METROPOLIS ENSEMBLE PRESENTS
Bangsokol: A Requiem for Cambodia
Metropolis Ensemble, led by conductor Andrew Cyr (also with the Taipei Philharmonic Chamber Choir and traditional Khmer vocalists and instruments), performs the US premiere of Bangsokol: A Requiem for Cambodia, Dec. 15-16 at Howard Gilman Opera House and Dec. 19-20 at Boston's Emerson Paramount Center.
Presented by Brooklyn Academy of Music's 2017 Next Wave Festival and ArtsEmerson.
on the program
Him Sophy: Bagsokol*
*U.S. Premiere
Two survivors of the Khmer Rouge—composer Him Sophy and filmmaker Rithy Panh (The Missing Picture)—attempt to return dignity to their country’s dead with this musical ritual remembering the Cambodian genocide. Against cinematic evocations of this bruised history, Bangsokol: A Requiem for Cambodia recruits the Metropolis Ensemble, the Taipei Philharmonic Chamber Choir, and traditional Khmer vocalists and instruments—ancient harps, flutes, and the xylophone-like roneat pluah—to mourn the nearly two million forgotten souls. Mellifluous Buddhist smot chanting and other all-but-extinct Khmer musical forms are woven throughout a procession that moves from the heavens to the killing fields, culminating in a plea to recognize impermanence as the only path to peace.
Passionate young violinist Jennifer Liu has performed extensively throughout the United States as a soloist and chamber musician, including at Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Born in Los Angeles, California, Jennifer moved to New York at age 15 to study with Itzhak Perlman and Catherine Cho at the Juilliard School. Currently, Ms. Liu is a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship at the Juilliard School under the tutelage of Sylvia Rosenberg and Donald Weilerstein.