TAIWANESE MUSIC STUDENT STUDYING IN PARIS WINS LEWIS AND CLARK CHAMBER ORCHESTRA COMPETITION

Philadelphia Chapter
Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation
P O Box 39534
Philadelphia, PA 19136-9534
FOR YOUR INFORMATION:
CONTACT Katy Hineline, competition chair: 215-848-0892
Chun-Hao Derrick Chang: phone number in Paris + 33 1 47 97 33 66.
Fax: + 33 1 53 01 68 20 Email: derrick.chang@worldonline.fr (home email only) or derrickemail@yahoo.fr (while traveling) An email interview is included.
Gary White, conductor of Philadelphia Sinfonia 610-272-6265

TAIWANESE MUSIC STUDENT STUDYING IN PARIS WINS LEWIS AND CLARK CHAMBER ORCHESTRA COMPETITION

Chun-Hao Derrick Chang, a 24 year old piano and orchestration student studying privately with Pr. Jean-Marie Cottet, a professor with the Paris Conservatory, has won an international competition for a chamber orchestra composition “in commemoration of Meriwether Lewis’s sojourn to Philadelphia in 1803.” He calls it “The City of Heritage.”

He will hear a premiere of his work and receive a cash award and Bicentennial Certificate of Merit from the Philadelphia Chapter of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation (LCTHF) at the Loews Hotel on Wednesday evening, August 13 at the close of its four day Bicentennial event co-chaired by Nancy M. Davis and Frank Muhly of Philadelphia. The premiere of Chang’s work will be played for the occasion by the Philadelphia Sinfonia, described by Sinfonia board president Carol Brown as “a chamber orchestra of about 25 to 27 youth and young adult players up to college age. We even have a 13 year old who is very good.”

“A third of the players are from Pennsylvania, a little more than a third from New Jersey, and the rest from Delaware,” she explained. “We are very pleased to have been involved with this competition.” The orchestra is conducted by Gary White, director of the Sinfonia and director of instrumental music at the Germantown Friends School. White commented that Chang’s work made strong use of “brass and strings.” More information is found on www.philadelphiasinfonia.com.

The competition announcement on www.lewisandclarkphila.org called for “a 10 to 15 minute composition for chamber orchestra, (six to eight violins, two viola, three to four celli, one bass.) Standard small number of wind may be used as needed (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, percussion.)”.

The Chapter received entries from Australia, Germany, Paris, and the Julliard School in New York after it announced the Competition on its web site, said competition chair Katy Hineline, a teacher at Germantown Friends School and a volunteer member of the Philadelphia Chapter.

Chapter President Robert Weir of Scranton noted that 350 members and visitors will be meeting from Saturday through Wednesday (August 9-13) at the Loews to learn how Lewis polished skills needed for the Expedition and where he garnered his supplies for the trek in Philadelphia, known as one of the Eastern Legacy sites, all at the behest of President Jefferson.

Until August 7, the public may obtain tickets at $65 for the event which includes dinner, the short concert, closing formalities by the national Foundation, and speaker Dayton Duncan, scriptwriter for the Ken Burns TV series. Call Lorraine Rittman weekdays at 212-436-2131 with credit card number.

Following the premiere, Dayton Duncan, author and scriptwriter of the Ken Burns TV series on the Lewis and Clark Expedition, will give his “Reflections on Meriwether Lewis, a Country Boy in a Big City,” comparing himself with the famous explorer.

Philadelphia’s First City Troop will retire the Colors, closing a precedent setting meeting that recognized the importance of Philadelphia to the preparations of Lewis for the journey after 200 years of virtual omission of the facts, and paves the way for a move to add nine states east of the Mississippi and the District of Columbia to the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, established by Congress in 1978.

Such a bill has been introduced into the House, HB 2327, and the Philadelphia Chapter hopes to inspire support among the members of Congress from 50 states.
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The L&C Chapter conducted the following interview of Derrick Chang by e-mail.

L&C: What do you call your winning composition? Please add a few words about what you hope to bring to the listener?

