King of Prussia, PA — Theodore Presser Company excitedly announces the release of Chen Yi’s
Chinese Ancient Dances (114-41434 — Score and Part — $12.95) for B-flat soprano saxophone and piano. As her music is greatly respected and widely performed, Chen Yi’s adaptation of this work for the soprano saxophone is certainly an asset to the woodwind catalog, representing her first work for the instrument. Originally written for B-flat clarinet and piano, the two movements of
Chinese Ancient Dances are inspired by the ancient traditional Ox Tail Dance of the Ge Tian Shi ethnic group, and the Hu Xuan Dance as described in the poem “Hu Xuan Lady” by Bai Ju-Yi in the Tang Dynasty.
As a Distinguished Professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance, a prolific composer and recipient of the prestigious Charles Ives Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2001-04), Chen Yi blends Chinese and Western traditions, transcending cultural and musical boundaries. Through doing so, she serves as an ambassador to the arts, creating music that reaches a wide range of audiences, inspiring people with different cultural backgrounds throughout the world. Chen Yi's music has been commissioned by Yehudi Menuhin, Yo-Yo Ma, Evelyn Glennie, the Cleveland Orchestra, the BBC, the Seattle, Pacific, and Singapore Symphonies, the Brooklyn, New York, and Los Angeles Philharmonic, Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Raschèr Saxophone Quartet and Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke's, and more.