Composed by Kevin Zi-Xiao He. Performed by Alexander Panizza (piano).
Audio recorded and mastered by Alexander Panizza.
Video edited by Xu Zhiwei.
ABOUT THE COMPOSER: Kevin Zi-Xiao He is a Chinese-born composer who immigrated to Canada in his mid-teen years. With a particular interest in popular and traditional music of East Asia, Kevin has studied with renowned figures such as Gary Kulesha and Alexander Rapoport. His works have been showcased in international new music festivals in North America, Asia, and Europe. Kevin is a current doctoral candidate in composition in the studio of Dr. Christos Hatzis, at the University of Toronto.
ABOUT THE PERFORMER: Alexander Panizza is a master pianist who is known throughout the Americas for his incredible interpretations of great classical works, as well as other genres and style of piano music.
PROGRAM NOTES FROM MR. HE: “Call of the Paper Kite”, composed in 2014, was inspired by a vague fragment of my memory of a movie scene I had watched as a young child: during WWII in Northeastern China, the commander of the Japanese army brought his daughter, a six year old girl, who became friends with a Chinese orphan boy. The two children, against all odds of war and brutality, beyond the barrier of language and nationality, saw the most innocent and pure friendship blossom between them, flying a paper kite together every day, into sunset…
The SPO is very grateful for the funding support for this work and other projects from: Canada Council for the Arts | Toronto Arts Council | SOCAN Foundation.
To learn more about Kevin Zi-Xiao He: https://www.hezixiao.com/ | https://www.instagram.com/kevinhezixiao/ | / @hezixiao .
To learn more about Alexander Panizza: http://alexanderpanizza.com/.
