This September, Tan Dun takes part in three days of performances and lectures in Beijing, exploring the reinvention of the classical music institution and method as well as the legacy of Toru Takemitsu. On September 21, Tan Dun hosts a lecture at his alma mater, the Central Conservatory of Music, on the mission and methodology of art with special guests Wang Liguang and Li Xiujun. The discussion will focus on the future of classical music, ...

This October, Tan Dun is in the spotlight for a week-long celebration of his conducting and music at Germany’s BASF Festival. Tan Dun conducts the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie to open the festival on October 12, presenting his Intercourse of Fire & Water, Concerto for Cello & Orchestra and Passacaglia: Secret of Wind & Birds alongside Smetana’s Vltava and Britten’s Four Sea Interludes. Cellist Li-Wei Qin joins Tan Dun and the orchestra ...

Tan Dun takes the podium to lead the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra in Suntory Hall’s 30th anniversary celebration on August 26. The performance is dedicated in memory of the renowned Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu, an influential mentor and teacher to Tan Dun. Tan Dun conducts the orchestra in Takemitsu’s Gémeaux, commissioned for the opening of Suntory Hall in 1986, and I Hear the Water Dreaming alongside his Orchestral Theater II: Re, a Suntory Hall International Program for Music Composition commission, and ...

To Tan Dun, the symbol of the Mongolian wolf and its life in the grasslands is a mirror of the human spirit and our relationship as humans to the natural world. Tan Dun’s Contrabass Concerto: Wolf Totem is in the spotlight August 17-19, performed by bassist Alex Henery and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under the baton of David Robertson. The concert at Sydney Opera House also features Gyger’s Acquisition and Stravinsky’s Petrushka.

On July 30, 2016, Tan Dun’s Concerto for String Orchestra and Pipa, inspired by childhood memories of the shamanistic “ghost operas” of the Chinese peasant culture, is presented by pipa virtuoso Wu Man and the NCPA Orchestra under the baton of Chen Lin. The concert at China’s National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing will also include performances of Lou Harrison’s Concerto for Pipa with String Orchestra and Chen Qigang’s L’eloinhement ...

Tan Dun’s Passacaglia – The Secret of Wind and Birds is featured as part of the Boston Landmarks Orchestra’s summer series at the Charles River Esplanade in Boston, MA. Christopher Wilkins leads the orchestra on July 13. The opening night concert at DCR Hatch Memorial Shell also spotlights the music of Vaughan Williams, Copland, Respighi and Michael Gandolfi.  

On July 17, Tan Dun appears at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, CA for Dunhuang Inspired: An Evening with Tan Dun. The event offers the opportunity to hear Tan Dun discuss his creative process as a performer and a composer. Currently working on a new symphonic commission based on the cave temple wall paintings at Mogao, Tan Dun will speak on his inspirations and provide demonstrations on his research. The Mogao caves, Buddhist ...

On July 3, Tan Dun takes the podium to lead China’s National Symphony Orchestra at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. The orchestra spotlights Tan Dun’s percussion concerto, Tears of Nature, plus Stravinsky’s iconic The Rite of Spring. Later in July, the National Symphony Orchestra presents Tan Dun’s Concerto for String Orchestra and Pipa with pipa virtuoso Wu Man.

On June 15, Tan Dun is featured in the grand opening celebration of Shanghai Disney, the first Disney park in mainland China. Tan Dun debuts his original composition “Ignite the Dreamer Within,” the theme song of the park and part of a more expansive “visual symphony” commissioned by Disney for the grand opening. Tan Dun leads the Shanghai Symphony in front of the Enchanted Storybook Castle in a performance also spotlighting favorite songs from the Disney catalogue, ...

This summer, Tan Dun’s Water Passion after St. Matthew receives its Chicago premiere as part of the Ravinia Festival. On June 19, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, under the direction of Grant Gershon, is joined by soprano Delaram Kamareh, bass-baritone Stephen Bryant, violinist Shalini Vijayan and cellist Cecilia Tsan alongside percussionists David Cossin, Theresa Dimond and John Wakefield. The performance is held at the Martin Theatre. “When I read the account of the ...