An Immersive Musical Odyssey to a Distant Past
Two performances only! May 26 and 27
Pasadena Civic Auditorium
300 E. Green Street
Pasadena, CA 91101
Tickets now at Memory5D.com or Ticketmaster Arts Line (800) 982-2787
Memory 5D+ is an innovative, new, large-scale, live entertainment spectacular featuring seventeen of China’s most revered musical performers, thought about as national treasures, performing on rare traditional instruments seldom heard in North America and in traditional Chinese performance forms. They are part of a cast of 43 of musicians, singers and dancers.
The styles represented in Memory 5D+ represent both recognizable Chinese musical forms to little-known -- but amazing -- virtuoso performances that Western audiences might liken to intense Western oriented jazz, classical or world music performers.
The instruments employed include guqin (Chinese zither), “cowboy” flute, gijak, guzheng, konghou (Chinese harp), morin khuur (Mongolian horsehead fiddle), pipa (Chinese lute), Tuva drum (Shamanic drum), and two chordophones – Topshur and Yekele.
Memory 5D+ also uses many Chinese performance arts including Chinese acrobatics, Dolan Muqam, Khoomei (Tuvan throat singing), Shadow Play, Suzhou Pingtan (storytelling and ballad singing from the Suzhou Dialect), Tibetan folk songs, and Urtin Duu (Mongolian Long Tune). The scenario for Memory 5D+ was written by filmmaker John Hughes. Hughes wrote the screenplay for the upcoming feature film, Vivisection. He is known for his visual effects seen in many prominent feature films such as Frozen, Big Hero 6, Moana, Kung Fu Panda 2, The Croods, Shrek Forever After, I Am Legend, Spider-Man 3, Watchmen and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
“In Memory 5D+,” he said, “the intangible nature of Chinese spirit becomes tangible and poignant. Philosophies, characterized in the music, are those that most Westerners know from Taoist thought including concepts of Yin and Yang, the Five Elements, Chinese Medicine, Astronomy and Tai Chi.
These have long guided millions of people and through performance, music can bring about a communication of the soul in a joyful and harmonious way.”
Memory 5D+ frames a story, against the background of the creation of the universe, of how the forces of darkness and light learned to become one. Yin (darkness) and Yang (light) have travelled through time and space, flying across the mountains and rivers to arrive at an ancient and mysterious Orient. They abound in the forest, and later encounter a variety of magical and beautiful birds. Symbolic bamboo leaves and birds’ feathers dance in the wind and fall to the ground. Everything strikes the world as new and beautiful, and they are innocent of what is ahead of them.
Many of China’s most important musical instruments are heard at peak performance in Memory 5D. Most of these will be new to Western and international audiences – but their influence on the culture of China has been intangible.
For Memory 5D+, Hughes dramatized a danced scenario backed by celebrated traditional Chinese music. The story captures the essential essence of Taoist thought: that Tao is a oneness. The Tao contains two component forces known as Yin and Yang that have starkly contrasting qualities.
Tickets: Price -- $38 to $128 plus VIP premium seating
Purchase -- Memory5d.com and all Ticketmaster outlets
Phone -- Charge-by-phone at (800) 982-2787
Groups of ten or more, call (626) 449-7360
Information -- Memory5d.com
