Music as Conversation with Vân-Ánh Võ and the Blood Moon Orchestra
On-site at the museum
Share stories of immigrant resilience through music and movement.
Award-winning Vietnamese composer and traditional multi-instrumentalist Vân-Ánh Võ presents “Resilience: Building Strength through Community Experiences,” the first of two interactive performances. Together with artists from the local Southeast Asian community, special guest artist Charya Burt, and Võ’s musical collective, Blood Moon Orchestra, she will share stories of immigrants’ resilience through music and movement.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Vân-Ánh Võ is an award-winning performer of the 16-string đàn tranh (zither) and an Emmy Award–winning composer who has collaborated with Kronos Quartet, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, and Yo-Yo Ma. Her music blends the unique sounds of Vietnamese instruments with other genres, and refreshes deeply rooted Vietnamese musical traditions with new structures and compositions. Võ collaborates with musicians across different music genres to create new works, bringing Vietnamese traditional music to a wider audience, and preserves her cultural legacy through teaching. She has performed in more than 30 countries and recorded many broadcast programs in and outside of Vietnam.
Charya Burt is an acclaimed master dancer, choreographer, vocalist, and teacher of classical Cambodian dance who has injected new life into the dance form by creating inventive new works. Following the Khmer Rouge genocide, Burt trained extensively with Cambodia’s foremost surviving dance masters, eventually joining the dance faculty of Cambodia’s Royal University of Fine Arts. Since emigrating in 1993, Burt has performed throughout the United States and has trained thousands of dance students in California. A 2019–2020 Dance/USA Fellow and Isadora Duncan Award recipient for individual performance, she is founder and artistic director of Charya Burt Cambodian Dance.
In partnership with Union of North American Vietnamese Student Association (UNAVSA), and Vietnamese American Non-Governmental Organization (VANGO).
This program is supported by a grant from the California Arts Council.
