As a musical tribute to Confucius, this program comprises music which is suitably dignified and fitting for the occasion of the Confucian week. “Variations on Confucian ceremonial tunes” is a small set of variations using selected ceremonial tunes as its thematic basis. These tunes are featured as “songs of welcome” in Confucian ceremonial rites. “Short Impressions of the Solitary Orchids” is based on one of the earliest-known guqin compositions, You Lan “Solitary Orchids”, originally attributed to Confucius. It depicts the great philosopher’s feeling of isolation and frustration in not being able to put his wisdom and talents to use. Two original compositions by the carillonist are featured in this program. The “Wind Chimes” is an evocation of harmony and prosperity based on a mixture of pentatonic and whole-tone scales, while the “Fantasy on CABEA”, based on letters from the word Canberra – capital city of Australia, where the carillonist comes from – is dwelt on a trance-like repetition of the notes, C, A, B and E. To conclude the program, two folk song arrangements are presented. Both these folk songs are based on rustic and rural settings. These exude a quality of moving simplicity and tranquility.

Adrian Tien PhD, QTA (Queen's Trust Achiever) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chinese Studies, National University of Singapore. His teaching and research interests include linguistics, specialising in the areas of semantics, language and culture, cross-cultural communication, language acquisition, translation and language and music. Dr. Tien is also trained as a musicologist and is a sought-after musician (pianist and carillonneur), being a prizewinner of several international music competitions.

This presentation is part of CIUM's Chinese Arts and Culture Festival from September 24 to September 27, 2014.