D.C: The name of this piece is “The City of Heritage”; I wanted my piece to show Philadelphia as a city of great heritage for all kinds of knowledge and skills, so people feel the adventurous journey of Lewis and Clark. I tried to illustrate all that with my music. I composed this piece within a period of 10 days (11th till 20th of February, 2003). I have the habit of composing in a row.

L&C: How did you hear of the contest?

D.C: On the internet, your web site.

L&C: Where are you studying and with whom? What year of study are you in? What is your age? How did you begin your study of music and at what age? Do you have siblings?

DC: I graduated with a Piano Diploma at “Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris”. Now I continue studying Piano with Pr. Jean-Marie COTTET, who is also a professor with Conservatory of Paris. I began studying piano at the age of 6 as an amateur with a music teacher who was a colleague of my parents in the junior high school where they taught. I started to accompany piano for the choir at the Sunday service at my church when I was 12. Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity of getting into serious study of piano before I was sixteen. At age 19 I moved to Paris, France, where I have been studying since then. Now I am 24 years old.

I started to compose for piano at age 16 and at the same time I was taking some lessons in harmony and counterpoint. Only recently, after taking some orchestration lessons, did I start composing for orchestra; my winning piece is also one of my first pieces for orchestra. I want to compose music with great respect for the audience; I want my music to be both modern and understandable. You will notice that I love winds like horn or trumpet. I feel they are very suitable to convey the kind of feeling of adventure and discovery that I wanted for this piece.

L&C: Do you have other interests?

D.C: I like museums, astronomy, mythology, Roman and Greek cultures, sports, swimming, traveling, pizza, spaghetti, chicken burgers, Disney Cartoons, Disneyland, science-fiction and comics. I love film music, musicals, and I would like to write a musical of my own. I am working on it right now. I would enjoy writing film music one day too.

L&C: What is your home city in Taiwan?

D.C: I was born in Hualien City, on the east coast of Taiwan, and spent my childhood in a nearby village called Fenglin. Fenglin inhabitants are mostly living on agriculture and handicraft. We also have a narrow-gauge railway that needs 6 hours for the 100 miles or so to our capital Taipei.

L&C: What are your parents' names and place of residence?

D.C: My parents are teachers at the Fenglin junior high school: my father, Chang, Kuo-Hon, now retired, was teaching mathematics, physics and chemistry, while my mother, Chang, Shu-Hui, teaches cooking and some basic English. The funny thing is they already had the same family names even before they got married! They lived all there life close to this place, however they were also the first people in the village to travel to the US and Europe. On my fathers’ side, we have a tradition of teaching: my grandparents were teachers too. On my mothers’ side, my grandfather had a very simple job; he was cooking and selling “herb pudding” in the village. As a kid, I loved staying with him; he used to listen to some old Japanese songs while cooking the pudding. I think he influenced my music unwillingly, as did Taiwanese aboriginals, whose popular music I so much liked to hear.

L&C: Have you been to the states before?

D.C: Yes, once, as a kid, together with my parents, when I was 12. I was very impressed by this voyage and couldn’t believe what I saw. Back home I liked to listen to American music and watch American movies. I am touched mostly by the American way of making dreams come true. My family is one of the very few Christian families in the village, with a Christian tradition for many generations, and my local church sometimes had visit or support from western visitors, so I welcomed each opportunity to speak English with them.

L&C: When will you arrive in Philadelphia to receive your award, and how can you be reached by telephone here. Where will you stay? When will you arrive? Will you have a phone number there?

D.C: First of all, I have to say again how thankful I am that the Jury, led by Gary WHITE, chose my piece to be the winner of this award. So while this first stay in Philadelphia, I am eager to know him and the young musicians of Philadelphia Sinfonia who will be performing my piece. I will be arriving in New York on August 10th and don’t have any specific arrangements yet about my stay in Philadelphia, so I have no idea where to stay and what my telephone number will be.

L&C: What is your phone number at your home in Paris? (If someone wanted to call for a comment.)

D.C: My phone number in Paris is + 33 1 47 97 33 66. Fax: + 33 1 53 01 68 20. Paris time is 6 hours ahead of your time! Email: derrick.chang@worldonline.fr (home email only) or derrickemail@yahoo.fr (I can check this one when I am travelling).

Looking forward to meet you!

You can visit derrick Chang's personal website at http://derrick.free.fr