Join us for a preview/work in progress of performance of Jon Jang's Portrait of Sun Yat-sen . Scheduled to premiere on Sept 25 at the Chinatown Music Festival, this new work by Chinese-American composer and pianist Jon Jang celebrates the October 10 Centennial of the Xinhai Revolution (Chinese Revolution) and will feature Jang’s piano and a seven-member music ensemble including CMF Producer and long-time Jang associates, Francis Wong (saxophone), John L. Worley, Jr.(trumpet), Jim Norton (saxophone and clarinet), Cathleen Torres (French Horn), Gary Brown (double bass) and Deszon Claiborne (multiple percussion). For the premiere, pipa and vocal soloist Min Xiao-Fen will join the ensemble and text about the life of Dr. Sun Yat-sen by Genny Lim will be read by SF Board of Education member Norman Yee. This September 18, 2011 work in progress performance is part of the development process for "Portrait" and gives audience members the opportunity to see the work as it is comes together and to engage Jon Jang and the other artists in dialogue. Admission is Free!

The Xinhai Revolution of 1911 ended the thousand years of a feudal system in China and promoted the concept of a republic. The Chinese Republic’s first provisional president, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, exiled from main land China, was educated in Hawaii and worked to secure support for revolutionary movement in China from U.S. Chinese communities, including San Francisco Chinatown. He is best remembered for his articulation of the "Three People's Principles" of nationalism, democracy and people’s livelihood. Dr. Sun credited the line from Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address “government of the people, by the people, for the people" as his inspiration. 

Jon Jang's Portrait of Sun Yat-sen is being commissioned by the Chinese Culture Center with the support of a grant from the James Irvine Foundation in association with the Chinese Historical Society of America Museum, Asian Improv aRts, API Cultural Center, and the Chinatown Community Development Center.

Listen to Jon's recent talk and live performance on KPFA!