O Cambodia: Four Composers Respond to Cambodia

Cambodia’s turbulent and tragic recent history provides the inspiration for four new works from Chinary Ung (Cambodia/US), Him Sophy (Cambodia), Dame Gillian Whitehead (NZ), and Jack Body (NZ). Their compositions and traditional Cambodian works will be performed by the acclaimed NZTrio, vocalists and skilled Cambodian traditional instrument players.

The result is a unique aural picture of Cambodia, whose chequered history spans the vibrant, ancient Khmer culture and the country’s hopeful, modern aspect, but is overshadowed by the devastation of the Pol Pot regime. More than 1.7 million people perished through starvation, disease, overwork and execution, including most of the country’s artists and intellectuals. Now a widespread effort has been made to preserve the country’s 1,000-year-old arts, which were on the brink of extinction.

Conceiver and producer of the project, Jack Body, and composer Dame Gillian Whitehead, both have attachments with Cambodia. They are joined by Him Sophy, a Cambodian composer who spent four years in a Khmer Rouge labour camp, and Chinary Ung, the first American-based winner of the highly coveted Grawemeyer Award, considered the “Nobel Prize” for music composition.

Event listed by Auckland Festival

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