MAY 25 - Sunday - 2pm
(Lecture/Music)  A Musical Atlas of Asia: China & Beyond 

Presented by the Vancouver Chinese Instrumental Music Society 

A lecture by guest speaker Alan Lau on the history of Chinese music and its relationship with other 
Asian musical cultures with live music performed by the acclaimed Vancouver Chinese Music Ensemble

Alice MacKay Room (Lower Level)
Vancouver Public Library - Main Branch
350 West Georgia Street
 
Free admission

In celebration of Asian Heritage Month, the Vancouver Chinese Instrumental Music Society will present 
live music, recorded samples and a talk on the history of Chinese music from the Pre-Tang Dynasty (650 AD) 
to the present day.  Guest speaker, Alan Lau, a graduate of the UBC School of Music in Composition, 
will give a brief talk on the history of Chinese music, as well as its relationship with other musical cultures in 
Asia, such as Korean and Japanese court music, Vietnamese and Thai "silk-and-bamboo" traditions, and the 
Chinese-Indonesian hybrid gambang kromong. Throughout the presentation, members of the Vancouver 
Chinese Music Ensemble will perform selections of Chinese music from ancient times to the present. 
A question and answer period will close the evening.
 
The Vancouver Chinese Music Ensemble, established in 1989, is the finest professional Chinese music organization 
in Canada.  For their first appearance, the ensemble was invited to perform for the Governor General's Concert 
at the Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver. Since then, they have performed in hundreds of concerts across Canada 
and in the United States. Each member is a highly accomplished instrumentalist. Together they combine technical 
mastery with a passionate approach to music. This versatile group embraces the popular and the classical 
traditions of China as well as western classical and contemporary music performed on Chinese instruments. 

In addition to presenting its own concerts locally, the ensemble has performed at music festivals in Vancouver, 
Edmonton and Winnipeg and its music has been broadcast on radio and television.