On November 28, Principal Conductor Rossen Milanov returns to the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias to lead works by Tan Dun and Rimsky-Korsakov. The former is represented in his harp concerto Nu Shu: The Secret Songs of Women. Tan Dun’s symphonic work for 13 micro films, harp, and orchestra features video of women from a remote Hunan province in China and soloist Elizabeth Hainen, for whom the work was written.
The basis of Nu Shu, the only gender-specific language, ties in with Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, based on the legend of the Persian queen and storyteller who forms the basis of the One Thousand and One Nights. OSPA concertmaster Alexander Vasiliev is heard as the soloist in this piece.