Yin Yang Collective

INSPIRED BY CHINA
Yin Yang Collective

To address the burgeoning cultural importance of China in the world, The Chamber Music Company and The Silk String Quartet have formed a new ensemble: Yin Yang Collective

Yin Yang Collective promotes collaborative Chinese – British Arts.
It is the first such long-term collaborative venture in the UK.
The groups are primarily music-based, but programmes will also incorporate dance, theatre, Shanghai cabaret and Chinese Arts and crafts. Both groups are also rich in educational experience, and all projects will maintain links with schools. The Festival arm of Yin Yang Collective, The Far East Roadshow, will incorporate interactive lectures and demonstrations.

Yin Yang Collective maintains a two-way dialogue – between East and West and between traditional and modern. The members of both groups are expert in their own fields but acknowledge the need for in-depth collaboration. The nature of Chinese music makes this particularly possible as the integration of styles is viable without compromising either tradition.

Yin Yang Collective is UK’s first long-term collaborative ensemble fusing Western & Chinese instruments and traditions. The Collective is also a platform for developing new work on Chinese and western themes. Four Chinese instruments (pipa, guzheng, yang qin, erhu) with five western (piano, violin, cello, flute, clarinet) combining to present a new perspective on east and west.

Yin Yang Collective’s directors, Mark Troop and Cheng Yu, believe that this collaboration will be not only en enrichment of both Chinese and British traditions, but an important London-based initiative in itself.

YYC’s debut was in December 2008, with Inspired By China, a one day festival of Chinese music, featuring an exhibition of Chinese bowed instruments, a concert of traditional Chinese music, and music by Chinese and Western composers for mixed ensemble. The next Inspired by China event is set for autumn 2010.