director of the East-West Music Exchange Association, a not-for-profit organization based in the U.S. with the mission of promoting international understanding through music. |
| Sample Music
To download samples of music from the opera Savage Land click the links below: Aria of Da Xing |
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News & Events Eight Women Jump Into the River , Jin Xiang's sixth grand opera, had an extremely successful premiere May 30, 2005 in Beijing at the Tiao Qiao Theater with the composer conducting. After performances there, it was presented again on August 14 at the Beijing Bao Li Theater. The opera is based on an actual event that took place in 1938 in Northeast China during the Japanese occupation. Eight young women aged 13 to 23 were trapped between a group of soldiers and a river. To avoid being caught by the soldiers they chose to jump into the river and drown. Jin's prior opera, Yang Gui Fei , about the great romance between one of the eighth century Tang Emperors and his beloved concubine Yang Gui Fei, premiered in Beijing May 30, 2004 to much acclaim. The opera is now to be presented in Tokyo, Japan from October 19 through 21, 2005. Savage Land, Jin's first grand opera, which had its world premiere in Beijing in 1987 and has been performed numerous times in Asia, Europe and the United States, was presented again in Beijing on October 27, 2004 at the New 21 st Century Theater. The cantata Nanjing Lament was originally composed for piano, alto and chorus when commissioned for the sixtieth anniversary of the occupation of the city of Nanjing by the Japanese. That original version had its premiere at a Concert for Peace on December 7, 1997 at Carnegie Hall in New York. The Chinese National Symphony has commissioned Jin to rewrite the cantata for full orchestra. This new version is for orchestra, children's chorus and regular chorus. It will have its premiere November 19, 2005 at Beijing Concert Hall. WU - A Symphonietta was stimulated by the composer's reflections on Chinese traditional religious and cultural beliefs. It had its premiere on September 24, 2004 when it was performed by the National Symphony Orchestra at the New 21st Century Concert Hall in Beijing. It will have its Japanese premiere in Osaka, Japan on October 27, 2005. Li Sao was commissioned by the China Conservatory to be performed by traditional instruments orchestra to mark the 40th anniversary of the Conservatory. A famous poem by this name was written about 3000 years ago by the poet Qu Pan, and a song based on the poem has been played over the years on a traditional 7-string instrument. Jin's orchestral piece derives from this song. The date for the premiere will be announced soon. A chamber work, Midnight Dialogue , commissioned for the Chinese instrument pipa and the Japanese instrument shakuhachi (the Chinese name chiba), will receive its premiere in Tokyo in October 2005. In October 2004 two of Jin's chamber works that had had their world premieres in the West were performed for the first time in Asia. The Cold Water of Yi River , scored for fourteen musicians and originally performed in Lyon, France was presented in Beijing on October 18, 2004; and his exciting percussion trio, Chinese Calligraphy, which had been initially performed in New York, was presented in Beijing October 27, 2004. A concert in Guangzhou comprised entirely of music by Jin took place May 31, 2005 at Singhai Conservatory. They presented art songs by Jin and selections from his operas. A New Year's concert of symphonic music will be conducted by Jin in Shandong Province in the capital Jinan. It will be performed on New Year's Eve, December 31, 2005 and again on New Year's Day, January 1, 2006. The program will consist of overtures by Jin and classical symphonic works. A full score of Jin's opera Savage Land, containing all the orchestral parts, was published in mid-2004. This followed earlier publication of a Savage Land piano-vocal score. A piano-vocal score of Nanjing Lament is scheduled to become available in November 2005.For more information contact Dr. Edna Ehrlich at ednaehrlich88@yahoo.com |