Nexus Arts Interplay Live
Nexus Arts· Adelaide · 2021
A program for culturally and linguistically diverse contemporary musicians.
David Wei-Han Dai — Erhu / Composer
Zhao Liang — Guzheng
Satomi Onishi- Percussion
19 November 2021
presented by Nexus Arts / SanUreshi
ABOUT THE PROJECT
Presented by Nexus Arts, the Interplay Performance Series marked the culmination of a year-long artistic development program supporting contemporary musicians from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Bringing together eight Adelaide-based musicians and ensembles, the program created a platform for artistic development, experimentation, new work, and creative exchange within Adelaide’s contemporary music community.
As part of the series, San Ureshi presented original music situated at the intersection of traditional Chinese instrumental practice, contemporary sound, improvisation, and cross-cultural collaboration. The program supported an exploratory approach to performance and composition, resulting in new repertoire including Mountain Dew, an original composition by David Wei Han Dai.
WORK
Mountain Dew
Mountain Dew draws on the landscape of Yangmingshan, Taipei, where the composer spent four years studying Chinese music. The work translates the mountain’s shifting atmosphere into sound: drifting mist, early-morning frost, sudden downpours, and the force of wind become points of departure for an exploration of transformation, contrast, and movement.
Rather than depicting the landscape literally, these changing conditions shape the work’s musical language and structure. Acoustic instruments are transformed through electronic processing, while shifts between instruments, playing techniques, and sonic textures create a continually evolving sound world. These transitions move between contrasting states, forming a sense of emergence, development, transformation, and resolution.
Mountain Dew reflects an encounter with a landscape in which weather, space, and time are constantly shifting. Traditional Chinese instrumental practices are placed in dialogue with electronics and contemporary performance, allowing the identity of both instrument and sound to remain fluid throughout the work.
WATCH
CREDITS
Erhu / Composer－David Wei-Han Dai
Guzheng － Zhao Liang
Percussion－ Satomi Onishi
Presented by- Nexus Arts / SanUreshi
