My Neighbours Totoro and Claude!

Kawaii Power!

“Be vulnerable to the magic of affection <3”

Have you ever met Totoro? The giant, fluffy, huggable racoon-like animal who protects the forest. His yawn makes the ground shake with joy and laughter, and his soft furry belly is bouncy like a trampoline! What about Kiki? Have you caught her flying through the sky delivering fresh hot herring pie? Have you wandered at night into the festive, bizarre Bathhouse for spirit gods and run into the terrifying witch Yubaba?

Welcome to the fantastical, magical, kawaii (“cute”) world of Studio Ghibli! This program features piano four-hands arrangements of Joe Hisaishi’s film score for Hayao Miyazaki’s beloved films My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, and Spirited Away alongside duets by Ravel, Debussy, and Fauré. Let’s fall together into the sweet, tender embrace of cuteness through the sounds of childhood, imagination, and playfulness~

Program

Joe Hisaishi / Wesley Chu

“Totoro’s Fantasy” from My Neighbor Totoro

“Kiki’s Potpourri” from Kiki’s Delivery Service

“Chihiro’s Rhapsody” from Spirited Away

Gabriel Fauré

Dolly Suite, Op.56

Claude Debussy

Petite Suite

Maurice Ravel

Ma mère l'Oye

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Tong Wang

Tong Wang is a Canadian artist leading innovative initiatives across areas of performance, research, and community engagement. Her projects explore the role of art in relation to identity, culture, and current social-political issues. As a soloist and chamber musician, Tong has performed with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Red Deer Symphony Orchestra, and ensembles across North America and Europe. As a multidisciplinary artist, she has written the libretto of a new opera, “Labyrinth of Tears”, funded by the Canada Council, FRQSC, and SSHRC, participated in the Napoule Arts Foundation Residency in France, and published an award-winning photo-essay in the literary magazine Carte Blanche. Her other projects include the creative performances “Song of Praise”, “Ghiblilane”, “Once Upon a Pumpkin”, and research on the aesthetic of “cuteness” in popular and classical music. Tong recently toured a recital on multiculturalism, “我们Us” in Lunenburg, Montreal, Basel, and presented the interactive concerts “We’re Not Really Strangers” and “My Neighbours Totoro and Claude!” at the Verbier Festival. In 2022, Tong launched the Windwood Music Festival in Airdrie, Alberta to engage with and support rural farming communities through classical chamber music. In 2023, Tong will be touring with Duo Perdendosi across eastern US & Canada, as well as with Duo Incarnadine in Turkey and China to premiere a new commission by Alice Ho, Four Impressions of China. Using diverse mediums, Tong aims to share the power of art to reach across time, languages, borders, and cultures to connect people and kindle a shared understanding.

https://tong-wang.com
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