Joanne Rile Artists Management

From philly.com Entertainment Section

When Nai-Ni Chen immigrated to America in 1982 to study dance at New York University, she was already an accomplished traditional dancer in Taiwan. She had studied with some of the best teachers and toured professionally.

But Chen wanted to pursue what felt more authentic to her as an immigrant: modern dance, influenced by her traditional Chinese dance background.

After she graduated, Chen stopped auditioning for other choreographers and formed her own troupe, Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, which performs choreography inspired by the intersection of Western and Eastern ideas and philosophies.

Chen’s company is performing A Quest for Freedom at the Prince Theater this weekend, accompanied on stage by the accomplished Ahn Trio.

Made up of 10 segments, the performance explores the idea of freedom and how it is shaped by issues like gender and immigration, according to Chen. Although it is largely a Western modern dance performance, Chen said she has incorporated Eastern influences into her choreography in subtle ways.

“In Eastern philosophy, there is a heavy focus on details,” she said. “So when I deal with movement, my eyes catch a lot of details. It’s not always about the big movements, like with arms and legs. I also focus on the smaller movements, like my dancers’ hands.”

Chen began collecting ideas that would eventually turn into A Quest for Freedom years ago from her own life as well as from her friends’ stories.

She also listened to the Ahn Trio’s entire repertoire and worked closely with Juilliard-trained sisters Maria, Lucia, and Angella Ahh, who in 2003 were named three of People magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People.” She described them as immensely talented artists with strong voices.

“That’s why I put them on the stage during the performance,” Chen said. “A lot of choreographers prefer to have the musicians below or behind the stage, but I didn’t want to hide their personalities. The way that they share energy with the dancers is magical.”

Dance all night long

Choreographing a dance influenced by personal experiences felt like a 24-hour job, Chen said. She thought about it constantly, inside and outside the dance studio.

“It takes a lot of courage to build a new home in a foreign land,” Chen said. “In a way, what I’m going through feels like a journey that never ends. My job is to express that to an audience through a universal approach that crosses cultural boundaries, no matter which country you’re from or what ethnic background you have.”

Audience members should expect a vibrant and colorful performance that explores freedom in an abstract way, Chen said. She prefers experimenting with how she can draw certain emotions out of the audience rather than communicating a story in a linear way, which is more common in traditional forms of dance.

One of the featured segments captures the loneliness of being an immigrant in a big city despite being surrounded by people. Another focuses on how women speak out against male domination.

Chen said she doesn’t want audiences “to just walk out of the theater and go home and go to sleep. I want to leave something for them to think about.”

DANCE

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company with the Ahn Trio

• Performances 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 3 p.m. Sunday at the Prince Theater, 1412 Chestnut St. Tickets: $42 to $62 (students $20). Information: 267-239-2941 or princetheater.org

ASTORIA, NY (December 5, 2017)

Steinway & Sons is proud to announce the addition of Tania León to the roster of Steinway Artists, a select and prestigious group of pianists who have chosen to perform exclusively on Steinway pianos. León is now in the company of immortal legends Sergei Rachmaninoff, Benjamin Britten, Igor Stravinsky, and Nina Simone and contemporary icons Thomas Adès, John Corigliano, and Ahmad Jamal, among others.

Havana-born, Grammy-nominated Tania León is world-renowned as a composer and conductor and recognized for her accomplishments as an educator and advisor to arts organizations. Her commissions include works for the National Endowment for the Arts, The Library of Congress, The Los Angeles Master Chorale, and The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, among others. Her works have been performed by orchestras around the world, and she has collaborated with such authors and directors as John Ashbury, Margaret Atwood, Rita Dove, Jamaica Kincaid, Mark Lamos, Julie Taymor, and Derek Walcott.

León has lectured at Harvard University and at the prestigious Mosse Lecture series at the University of Humboldt in Berlin. León was also Visiting Professor at Yale University and Guest Composer/Conductor at the Hamburg Musikschule, Germany and the Beijing Central Conservatory, China.

León is both a founding member of the Dance Theatre of Harlem and the founder of the Composers Now festival in New York City. Her work with Composers Now was honored by a proclamation by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio naming February 1st as “Composers Now Festival Day.” The proclamation recognizes Composers Now as an ally in empowering living composers from many different global traditions and heritages.

A professor at Brooklyn College since 1985 and at the Graduate Center of CUNY, León was named Distinguished Professor of the City University of New York in 2006. In 2010 she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her honors include the New York Governor’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, and Guggenheim Fellowships. In 2012 she received both a Grammy nomination (for “Best Contemporary Classical Composition”) and a Latin Grammy nomination (for “Best Classical Contemporary Composition”) and in 2013 she was the recipient of the prestigious 2013 ASCAP Victor Herbert Award.

“Tania León is one of the most renowned and sought-after composers and conductors of our time,” said Ron Losby, Chief Executive Officer of Steinway Musical Instruments. “She is a visionary artist and a tireless advocate for music, dance, artistry, and education. We are thrilled to have her join the roster of Steinway Artists. Her energy and passion are unsurpassed, and her artistry is the absolute gold standard. Her values are very much aligned with those of Steinway & Sons; this is a partnership of which we are very proud.”

“Steinway inspires me as a player, and as a composer,” León said.

About Steinway & Sons
Since 1853, Steinway pianos have set an uncompromising standard for sound, touch, beauty, and investment value. Because of a dedication to continuous improvement, today’s Steinway remains the choice of 9 out of 10 concert artists, and it is the preferred piano of countless musicians, professional and amateur, throughout the world.

Congratulations to Caeli Smith who received her master’s degree from Juilliard today and was awarded a special prize for Outstanding Achievement and Leadership in Music.

We are so proud of you Caeli!

The PRISM Quartet’s recording, “Heritage/Evolutions, Volume 1” (innova), is under consideration for 2016 Grammy Award nominations in three categories.
Field 10: Jazz
Category 33, Best Jazz Instrumental Album
Entry #249: Heritage/Evolution, Volume 1 (innova)
PRISM Quartet

Field 21: Composing/Arranging
Category 61, Best Instrumental Composition
Entry #164: I Will Not Apologize For My Tone Tonight by Rudresh Mahanthappa
(PRISM Quartet: Heritage/Evolution, Volume 1 – innova)

Field 27: Production, Classical
Category 72, Best Engineered Album, Classical
Entry #134: Aaron Nevezie, Karl Petersen, Matthew Levy, Katsuhiko Naito, Engineers
(PRISM Quartet: Heritage/Evolution, Volume 1 – innova)

The album features new pieces and guest appearances by today’s most inventive jazz saxophonists: Steve Lehman, Dave Liebman, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Greg Osby, Tim Ries, and Miguel Zenón. “Heritage/Evolution, Volume 1” charts fresh musical territory, drawing on the saxophone’s cross-cultural heritage to blend jazz with everything from Western and South Indian classical music to Romani and Latin American folkloric music.

NARAS friends, we respectfully invite you to check out “Heritage/Evolution, Vol. 1” as you consider the Grammy nomination entry list.

Hear the full recording here.

Acknowledgement: Major support for “Heritage/Evolution, Volume 1” has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. Additional support came from The National Endowment for the Arts, The Presser Foundation, and The Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia.