The Giant Project, featuring Proliferasian (Vancouver) & Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra (Taiwan), ready to tour across Canada 

“A remarkable dialogue between jazz combo and orchestra, and between Western avant-garde sounds and Chinese traditions. Led by Lan Tung (Orchid Ensemble) on erhu and voice, with Kevin Romain drums, JP Cartertrumpet/electronics, and Colin Cowan bass, Proliferasian is joined by the Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra (conducted by Chih-Sheng Chen) for a striking, varied set full of intensity and texture”. – 2015 Vancouver Jazz Festival

“The Giant Project offers uncompromising mixed music, with amazing and rich instrumentation, where LAN TUNG reinvents codes and creates new traditions”. – Festival International Musique Actuelle Victoriaville, 2018

“dynamic and surprising, combining a root of Eastern storytelling with a mutable structure of Western musical impulse. Played with speed and precision, it was especially impressive to hear the Chinese stringed instruments unlock and swing within the jazz groove”. – Eric Hill, Exclaim, 2018

Lan Tung’s Giant Project features the collaboration between Vancouver band Proliferasian and Taiwan’s Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra, following their successful performances at the 2014 Sound of Dragon Music Festival, 2015 Vancouver International Jazz Festival, and 2018 Festival International De Musique Actuel in Victoriaville, QC. Bringing together improvisers and classically trained musicians, combining jazz and Chinese traditional instruments, the resulting sound is unique in the world.

The Giant Project offers three distinctive programs:

1) Combining Proliferasian and Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra, it is a unique chamber orchestra of Chinese and jazz instruments. Lan Tung’s original compositions for the orchestra transform Chinese tradition, such as ancient melodies, operatic rhythms, classical poetry, and narrative vocals, with avant-garde improvisation and jazz. Guided by graphic notation and conduction gestures, the orchestra and its soloists interact in spontaneous conversations. The size of the ensemble is flexible, depending on the budget and venue size.

2) Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra is Taiwan’s premiere ensemble. Performing both traditional and contemporary music from Taiwan on traditional Chinese instruments, the ensemble is known for its diversity and virtuosity. The size of the touring ensemble is flexible.

3) Proliferasian and soloists of Little Giant improvise spontaneous compositions, where the east and the west meet without boundaries.

The Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra (“gCO”) was founded in October 2000 by its artistic director and conductor Chih-Sheng Chen. With over ten years of experience, the gCO has matured into an ensemble of both technical and artistic proficiency. A strong musical force in Taiwan, it represents a new generation of Chinese orchestral music. It strives to demonstrate the energy and passion of its dedicated musicians with every performance. The gCO breathes new life into an art form that holds ancient roots, and devotes itself to promoting Chinese music on the world stage.

Traveling freely between composed and improvised worlds, Proliferasian is a unique voice rising from the west coast of Canada. The band encompasses both rhythmic intricacy in its compositions and the fluidity and spontaneity in creative improvisation. Distinctive from other Canadian ensembles utilizing Chinese instruments, the unique sound of Proliferasian cannot be mistaken as anyone else. Proliferasian performs cutting edge music rooted in Chinese music and avant-garde jazz, representing the merging of two genres, and embracing even more elements into the equation. The musicians explore the contrasting, complimenting, and sometimes contradicting natures of multiple influences. The result is a new “musical species” that proliferates and transforms continuously. Proliferasian may take inspiration from Asian music, literature, landscape, legends, or paintings, but its music will definitely break any preconceptions of Asian cultures.

Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra 2016 Canadian Tour will include 7 members on this instruments: dizi, sheng, erhu, pipa, zheng, daruan, and conductor Chih-Sheng Chen.

Proliferasian is Lan Tung (erhu & vocal), JP Carter (trumpet & electronics), Kevin Romain (drums) and Colin Cowan (bass), with special guest Jonathan Bernard (percussion)

Tour manager: Jonathan Bernard  jb@orchidensemble.com  604-255-2357