Asian Sound Project: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth

Travel to the Far East in this dynamic and kaleidoscopic evening, where Korean and Chinese traditional music meets improvisation, avant-garde, experimentalism, and sound designs.

Asian Sound Project is a collaboration between percussionists Jihye Kim and Beibei Wang, and pianist Belle Chen - three of London’s most exciting young musicians who have been pushing the boundaries across experimental, world, and classical music genres.

Alcoholic drinks and light snacks will also be available at the performance.


Jihye Kim / Percussion

Jihye Kim wants to be called a “performing artist” rather than a “percussion player”, the word describes well how much she enjoys being on a stage. She has played Korean traditional percussion and her focus of musical activity is playing all kinds of improvised music, not being deviated from the core elements of Korean traditional music. She gained her BA and first MA in Korean traditional percussion at Korean National University of Arts and received the Grand Prize at the KBS Korean Traditional Music Award as a member of the group ‘Ensemble SINAWI’ in 2012.



Beibei Wang / Percussion

“The Young Chinese virtuoso Wang Beibei is nothing if not flamboyant.” - The Times

Genre-defying percussionist Beibei Wang is an acclaimed international virtuoso percussionist with both Chinese and British musical education background. Beibei, who has been enjoyed a meteoric rising rise in the classical music world, receiving international praise for her performances. She received double Master Degrees from the Central Conservatory of Music (China) and the Royal Academy of Music (UK). Beibei was funded by Oriental Express Project of Chinese Ministry of Culture for her debut in Switzerland with Zürcher Kammerorchester in 2008. In 2014, she was selected listed in the top 50 Chinese musicians recommended list in the “Sound of East” project by the Chinese Ministry of Culture. in 2013. In 2015, she was endorsed as Exceptional Talent by the Arts Council, England and offered an Exceptional Talent visa from the Home Office. Following the successful recital at SOAS ,University of London, she started giving Chinese traditional percussion workshops at SOAS. Most recently, she was featured as the cover of China Music Life magazine and iD China Magazine in 2017.

Since 2008, as a soloist, Beibei has embarked upon a number of hugely successful international tours at many international music festivals including the Edinburgh International Festival and the Lucerne Festival. She has collaborated with numerous leading Orchestras worldwide, including: the BBC Symphony Orchestra (UK) and Mahler Chamber Orchestra (Germany), and conductors including Kent Nagano, Tan Dun, Kristjan Järvi, and Muhai Tang.



Belle Chen / Piano & Sound Art

“Original and provocative” - Brian Eno (NOISE Festival 2014)
“A revelation” - Max Reinhardt, BBC Late Junction (Latitude 2016)

Handpicked by Brian Eno as the one to watch, Australian-Taiwanese pianist Belle Chen has distinguished herself with her unique recorded works and performances that are unbound by tradition- often mixing classical music repertoire with recorded soundscapes and improvisation.  Her creativity was celebrated through winning the classical music category of 2015 London Music Awards, as voted by a luminous panel from the UK music industry.  
 
Belle’s unique and versatile creativity as a performer has seen her grace the stages of several major UK festivals and key venues ranging from BBC Radio 3 70th Anniversary at Royal Festival Hall, 2016 Latitude Festival, The Roundhouse to Café Oto. Her work was selected by BBC Radio 3 as one of top 4 best new music by BBC Introducing Classical Artist in the year of 2016. Her works have been featured across numerous radios around the world, and was recently featured as the official soundtrack on the headlining catwalk of London Fashion Week Festival of designer Edeline Lee.

Belle was trained at Royal Academy of Music, and has been endorsed by Arts Council England under Exceptional Talent visa scheme since 2016.