Repertoire . Audio/Video . Musicians . Performances . Contact

THE YELLOW RIVER ENSEMBLE

The Yellow River Ensemble is a professional Chinese music troupe that performs traditional and contemporary Chinese music on Chinese instruments such as the dizi (transverse bamboo flute), zhongruan (moon guitar), hulusi (gourd based reed instrument), gaohu (high-pitched bowed lute), erhu (python-skin bowed lute), guzheng (Chinese zither/harp), xiao (vertical bamboo flute), and various percussion instruments. The group has been carefully constructed from the best professional Chinese musicians in the region, including faculty from York University and the University of Toronto’s music departments, prolific soloists, and leading members of the Toronto Chinese Orchestra. Members of the ensemble have performed across Canada, the United States, Poland, Britain, Hong Kong, Singapore, and mainland China, and for dignitaries such as the former president elect of Poland, Stanislaw Taminski. Their performances have been broadcast across China on CCTV. This pedigree has helped to develop the Yellow River Ensemble’s reputation as one of the best Chinese music ensembles in the country.

The Yellow River Ensemble plays under the leadership of Dr. Kim Chow-Morris, an internationally performing dizi virtuoso, and one of the leading Chinese music performers in Canada. Zhongruan and percussion player Jaro Dabrowski, erhu and gaohu performer Patty Chan, and guzheng and percussion player Miriam Sue, each of whom possess active performing careers, round out the group.

The Yellow River Ensemble provides music both for large and small venue staged concerts and festivals, as well as background music for banquets and parties. The ensemble members have also regularly shared their stage with dancers, comedians, local radio broadcasters, and others in multi-media events. While the ensemble is based on a quartet of four performers, the troupe also accommodates requests for performances of between two and five players, in accordance with organizers’ requests. The ensemble has a wide range of repertoire and generally provides musical performances of between half an hour to two hours in length.

REPERTOIRE

The repertoire of the Yellow River Ensemble includes traditional pieces such as Purple Bamboo (Jiangsu Province), Jasmine Flower (Jiangsu Province), Cowboy Song (Jiangsu Province), Song of Happiness (Silk and Bamboo), Dancing in the Moonlight (Silk and Bamboo), Moderately Ornamented Six Beat (Silk and Bamboo), Rosy Clouds Chasing After the Moon (Cantonese), Raindrops on Banana Leaves (Cantonese), Bu Bu Gao (Cantonese), Youth Dance (Xinjiang Province), Copper Coin (featuring zhongruan), Moon Over Erquan (featuring erhu), Uncover Your Covering (Xinjiang Province), Dance of the Yao (Yunnan Province), Tai Lake (Southern style), Fisherman’s Song (Yunnan Province hulusu solo), Moonlight over Spring River (ancient), and Lady Meng Jiang (ancient), as well as more contemporary arrangements such as Galloping Horses (featuring erhu), Happy News (featuring dizi), and Fisherman’s Song (featuring guzheng). A more extensive list of our repertoire is available upon request. The fine technical artistry, sensitive ensemble communication, and expressive nature of the music which the Yellow River Ensemble plays have attracted large crowds of appreciative spectators in past performances.

Kim Chow-Morris is the leader of the Yellow River Ensemble, and has been playing flute for over twenty years. An honours graduate of the University of Toronto’s music programme, Dr. Chow-Morris is a PhD recipient from York University’s graduate programme in Ethnomusicology, where she specialized in Chinese instrumental music. She has a particular love of the traditional silk and bamboo music of Shanghai, which she studied over six years with the foremost masters of the genre: she is an authority on this style. Dr. Chow-Morris founded and conducts the Chinese music programmes at both the University of Toronto and York University. She has also taught private western flute, private xiao, private dizi, chamber music, the western Symphony Orchestra, musicianship, harmony, counterpoint, music history, and other courses for the York U. Music department and the University of Toronto. She performed dizi (transverse reeded bamboo flute) and xiao (vertical notched flute) for the Toronto Chinese Orchestra since its inception in 1993, and throughout her career has engaged in numerous international appearances with Canada’s and China’s leading artists. Chow-Morris has also accepted invitations to play for former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, Chinese Premier Wen, the mayor of Zhouzhuang in mainland China, and other prominent dignitaries. During the last two years, she has been featured on Omni TV, in York U. Magazine, and in Flute Talk magazine. Her teachers include the famous mainland China dizi masters Yu Xun Fa and Lu Chun Ling, and the western flautists Douglas Stewart (Principal Flute, Canadian Opera Company, Les Miserables, Esprit Orchestra, Miss Saigon, and others) and Anne Emond (Principal Flute, London Symphony Orchestra). Dr. Chow-Morris is a virtuoso on both Chinese and Western flutes, and has been commended for her musical sensitivity, ability to achieve delicate timbral nuance, technical mastery, and profundity of expression. Her knowledge, interpretation, and technique have won her many awards and accolades: those of particular prestige include the Canada Council Grant to Individual Musicians, the Ontario Graduate Scholarship, and two years of the prized Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Grant. Her fiery dizi solo Glad Tidings brings audiences to their feet, while the mournful Lady Meng Jiang is pensive and sorrow-laden.
 

