Twisting Ways

Twisting Ways

The new album, Twisting Ways features Lee Tsang's musical poetry and is now available from the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra or from Spotify, iTunes, Bandcamp, Amazon and more.

This wonderful collaboration with David Braid and Philippe Côté features the voices of Sarah Slean and Karly Epp and the fantastic Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra.

You can find out more, listen to the music and see an interview with composer, Philippe Côté on YouTube

"Twisting Ways" … combines compositions by David Braid (piano) and Phillip Côté with the four-part title track featuring lyrics by Dr. Lee Tsang. The composers share writing credits on the title track while each contribute one more piece (Braid's "Lydian Sky" also features lyrics by Dr. Tsang while Côté's "Fleur Variation" shines a spotlight on vibraphonist Stephan Bauer). This is powerful music, well-executed, and brimming with invention.

Richard Kamins, Step Tempest
April 16th, 2021

Take a whole bunch of Juno award winners, toss them in a crucible and let them simmer. What do you get? Surprisingly, you get a bunch of art jazz that shows they can follow their own muses with nothing to prove. Certainly not something you'd expect going in, it probably won't be what you expect going out either. A lush setting for eggheads to drift into the music, this is expertly done for refined tastes.

Chris Spector, Midwest Record
April 23rd, 2021

About the Sinfonia UK Collective

Originally founded by Lee Tsang in 2004, the Sinfonia UK Collective provides a platform for pioneering new work and creates a dedicated outlet for musical artworks informed by research. Its work currently focuses on developing innovative ways of collaborative working for international crossover album projects.

Collaborations with David Braid

Lee Tsang's collaborations with David Braid began in 2012, and their first concert together took place in early 2014. Further collaborations led to a UK-Canadian tour in 2015 and since then they have continued to work closely together on the development of various works, concerts and albums. Here are some selected highlights:

Corona Divinae Misericordiae

Juno-nominated album (2019). This Sinfonia UK Collective Production was a collaboration with Prague's Epoque Chamber Orchestra and Patricia O'Callaghan. Tsang led the project's Research and Development, conducting Sinfonia UK Collective in 2017 as part of a research lab of rehearsals and performances, including for Liverpool's Light Night at Open Eye Gallery. He then produced the album with Braid at Czech Television studios.

Credits include:

  • Soprano Soloist, Patricia O'Callaghan
  • The Elmer Iseler Singers
  • Sinfonia UK Collective-Prague Epoque Chamber Orchestra
  • Česká Televize, Prague
  • Big Smoke Audio, Toronto
  • Vocal Consultation, Lee Tsang
  • Produced by Lee Tsang and David Braid
  • Edited by David Braid, Lee Tsang and Dennis Patterson
  • Mastered by Dixon Van Winkle
  • Research and Development: Lee Tsang
  • Executive Producer: Lee Tsang, Sinfonia UK Collective
  • A Sinfonia UK Collective Production
  • 2018 K52 MUSIC PUBLISHING
Corona Divinae Misericordiae
Flow

Flow

Juno-nominated album (2017). A collaboration with the Prague-based Epoque Quartet. This album emerged following Braid's tour with Sinfonia UK Collective. Read Lee Tsang's album notes for an insight into the music on this thrilling disc.

Resolute Bay

From Sinfonia UK Collective's final concert in the 2015 UK-Canadian tour, and a Steinway Artist launch event. This performance has been broadcast by BBC Music Introducing. Our tour was a truly collaborative affair, featuring leader Steven Wilkie and four wonderful performers from our Canadian membership: Bo Peng, Joe Phillips, Peter Lutek, Tom Richards.

The Hand and Sweet Stolen Hours

Part of a concert for Open Circuit at University of Liverpool. The performance features the world premiere of 'The Hand' (words by Lee Tsang), a pre-cursor to our latest album 'Twisting Ways'. Anyone interested in musical origins may find it interesting to compare this version of the piece with the radically transformed version on the new album release.

Nine Dragons

We supported four young professional musicians from Russia and Belarus as part of this project, which involved undertaking a thrilling visit to Hong Kong as we developed an early version of this work. The new work relates to Lee Tsang's personal discovery of his ancestral heritage, including Weitou and Hakka folk song performance practices. Thanks to HKUST and the wonderful island of Yim Tin Tsai for their hospitality.

We had planned a recording of this work before COVID 2019 took its toll on the world. Watch this space for future developments.

