The Orchid Ensemble is a Canadian musical ensemble formed in 1997 in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. It is led by Lan Tung from

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

erhu The (; ) is a Chinese two-stringed bowed musical instrument, more specifically a spike fiddle, that is sometimes known in the Western world as the ''Chinese violin'' or a ''Chinese two-stringed fiddle''. It is used as a solo instrument as ...

, with Yu-Chen Wang from

guzheng The zheng (), or guzheng (), is a Chinese List of Chinese musical instruments#Plucked, plucked zither. The modern guzheng commonly has 21, 25, or 26 strings, is long, and is tuned in a Major scale, major pentatonic scale. It has a large, reson ...

and Jonathan Bernard from Canada on various

percussion instrument A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

s. Former guzheng players include Haiqiong Deng,

Mei Han Mei Han () is a Chinese-Canadian ''guzheng'' performer and scholar. She was born into a military family in Beijing, the youngest of four children. Her father Han Shu came from Shanxi, and her mother, who is half Miao, came from Hunan. Her mater ...

, Geling Jiang, and Bei Bei He. The trio combines musical traditions from China and elsewhere, and its repertoire ranges from the traditional and contemporary

music of China The music of China consists of many distinct traditions, often specifically originating with one of the country's various Ethnic groups in China, ethnic groups. It is produced within and without the country, involving either people of Chinese or ...

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

, new music and creative improvisation. The Orchid Ensemble has recorded three CDs. ''Heartland'' was nominated for Best Instrumental Music and Best World Music by 2001 West Coast Music Awards. ''Road to Kashgar'' was nominated for world album of the Year by 2005

Juno Awards The Juno Awards (stylized as JUNOS), or simply known as the Junos, are awards presented by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to recognize outstanding achievements in Canada's music industry. The Grammy Awards are the United S ...

. ''Life Death Tears Dream'' won the 2013 International Independent Music Awards.

Discography

*''Heartland'' (2000) *''Road to Kashgar'' (2004) *''Life Death Tears Dream'' (2012) *''From A Dream'' (2018) *''Celestial River'' (2024)

References

External links

Orchid Ensemble
Official site {{DEFAULTSORT:Orchid Ensemble Musical groups established in 1997 Musical groups from Vancouver Canadian world music groups Chinese musical instrument ensembles 1997 establishments in British Columbia

Discography

References

Further reading

External links