...but unfortunately, the performance is elsewhere. On Nov. 3 at Carnegie Hall, the Kronos Quartet and Chinese musician and composer WuMan will debut "A Chinese Home," a four-part work inspired by Yin Yu Tang, the 200-year-old Chinese merchant family's house moved to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem in 2003. Wu Man visited the house that year. "The home brought back
many memories for me," she said in a statement provided by the museum. "I stayed in the home for quite a long while –I
looked through each room, touched tables, chairs, and beds, taking in
every little detail. It reminded me of my grandma’s home and
my childhood life. I didn’t want to leave until the staff came to
get me. A year later, when the Kronos Quartet and I were discussing
the possibility of a new project, Yin Yu Tang of course came to mind
and I mentioned it to (Kronos member) David Harrington. During the working process,
we visited Yin Yu Tang at PEM, and we even took trip to a Huang village,
Yin Yu Tang’s regional home in China."
Everything from folk to electronic music is involved in the 45-minute piece, played by the quartet with Wu Man on pipa. Each section evokes a different period in China's history, from the most traditional to the convulsions of the cultural revolution and the recent modernization. There are also staged and video elements, and some of the instruments are custom creations. Aside from the Carnegie Hall premiere, there are performances scheduled early next year at Stanford, the University of Illinois, the University of Maryland and Notre Dame. But as yet, not one at or near the Peabody Essex
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