Oregon Wind Ensemble Premieres Pius Cheung’s Princess Chang Ping

By Kristen Hudgins

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OWE rehearses for the November 26 concert in Beall Hall 

Don’t miss the highly anticipated wind ensemble premiere of Princess Chang Ping by the Oregon Wind Ensemble (OWE) on November 26!

The stunning orchestral work, composed in 2012 by sought-after artist and School of Music and Dance (SOMD) faculty member Pius Cheung, has been newly reimagined specifically for the Oregon Wind Ensemble.

Cheung rehearses for the November 26 concert 

“After listening to the piece, I hope [the audience] walks away touched,” Dr. Cheung said. “My students make fun of me when I say this, but a lot of my music is like Chinese Romeo and Juliet. This one specifically is like star-crossed lovers. The [main characters] fall in love, war breaks out, they die, reunite in the afterlife, and rise up to heaven, so I hope [the audience] feels lifted afterwards.”  

Pius C on percussion rehearsing

Dr. Cheung plays marimba cadenza in Princess Chang Ping

The new arrangement for wind ensemble is the result of a collaboration between Cheung, OWE conductor Dennis Llinás, and OWE students. They worked for several weeks to find the proper instrumentation and coloring for the work.
 

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What I’m probably most excited about is to work with a musician and world-class artist like Pius.
Director of Bands, Dennis Llinás

 

 

Cheung’s inspiration for the work:

“Princess Chang Ping is based on the final theme from the Cantonese Opera, Di Nü Hua, by Tang Ti-sheng. It is a melody my grandmother sang to me as a child, therefore in my heart it is more a folk song than an art song. The opera is based on a semi-fictional story about the Ming Dynasty Princess Chang Ping and her lover Zhou Shixian. The princess met Zhou and fell in love, but they were separated in war as the Manchurian army overthrew her father’s kingdom. She then became a nun but eventually met Zhou again when they were both captured by the new regime. The new emperor granted them marriage, but as an act of loyalty to her father and faith in her lover, she chose to end her life with Zhou by drinking poison wine at their wedding. In the end, they became a pair of flowers, and their spirits rose up to heaven to rejoin her family. The composition is loosely programmatic; focusing primarily on the complicated emotions at the wedding. To a certain extent, the marimba soloist represents the main protagonist, Princess Chang Ping.”

Princess Chang Ping was commissioned and premiered by Pei-Ching Wu and the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra under Fusao Kajima in 2012.

The November 26 concert will also feature works by Bernstein, Schubring, and Graham. Titled “Metropolis,” the repertoire is inspired by the core message of the 1927 film by the same name. The evening’s programming aims to embrace the “human factor” of life, joy, grief, laughter, and enjoying every fleeting moment of life.

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