Online Concert - Sinfonia 2: Spring Flowers

CONCERT DETAILS

Join NSO Sinfonia together with Kittiwake Dance Theatre and Jing Xia, guzheng for Sinfonia 2: Spring Flowers, presented by RBC Emerging Artists. Don’t miss this diverse evening of music and dance, under the direction of conductor Marc David. Jing Xia joins the NSO to premiere a new commission Concerto for Guzheng composed by Andrew Staniland, in celebration of the Chinese New Year. Then the orchestra together with Kittiwake Dance Theatre presents Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring. The work will be choreographed by KDT’s RBC Emerging Choreographer, Abby Rowe and conducted by the NSO’s RBC Emerging Artist Conductor, Murray Lefebvre. The concert also includes Grieg’s Holberg Suite. Sinfonia 2: Spring Flowers digital release is February 4, 2023.

 

Jing Xia is a professional guzheng artist, teacher, and scholar based in Newfoundland, Canada. Born and raised in Hunan, China, Xia started to study the guzheng at six years old and has degrees in music performance (B.A.), arts management (M.A.), and ethnomusicology (Ph.D.). Xia’s music has no boundaries. As a young performer of all styles, her musical journey on the guzheng has encompassed Chinese traditional and folk music to intercultural ensembles, improvisational music, and beyond. Her recent guzheng CD “The Numinous Journey” (2022) shows her diverse musical pathways and presents the guzheng in a wide range of musical genres. Xia has played with various musicians and musical groups, including guzheng virtuoso Mei Han, Newfoundland trad-rock band Shanneyganock, and Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra. In 2018, she performed the world premiere of “The Congruent Place” in collaboration with the Regina-based composer Clinton Ackerman at the St. John’s Sound Symposium XIX. Xia has been active in the music scenes in North America and performed in diverse musical events, including Newfoundland Folk Festival, Nashville Chinese New Year Festival, and Vancouver International Jazz Festival. Moving her tradition into the future, Xia funded the Light Wind Ensemble, the first Chinese ensemble in Newfoundland, with a repertoire ranging from Chinese classics to free improv and computer music. Believing in the power of education, Xia has been teaching music for more than a decade and is dedicated to bringing informative workshops and educational performances to multicultural communities.

 

Kittiwake Dance Theatre is Newfoundland and Labrador’s professional dance performance company. Under the artistic direction of Martin Vallée, their company of 15 members performs a full season of ballet and contemporary ballet including touring across our province.

By emphasizing the creation and performance of original work, they expose audiences to vibrant, current and relevant dance and give creative, expressive platforms to choreographers, particularly early-career choreographers through the Kittiwake-RBC Emerging Choreographer-in-Residence program. The more than twenty pieces in Kittiwake’s current repertoire incorporate a variety of styles and subjects from the dramatic to the humorous and the traditional to the contemporary and include a number of full-length story ballets. Some works reflect our province’s rich history and cultural heritage.

For twenty years, they have had a partnership with Canada’s National Ballet School, most recently delivering dance programs with seniors and schools and joining in their Sharing Dance Day celebrations. They were a community partner with Memorial University’s Dancer-in-Residence program and have proudly supported the Parkinson Society of NL dance therapy program.

 

Sponsored by RBC Emerging Artists

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Kittiwake Dance Theatre

Jing Xia

Jing Xia

Video of our Guest Artist

Andrew Staniland