Tangram Announce new performance at LSO St Luke's

The LSO is pleased to co-present a new music theatre production with Tangram, Associate Artists at LSO St Luke’s.

Bound/Unbound is led by Tangram co-directors and composers, Alex Ho and Sun Keting. Based on a new text by Xiaolu Guo, it brings to life the tragic stories of two of China’s 19th century heroines: Afong Moy, the first Chinese woman to go to the United States, and Qiu Jin, the feminist revolutionary. The production premieres at LSO St Luke’s on Friday 9th and Saturday 10th August 2024.

Combining new movement and new music, Bound/Unbound brings together three international soloists: soprano Haegee Lee, dancer Yining Chen and percussion-virtuoso Beibei Wang. They are accompanied by LSO musicians and video projection designed for LSO St Luke’s by visual artists Chang Meng and Ke Peng.

Bound/Unbound marks Tangram’s third anniversary as Associate Artists at LSO St Luke’s. Since their appointment in 2022, the trailblazing music collective have presented a range of ambitious, multi-disciplinary work encouraging nuanced dialogue between Chinese and Western cultures. For their most recent production at LSO St Luke’s, Nature Echo, they were lauded for their ‘blending of Western and Chinese musical styles … combined with highly imaginative presentations and truly limitless virtuosity as musicians’ I CARE IF YOU LISTEN.

Bound/Unbound

Growing up with bound feet in the feudal Qing Dynasty, Afong Moy in 1834 became the first Chinese woman to be brought to America, where she was displayed before the public as a ‘Chinese Curiosity’. Half a century later, Qiu Jin, a young revolutionary, challenged the stifling Manchu culture and changed the fate of women by unbinding her feet and taking up the art of sword fighting. Poet, author of manifestos, and leader of a revolutionary community, Qiu Jin was determined to save her country from the corrupt Qing government. These two women, bound and unbound, together compose a symphonic dance, a protest against the world of patriarchy into which they were born.

Co-produced by Tangram and the LSO with generous support from the Bagri Foundation