Brisbane City Council presents:

Rare Voices at SunPAC

Event Details

Saturday 18 February 2023
7:30pm

Location

SunPAC, 470 McCullough Street, Sunnybank QLD

Prices

Adults – $15.00

Concessions – $10.00

Children under 12 – FREE

To purchase more than 10 tickets per transaction please call the SunPAC Box Office on 07 3323 9650

Duration

90 min (no interval)

Additional Information

As per current QLD Government guidelines, the wearing of masks inside is recommended but not mandatory.

BrisAsia Festival presented by Brisbane City Council returns from 1-19 February 2023 to celebrate Lunar New Year! There’s no better way to start your year than to connect with culture at BrisAsia Festival, with something on offer for the whole family.

Come and experience a transcendent evening of vocal artistry by some of Brisbane best Asian singers at Rare Voices as part of the BrisAsia Festival. Rare Voices will feature Chinese virtuoso folk singer Zi Wang with her new ensemble 林钟(G in Forest) and rising local Sufi star Parminder Singh and Filipino OPM singer Liz Conde presenting intimate traditional songs, pulsating world rhythms, contemporary popular music and hypnotic collective improvisations accompanied by virtuoso instrumentalists from across the Asian region.

HEADLINE ARTISTS:

Parminder Singh and Band 

Brisbane-based Indian vocalist Parminder Singh is a rising star on Brisbane’s world music scene whose deeply sublime voice has been mesmerising audiences since his arrival in Australia in 2019.  Supported by a highly credentialled band featuring guitar and keyboard player Steve Shankar and tabla percussionist Ravikesh Singh, Parminder’s performances blend Indian classical and Sufi music with contemporary soundscapes and poetic original songs in both Hindi and Pubjabi languages.  Born and raised in Amritsar, Punjab, Parminder brings personal warmth and a modern touch to ancient vocal traditions that now call Australia home.  Having supported Charulatha Mani in Rare Voices 2021 and featured in the BEMAC concert Garland of Languages, Parminder’s artistic trajectory is now to become one of Brisbane’s truly rare voices.  

G in Forest

钟(G in Forest) is a trio of three outstanding female musicians from China, encompassing Wang Zi (lead singer), Fanghui chen (Erhuist) and Annabelle (Guzheng player). The trio’s name derives from the one of the ancient Chinese music scales. Also, it represents perfect fifth in Western music. Through its interval characteristics, this trio will convey eastern-based aesthetic concepts and improvise traditional music based on the Chinese literature pieces. They reproduce the elegance of the Chinoiserie style and brings the best of Eastern culture through music within cultural landscape of Brisbane.

Wang ZiLead singer Chinese opera and traditional vocal singer, opera singer, educator.

Chen Fanghui (Anna): Professional Erhu performer, cross-cultural art promoter and educator.

Niu anran (Annabelle): Professional Guzheng player, musician, art promoter and educator.

Liz Conde

A breakout year on The Voice Australia 2017 working with Team Seal, Liz Conde shot to prominence in the Australian music scene as a powerhouse singer with a captivating stage presence.  A proud Filipino/Australian with television appearances and regular live performances across Brisbane including feature performances at Brisbane’s annual Filipino Festival the Barrio Festival, Liz has supported Filipino celebrities such as Jose Marie Chan, David Pomeranz, Sarah Geronimo & Lani Misalucha.  Born in Makati, Manila Liz returns to her cultural roots for Rare Voices 2023 with special program featuring Original Pinoy (Filipino) Music, also known as OPM from the Philippines. The genre OPM evolved during the 70s through a rich fusion of traditional Spanish and American popular music featuring power ballads with sweet lyrics.  

SUCCESSFUL EOI ARTISTS:

Ray Lin (Composer)

Queensland Music Award winner Ray Lin is a composer, conductor, and arranger specialising in music for concert hall and screens. Ray’s music has been featured in concerts in the United States and China; and at local, state, and national venues and platforms in Australia, includingQPAC, ABC ME, Brisbane City Hall, 4MBS Classic FM, Old Museum Concert Hall, and QLD-GOMA, among others; and in performances by the Queensland Pops Orchestra, Topology, Queensland Conservatorium Symphony, Orchestral Naturalis and others. Ray has received many outstanding awards for his works, including a 2022 David Blumberg Award from ASMAC (USA), and winning the Contemporary Classical “Song of the Year” prize at the 2020 Queensland Music Awards.

Cara Shen (Guzheng)

Cara has received professional training since the age of five years old and has a solid foundation playing the Guzheng, a Chinese plucked zither. Cara studied in the middle school of Sichuan Conservatory of Music in Junior High School and graduated from Sichuan Conservatory of Music with a Bachelor’s degree. Successively studied under Lecturer Tianli Zhou, Associate Professor Qian Jiang, Professor Miao Liu and well-known educator and performer, Professor Chengyu He (Chinese National first-class musical actor) and Professor Ningxin Rao (“Inheritor of the Southern Chinese uzheng”),

Accompanist: Yizheng Cai

Born in 1993, Yizheng Cai began learning the piano at the age of five.  In 2012, Cai studied piano under Professor Martin Canin and Professor Robert McDonald from Juillirad school in the United States. In 2020, he completed a Bachelor of Music degree majoring classical piano performance at the Queensland Conservatorium (Griffith University) under Russian pianist Oleg Stephanov. In the same year, Cai enrolled in the Master of Music Studies in performance program with Griffith International student academic excellence scholarship and graduated with distinction in 2022. 

Tenteke (Taiko) 

Ten years ago, a small group of Brisbane students started learning the art of Japanese drumming under the remote tutelage of Taikoz, Australia’s premier, Sydney-based team. Over time, this class grew in number and joyful spirit as more lovers of taiko were attracted by the heart-throbbing DON of the drum. In 2015 the class was handed over to Chie and Yukako of local taiko group Tokoton. These new sensei patiently guided their fledgling “Taiko Kyoshitsu” (“drum class”) to practise hard and work towards performance level. They finally emerged from the nest in 2022 as Tenteke Performance Team. 

Watching Tenteke perform is a pulse-pounding experience, with 6-12 drummers passionately playing original and traditional pieces on a variety of timber drums. Taiko is a dynamic art form involving the whole body and featuring other traditional instruments – a feast for the eyes and ears! Taiko has been played in Japan for hundreds of years in religious rituals, festivals, theatre, and more recently as a performance craft in its own right. Although an amateur group, Tenteke has already clocked up an impressive repertoire of performances, including many local cultural festivals (e.g. Buddha’s Birthday, Brisbane Matsuri), corporate events, weddings and even international cricket matches

As part of BrisAsia Festival, Rare Voices at SunPAC is a special concert celebrating diverse voices from across the Asian region. This unique program engages with diverse communities by offering a selection of emerging artists an opportunity to participate in the event via an expression of interest (EOI). The successful EOI artists will share the stage with professional musicians at the Rare Voices at SunPAC concert on Saturday 18 February 2023.