Rei Hotoda. Some of you will remember Rei as the conductor for my symphony concerts across Canada last year. Rei is not only a celebrated conductor, but a gifted and renowned concert pianist specializing in Asian Avant-garde.
Apparitions (Rei’s first solo recording) features the previously unrecorded works of nine contemporary Asian composers including three Canadians: Vivian Fung, Chan Ka Nin, and Vincent Ho (Composer In Residence of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra).
Though strangely contemplative and beautiful, this is definitely challenging music - especially for those of us unfamiliar with anything outside the standard Western repertoire, but it really does reward attentive and repeated listening. Every effort I’ve made to engage the idioms of another culture has not only expanded my capacity for beauty but for other-ness as well, ultimately glorifying God whose nuanced beauty is inexhaustible. Give it a try!