From the archive

Here are some selected highlights from Sinfonia UK Collective's archive:

Leginska

Following a request from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography for an entry on Leginska, Lee Tsang went on to establish the Sinfonia UK Collective Leginska Archive. He put on exhibitions and performances, including for the Women of the World Festival at Ferens Art Gallery. A performance featured Leginska's own piano rolls performed using a a digital piano. Her compositions for piano and voice were revived by Tsang and Graziana Presicce, who at the time was on the Sinfonia UK Collective Graduate Placement Scheme 2016-2017.

Music in Hull (BBC Radio 3)
Hull City of Culture (BBC)

Larkin in Song

Lee Tsang commissioned thirteen composers over the course of this project. The project involved two sets of works, one featuring baritone (for Lee Tsang), the other featuring soprano (for Sarah Leonard). Workshops were also held. Events took place in the UK and Hong Kong and featured a semi-staged art installation featuring animated paper cuts to take place during the performances. Lee worked with his sister Charlotte Tsang on the development of the imagery.

Ursula Vaughan Williams in Memoriam

Thanks to support from the RVW Trust and the newly established UVW Trust, Lee Tsang commissioned composers to write new works in response to the death of Ursula Vaughan Williams as a means of bringing more of her poetry to public attention. The works were sung by Sarah Leonard and Lee Tsang. Songs were then selected for inclusion in a special volume of songs published by UYMP. https://www.uymp.co.uk/collections/finding-ursula-vaughan-williams

The Dreaming Boys

Lee Tsang's performing English translation brought new audiences to Rasch's remarkable monodrama Die Traeumenden Knaben (a setting of Kokoschka's children's book of the same name). The translation was premiered by Tsang as singer-reciter and director and the translated edition was subsequently published by Faber Music. It is available on request (not online).

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/illustratedbooks/26721
https://www.fabermusic.com/music/die-tr%C3%A4umenden-knaben-5191

Lear Settings

Our first commission, which sought to engage young people, started in 2004 and ultimately developed into this animated music-film, which Lee Tsang directed, produced and conducted. The project involved professional animators and school children who helped to create many of the images and who also contributed sounds in the central short. The film was broadcast on BBC Big Screen, and in venues across Humber and Yorkshire. Some screenings featured performances with live orchestra, and the last public screening took place at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2013.

What our audiences are saying:

"an unforgettable immersive musical experience"
Liz Gould, Edinburgh Fringe Festival
"magnificent concert ... the public loved you! Bravo ... beautiful energy"
Martine Cardinal, Executive Director, Festival Classique des Hautes-Laurentides
"Amazing Concert!"
Pavel Hrnčíř, The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Czech Republic to Canada
"spectacular, tremendous, vibrational, cosmic"
Jennifer Jonas, producer New Real Films
"Thrilling"
Jon Feidner, Steinway & Sons Label, New York
"... your music is emotional and colourful and captivated our audience throughout the concert, the standing ovation they gave your performance was well deserved."
James Campbell, Artistic Director, Festival of the Sound
"Amazing concert... deep and satisfying...[an] abundance of musical riches"
David Matheson, lead singer Moxy Früvous and The Ground Crew
"A spectacular performance ... an exceptional evening"
Professor Emeritus Timothy J. McGee, University of Toronto
"exquisite... the orchestra performances... were superb... your music shines ... a sublime evening"
Paul Read, leader of the Paul Read Orchestra and Professor Emeritus
"Wonderful, adventurous music, beautifully presented."
Jack Chambers, author of Milestones: The Music and Times of Miles Davis
"spectacular programme – incredible musicians ... brilliant writing"
Sybil Walker, General Manager, The Jazz Bistro, Toronto
"I absolutely loved it! Beautiful music - all of it. That long slow section in Chauvet with all the glissandi took me some place I've never been before. And Semi took me someplace new again. Very deep and rich listening experiences. Beautiful orchestrations and great playing from everyone - especially that bravura trumpet solo!"
Mike Malone, jazz trumpeter (Mike Malone Orchestra)

"'YEHS' AD LIBITUM !!!!!!!!! >>>>>> !!!!!!!!! >>>>>> !!!!!!!!!"

Phil Nimmons, Officer of the Order of Canada, formerly of Nimmons and Nine

Contact us

We are most grateful to all our individual sponsors and Friends for their kind support of Sinfonia UK Collective's activities.

If you would like to support our work, please contact the Managing and Artistic Director Lee Tsang for more details.

Email:

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