Water Concerto | Maria Vomlehn Flurry

“Not your grandmother’s concerto.”
The Inlander, Spokane, WA
“Her performance was among the highest caliber that I have experienced with any performer or any orchestra."
Enrique Diemecke, Music Director & Conductor
Flint Symphony Orchestra
“Flurry was a brilliant advocate for Tan's work”
Spokesman Review, Spokane, WA
"The Concerto for Water Percussion and Orchestra was captivating, as indicated by the standing ovation."
The Flint Journal

Bookings

(928) 533-3525

Tan Dun’s Water Concerto

"Flurry was a brilliant advocate for Tan's work"
Spokesman Review, Spokane, WA

"Her performance was among the highest caliber that I have experienced with any performer or any orchestra."
Maestro Enrique Diemecke, Flint Symphony Orchestra

Written in 1999, Tan Dun’s Water Concerto is a refreshing break from the twentieth century’s 12-tone, minimalist, and neo-romantic literature. Mr. Tan uses unique sounds, powerful imagery, and percussive and atmospheric elements created by both the percussionists and orchestra to guide the listener from a state of meditation to a pulsating frenzy.

For me, preparing and performing the Water Concerto is as spiritual as it is virtuosic. I find meaning and symbolism in almost every corner of the work. I imagine conversations between the gongs, I participate in reverent tea ceremonies, and I hear the clamor of marketplaces. Different performances reflect different stages of my life, and there is a subtle evolution of my interpretation through the years.

Perhaps as important to the sonic elements of the work are the visual aspects. The ripples and splashes within the large bowls of water cast fascinating shadows onto the ceiling of the performance space. The movement of glass, metal, and plastic through the water is a choreograph of motion synchronized with timbre and pitch. A professionally-trained dancer coached me on my movements so that I could better convey my sense of sacredness within this work

Tan Dun’s Water Concerto offers an opportunity to connect with the orchestra and audience that is unique among the percussion concerto literature. The very nature of pouring, slapping, dripping, and stirring water is extraordinarily organic. No other instrument I have played is as intimate as water. The opportunity for expression seems to be magnified.

I live in arid Arizona. I love that the month I first started learning the concerto, a year-long drought broke and our dry stream began to run continuously. It flowed for six months, offering its last trickles of the year only after my first performance of the concerto. In my 15 years here, it has never run so long.

Tan Dun’s website lists two of Maria Flurry’s performances (Tucson and Spokane) as significant performances.

(928) 533-3525