VCME Symposium

The Vancouver Chinese Music Ensemble (VCME) will be hosting its first-ever online symposium, Tradition in the Future, on Saturday, August 1st, 2020, from 3pm to 5pm (Pacific Time), featuring presentations by international speakers and musical performances by the ensemble’s professional musicians. 

Science and technology present both new possibilities and challenges for Chinese music. On one hand, social media and the Internet are breaking down the physical barriers between people, making even the rarest kinds of music accessible within a single click from one’s home. Modernization, social and cultural changes, nonetheless, are shaking up the niche of unique traditions and genres both in China and around the world at an unprecedented pace. At the crux of these phenomena is the question of how to adequately reconcile the preservation, transmission — and renewal — of traditional practices with the need for innovation.