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| The Dragon Dream |
| Group Name |
Aaron Pergram, bassoon |
| Guest Artists |
Nanyi Qiang | Liz Faure | Si-Yan Darren Li | Lan Tung | Alex Strader |
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Album ID - 57901-MCD |
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Album purchases for CD / DVD's will be shipped after January 6.
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| ALBUM NOTES |
1. Echoes of the Western Chu King......Chi WANG
2. Song of Zhu......LI Tao
3. Ashes of Time......Yaming WANG
with Nanyi Qiang, piano
4. Argues-Cassandra with Siri......Ying WANG
with Liz Faure, electric guitar
5. Song of the Yue Boatman......Chi WANG
6. Apparitions of Dragons......YAO Chen
with Si-Yan Darren Li, cello
7. Dragon dancing......CHONG Kee Yong
8. after an autumn haze......Chen-Hui JEN
with Lan Tung, erhu/zhonghu
Alex Strader, sheng
THE DRAGON DREAM
The Dragon Dream Project features eight commissioned bassoon works from seven composers who all share a Sino-cultural connection. This project was initiated in 2021 by Dr. Aaron Pergram, who has a genuine connection with Chinese culture. Since 2005, Pergram has studied, worked, or performed on the Mainland, eventually establishing himself as the bassoon professor at Soochow University (Suzhou) from 2014 to 2019; he maintains the relationships he forged with creatives and scholars of the region to this day.
Regardless of the form, instrumentation, genre, medium, or length, the composers for this project adhered to the vision of The Dragon Dream-an intangible concept seeded in the minds of China's youth or the youth of those born abroad of Chinese heritage, with knowledge of the culture's former greatness and power, which institutes a nearly insurmountable challenge to hew to, or perhaps reclaim the status of the culture's former glory. Many receive a calling from their honorable ancestral homeland transmitted through oral histories, memories, dreams, spiritual connections, and unidentifiable pressures from the supernatural forces of the unrelenting dragon within oneself. Evidenced by the project's works, the composers' journeys are musically alluring, allowing performers to explore the elusively spiritual, emotional, and psychological spaces within the dragon dreamworld.
AARON PERGRAM, BASSOON
Aaron Pergram, DMA, is an international performing artist specializing in new music of living composers from East and Southeast Asia, particularly works by composers of the Chinese diaspora.
From 2014 to 2019, Pergram served as bassoon professor at Soochow University in Suzhou, PRC. During this period, he built dose connections with scholars and creatives within China and abroad. As a continuation of his work in Asia, Pergram's devotion to expanding contemporary bassoon repertoire is evidenced by the growing number of new works forged by collaborations with East Asian composers. Purposively, bringing prominence to emerging Sinospheric musics is central to his global projects, research, and creative activity.
As a performer, his musical endeavors have taken him to Vietnam, Brazil, Cambodia, Australia, Thailand, Canada, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mexico, Greece, and much of Mainland China. As a global performer, Pergram has appeared on stage with the Shanghai World Master Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, Natchez Opera Festival, and Wheeling Symphony Orchestra, among other ensembles. He has been a featured performer at several notable venues, including the Suzhou Poly Grand Theatre, Jinji Lake Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall, Shanghai Symphony Hall, Hangzhou Grand Theater, and Music Hall in Cincinnati.
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