“Vân-Ánh Võ is standing in her studio, surrounded by instruments. There’s a massive upright bamboo marimba called a dàn t’rung, a monochord called a dàn bau. In the corner is Võ’s prize, her favorite instrument, the dàn tranh—a Vietnamese zither,” writes Georgia Rowe in Monday’s (1/18) San Jose Mercury News (California). Based in Fremont, California, “The Emmy award-winning Vietnamese-American composer, vocalist, educator and multi-instrumentalist said her work is a unique expression of her identity…. Her latest composition, ‘The Odyssey—From Vietnam to America,’ makes its world premiere Jan. 22-23 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. She’ll join the Oakland Symphony as soloist in the world premiere of another original work, ‘Lullaby for a Country,’ on Feb. 12…. Oakland Symphony music director Michael Morgan will conduct the premiere…. Võ, who was born in Hanoi in 1975, is too young to remember the boat people firsthand. But she remembers growing up in a culture scarred by war and poverty…. With each new work, Võ gives her collaborators a piece of traditional Vietnamese music. ‘They listen, they go all the way down into it, to understand the ornamentation, what it means,’ she said. ‘They just lock in. That really moves me because I see that my culture is respected.’ ”
Posted January 22, 2016
Pictured: Vân-Ánh Võ with a traditional Vietnamese dàn tranh zither. Photo by Anda Chu / Bay Area News Group