Jaro Dabrowski is a highly acclaimed plucked string performer, who performs on both western guitar and Chinese zhongruan (moon guitar). An honours graduate of York University’s music programme, he is the P.R. manager for the Yellow River Ensemble. Mr. Dabrowski has an extensive background in plucked instruments and percussion from around the world, and has performed in ensembles in styles from Africa, the Philippines, the Middle East, Cuba, and Brazil. He is a highly skilled jazz musician as well, and has performed regularly with various jazz ensembles including the Mike Davidson Trio, Silverthorn Big Band, Sylvia Nadgrodkiewicz Duo, Kazimierz Jonkisz, Marcin Jahr ensemble, Polish Folk Orchestra, and others throughout Canada and Europe. He also performs on the western classical guitar, and has given solo and chamber performances with the Silverthorn String Orchestra. Mr. Dabrowski has studied erhu, zhongruan, and sheng in mainland China with masters of each instrument, including Zhou Hao and Pan Jingeng. Mr. Dabrowksi has served as the lead percussionist of the Toronto Chinese Orchestra, and the first European member of the ensemble. He has received many scholarships and awards for his abilities, which include the prestigious Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Award, Ontario Graduate Scholarship (declined), the Bill Chan Award, the Peggy Sampson Award, the Karabekos Award, the Canada Music Centre Award, and others. He maintains a busy teaching schedule, training many students on plucked lute technique, in a variety of styles, and has held teaching posts in both guitar performance and music history with the York University music department and Mississauga International Conservatory. Popular pieces in his repertoire include Purple Bamboo and Copper Coin. Mr. Dabrowski’s lively energy, flying fingers, and musical wit add excitement to any performance. He is a partner of J & R Music Studio (www.jrmusicstudio.com).

Patty Chan was born in Toronto, and began to play the erhu (python-skin bowed lute) at the tender age of twelve. She went on to become the principal erhu player of a Toronto Chinese instrumental ensemble for many years, before assuming the position of principal erhu of the Toronto Chinese Orchestra. Ms. Chan studied erhu technique with virtuoso player George Gao, and is now a master of the instrument in her own right. In 1995 and 1996, Ms. Chan was awarded the first prize of the non-western string class of the Kiwanis Music Festival. She has collaborated with many other musicians and ensembles, including the Tapestry Music Theatre, members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and a wide array of Chinese and Mexican dance artists. Ms. Chan is a teacher of piano and erhu, and teaches private erhu lessons and assists in the York University Classical Chinese Orchestra. She also teaches erhu classes at Yee Hong community program. Ms. Chan’s technical proficiency is evident at first listen; her ability to capture her audience is apparent from the very first note.  Her web site is at www.arcosound.com.
 

SELECTED UPCOMING & RECENT CONCERTS

• Nov. 12/07 World premiere movie screening of IRIS CHANG: The Rape of Nanking, Bloor Cinema, 7pm

• Oct.  07 Contribute to the sound track of IRIS CHANG: The Rape of Nanking

• Jun. 10/07 Luminato, Harbourfront, Toronto

• Jun. 10/06 New composition by Dr. Kim Chow-Morris, soundaXis - Architecture | Music | Acoustics Conference, Department of Architectural Science, Architecture Building, Ryerson University, 9:30 am

• May 27/06 Niagara Folk Arts Festival, Montebello Park, St. Catherines, 6 - 7 pm

• Mar. 31/06 Patty Chan performs O Canada on CBC Radio News at 6pm

• Oct. 2/05 Silk Brocade of Dance and Music, Toronto Chinese Dance Company,  Leah Posluns Theatre, 7:30 pm

• Jul. 24/05 Dim Sum: Sampling Contemporary Chinese Culture,  Harbourfront, Toronto Star Stage, 12:30 pm

• Jun. 17/05 Markham Festival, Centre Street Stage, 6:30 and 8:45 pm

• Feb. 6/05 Royal Ontario Museum. Featured performance of new compositions. With George Gao and the University of Toronto Chinese Music Ensemble (directed by Dr. Chow-Morris)

• Nov. 2/04 University of Toronto. Guest performance-demonstration. Scarborough

• Oct. 29/04 Canadian Society for Traditional Music Annual Conference. Featured Performance.

• Oct. 29/04 McLaughlin Performance Theater. York University. With guest Vivian Xia, yangqin

• Aug.21 /04 Rochester Museum