Dai Bo Dai Bo

Dai Bo is a doctoral candidate in composition at the China Central Conservatory of Music. Dai Bo was born in 1988 in China. At the age of five, he turned blind due to an illness. Currently, he is a doctoral candidate in composition of Prof. Xiaogang Ye at the China Central Conservatory of Music.

His works Charm of Beijing Opera for accordion solo was selected as an obligatory piece for the 2010 Harbin International Accordion Competition, and was greatly acclaimed in Lithuania the following year.

In 2011, his paper The combination of poly- texture and folk elements in “Harnasie” by Karol Szymanowski won the excellent paper award in China-Poland seminar of Karol Szymanowski and Poland Music in 20th Century.

In 2012, Dai Bo was invited to participate in the Warsaw Autumn Festival in Poland, where his Illusion Butterfly was performed for the first time by the ONM Orchestra, conducted by Szymon Bywalec. In the same year, he won a significant prize at the Singapore International Composition Competition.

In 2013, he became a fellow composer of The Intimacy of Creativity 2013 Composers Meet Performers in Hong Kong. On April 28th, the violinist Cho-Liang Lin and Dai Bo performed his work Kong Gu You Lan (for violin and piano) at the Hong Kong City Hall Theatre.

His orchestra piece Invisible Mountain won second prize in the national competition held by Ludwig van Beethoven Association in November 2014. In January 2015, he visited Poland and Norway to join the first round of performance of Orkiestry Akademii Beethovenowskiej and Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jacek Kaspszyk.

The original mini dance drama Reflection was performed in China National Centre for the Performing Arts in May 2015.

In December 2015, his Wojski's Horn Concerto commissioned by ICM, premiered in Warsaw by Sinfonia Varsovia. Krzysztof Penderecki gave high evaluation, he considered Dai Bo is the one of the most talented Chinese young composers.

On March 2016 his piano recital performance The art of Fugue and his own pieces Disappeared Landscapes in Forbidden City Concert Hall. Other works: Book of Sand for violin and piano, Before the Rain for accordion, violin, clarinet and Vibraphone. Etc.

As a young pianist, Dai Bo performed Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata with the violinist Chai Liang, recorded by the CCTV. In 2013 Dai Bo won "future star" award at the BNP Paribas Piano Music Festival, followed by a critically acclaimed special solo piano concert. He performed as a pianist cooperated respectively with Cho-Liang Lin, Łukasz Kuropaczewski, Aleksandra Kuls, Maria Machowska, Michel Marang. In 2014, He was awarded the medal by the Embassy of Poland for his contribution to the promotion of Polish music in China. In December 2015, he joins a concert to play piano with the violinist Maria Machowska in Luslawice ECM. Dai Bo’s Orchestra works were also performed and recorded by China Philharmonic Orchestra, China Opera and Dance Drama Theater Orchestra and China Broadcasting-Film Orchestra. His works orchestrated for China Broadcasting-Film chamber music groups were performed in Poland, Belarus and Romania. 

Space­-time continuum ­­-Pro et Contra is a chamber work written for an ensemble of 13 musicians. The instrumentation of the work is similar to that of a chamber symphony in the 20t h century (each section of the orchestra is represented by one instrument); the relationship between the instruments is similar to that of a Baroque concerto (harpsichord, Violin I & II and oboe as solo instruments and the other nine as accompaniment). The harpsichord functions as an important solo instrument, but is also part of the accompaniment. The super­traditional style of the work aims for an aesthetic that is the specialization of time.

The structure of the work is like that of a traditional concerto (three movements in fast-­slow-­fast relationship). The thematic material of the first movement embodies exoticism and Baroque style. Contrasting the dramatic recitative first movement , the second movement is an elegy. The third movement’s tempo is similar to that of a Toccata, while the texture is somehow incidental. The complex rhythm and irregular phrasing give an impression of a constantly pausing and skipping grammophon.

This is a work that shakes the balance between space and time. It is inspired by the conversation between the European musical language and Oriental musical traditions. The Baroque concerto style merges with the 20th century chamber symphony structure.