The Economic Engine

East meets West in this New York Art Ensemble production of Neil Rolnick’s The Economic Engine, a multimedia powerhouse collaboration combining the forces of two amazing chamber ensembles, Music From China and the Todd Reynolds String Quartet, with video produced by Cindy Ng Ieng, and images processed and performed by Adam Kendall. Todd Reynolds is musical director.
“We are very pleased to be performing this very important cross cultural work,” said New York Art Ensemble Artistic and Executive Director, Preston Stahly. “These tandem premieres, first in Beijing, and now in New York City, present a work that responds to the influence of enormous economic growth on the great Asian tiger, China. It’s an exciting convergence of truly gifted musicians, sound design and video artists!”
This four-part sonic/visual realization portrays the impact of dramatic economic growth on the lives of the Chinese people.
The four movements are called:
Traffic, Farm to Factory, Opaque Air, and Hutong to Highrise.

The video footage that accompanies the music documents the responses of three Beijing-based performance artists to the growing Chinese economy. The videos include performances of Magic by Si Man, Economic Growth by Xue Liming, and RMB (the currency of the People’s Republic of China) by Wang Chuyu.

Also on the program is the Shadow Quartet for string quartet & computer by Neil Rolnick. It is in three movements: Western Swing, Breathing Machine, and Release.

Performing:
Music from China
Ann Yao, zheng
Helen Yee, yangqin
Sun Li, pipa
Wang Guowei, erhu
Susan Cheng, executive Director

and the
Todd Reynolds String Quartet
Todd Reynolds, violin
Ben Russell, violin
Nadia Sirota, viola
Ha-Yang Kim, cello