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The Age
Is Julian Yu tragic? Only to order
June 11, 2003 — 10.00am
Winning awards is all very well, but it doesn't always pay the rent, especially if the prize is for modern composition. Melbourne composer Julian Yu has twice won Australia's highest award, the Paul Lowin Orchestra Prize, as well as having his music performed by the Melbourne Symphony during its visit to Shanghai.
He is also proud to point out that his name is in the bible of classical music, the Grove Dictionary of Music.
But demand for his work is so limited that he is not sure what he will be doing after his latest composition, The Possessed, opens tomorrow, in a production by Chamber Made Opera, at Chapel off Chapel.
"When I'm writing, I always worry where the next commission is coming from," Yu says.
"I have tried doing two pieces at the same time, but that is too hard. So there is always this uncertainty."
He may not be a household name, but Yu's previous work for Chamber Made, Fresh Ghosts, which also had a libretto by Glenn Perry, sold out its eight performances so quickly there were queues of people trying to get tickets.
"It was well reviewed, but it was also the company's lowest budget," he laughs. Its success fails to reassure the composer
"I'm nervous this time, because they have programmed 15 performances," he says. "I don't know how that will go."
The Possessed is based on the film Ju Dou by the celebrated director Zhang Yimou. It was set in a dye factory whose elderly owner purchased a young bride who then aroused the interest of his nephew. Yu discussed the choice with Chamber Made's director, Douglas Horton, who liked the sound of it.
When the composer forgets his insecurities, he admits that he found it an interesting endeavour.
"There are lots of tunes, and the characters provide good contrasts," he says. "Of course it's tragic - Chamber Made always seems to do tragedy."
Yu migrated to Australia in 1985 when he was 28 after studying composition in Beijing and Tokyo. He has been commissioned by the BBC Proms and the City of Munich, as well as the ABC and the Melbourne Festival.
The Melbourne Symphony's chief conductor, Markus Stenz, asked him to write a piece for the orchestra's China trip last December. Called Willow and Wattle, it involved Chinese and Western themes featuring solos on the Chinese string instruments, the erhu and jinghu.
Yu accompanied the orchestra on the tour, which he describes as an exciting time.
"My parents and relatives came to hear my piece, which was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for them. There were about 20 of them, so I told them to make sure they kept clapping for a long time," he laughs.
He says expatriate Chinese composers try to return regularly but few bring a symphony orchestra with them. This brief moment in the spotlight was in stark contrast to the low profile of a composer's life in Australia. He makes a comparison with Germany and the musical tradition laid down by Bach, Beethoven and Brahms.
"In Australia, when you say you are a composer, people ask what else do you do to earn a living," he shrugs. "It is as if you are not a proper member of society." But he hastens to add that he is grateful to have been given the chance to compose a second opera. "I just hope it's a hit". |
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圆头之旅 (2008-11-7) 仰望星空 
楼主:莽撞人
发表于 2019-4-8 11:52
