Unique “long string” instrument gets Hong Kong premier at CityU
A 15 meter-long string instrument will be given its first public performance in Hong Kong at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) on 15 May.
The instrument will be played by the instrument’s inventor, Ms Ellen Fullman, a renowned composer, instrument builder and performer.
The show is the second event in the series “30 years of Sound Art in Hong Kong, mainland China, and the World”, part of the University’s 30th anniversary celebrations.
Ms Fullman has been developing the “Long String Instrument,” an installation of dozens of wires 15 meters or more in length, since 1981. The instrument is tuned in “just intonation” and “bowed” with rosin coated fingers.
Over the years, Ms Fullman has devised a unique notation system to choreograph the performer’s movements, exploring sonic events that occur at specific nodal point locations along the string-length of the instrument. These extended wires produce a chorus of minimal, organ-like overtones, which has been compared to the experience of standing inside an enormous grand piano.
She has recorded extensively with this unusual instrument and has collaborated with such luminary figures as the composer Ms Pauline Oliveros, the choreographer Ms Deborah Hay, the Kronos Quartet, and Japanese avant-garde musician Mr Keiji Haino.
She is the recipient of numerous awards, commissions and residencies including: DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program residency, Japan/U.S. Friendship Commission/NEA Fellowship for Japan, Meet the Composer, Reader's Digest Consortium Commission, Artist Trust/Washington State Arts Commission Fellowship, and artist-in-residence at Headlands Center for the Arts.
Her music was represented in The American Century; Art and Culture, 1950-2000 at The Whitney Museum, and she has performed in venues and festivals in Europe, Japan, and the Americas including Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, Other Minds, the Walker Art Center and Donaueschinger Musiktage.
For this occasion Ms Fullman will be collaborating with cellist and vocalist Ms Theresa Wong. Ms Wong has worked extensively in the field of contemporary music and improvised music. Her solo project for voice and cello was released by Tzadik, a label dedicated to releasing the best in avant-garde and experimental music, and she has performed internationally including at Fondation Cartier in Paris, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, Fabbrica Europa in Florence, and Unlimited 21 Festival in Wels.
The details of the events:
Event 1: Lecture/Workshop by Ellen Fullman & Theresa Wong
Date: 15 May 2014 (Thursday)
Time: 7:00pm
Venue: M1060 Multimedia Theater, Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre, CityU, 18 Tat Hong Avenue, Kowloon Tong
For more details: www.scm.cityu.edu.hk
Event 2: Concert by Ellen Fullman
Date: 16 May 2014 (Friday)
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: M1060 Multimedia Theater, Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre, CityU, 18 Tat Hong Avenue, Kowloon Tong
Featuring Artists:
· Ms Ellen Fullman (15m Long String Instrument)
· Ms Theresa Wong (Cello, Voice)
For more details: www.scm.cityu.edu.hk
Media enquiries: Christina Wu, Communications and Public Relations Office (Tel: 3442 6819 or 9841 2774)