Stir Cheat Sheet: 3 culture-crossing concerts to take in at the Sound of Dragon Music Festival

Performances span an ambitious ode to the animals of the Chinese zodiac to a spotlight on three new Vancouver ensembles

The Sound of Dragon Music Festival takes place at various venues from April 2 to 5

ERHUS, PIPAS, AND tars meet harps and cellos in artistic director Lan Tung’s annual, culture-crossing Sound of Dragon Music Festival.

The sheer number of ensembles taking part in the 2026 edition of this polished ode to contemporary music and East-West connection is impressive, from Toronto’s PhoeNX Ensemble to Taiwan’s Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra and Vancouver’s own boundary-breaking, intercultural 88 Strings.

Below is a trio of concerts that give new meaning to cultural fusion, from a tribute to the animals of the Chinese zodiac to a performance of new Canadian music for multicultural instruments.

Jade Emperor’s Great Race

April 2 at the Annex

“The Great Race” is a Chinese legend explaining the origin of the 12-year Chinese zodiac cycle, in which the Jade Emperor hosts a race across a river to select 12 animals to represent the years in the calendar. PhoeNX Ensemble has commissioned 14 works from award-winning Canadian and Asian composers, each inspired by the dozen animals—Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig—plus the Jade Emperor himself. Celebrated names taking part in this inspired meld of the zoological and zodiacal include artistic director Lan Tung, B.C.’s Dorothy Chang and John Oliver, Ontario’s Alice Ho and Bekah Simms, Newfoundland’s Andrew Staniland, and Korea’s Cecilia Heejeong Kim. With Patty Chan on erhu, Sanya Eng on harp, and Ryan Scott on percussion, PhoeNX collaborates with Taiwan’s internationally touring Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra to perform the B.C. premiere. Vancouver’s Sungyong Lim guest-stars on cello, and Little Giant’s Chih Sheng Chen conducts.

Vancouver Erhu Quartet. Photo by Alistar Eagles

Strum, Bow, Roar

April 3 at the Annex

There were at least a few positives to come out of the pandemic: the establishment of the Vancouver groups 88 Strings, the Vancouver Erhu Quartet, and the Multicultural Wind Ensemble. Each is intercultural, centring around instruments within the same family, but inspired by different Western and Eastern traditions. Most excitingly, the groups all draw on the music of an equally diverse range of contemporary composers. Here, the focus is on the Canadian ones that help them “strum, bow, roar”: John Oliver, Farshid Samandari, Moshe Denburg, Jin Zhang, Elizabeth Knudson, Ali Razmi, Yawen Wang, and Amir Eslami. The Canadian Music Centre partners in the concert.

Encounters: Taiwan, Toronto, Vancouver

April 4 at the Annex

The fest’s final concert brings the full breadth of Sound of Dragon together onstage, with visiting musicians gathering to play instruments that hail from as far away as China and the Middle East. Highlights include Newfoundland composer Andrew Gosse’s Passing Over, featuring Patty Chan on erhu and Ryan Scott on vibraphone; and B.C. composer Niel Golden’s Conversation 對話, with Dailin Hsieh on zheng, Lan Tung on erhu, and Jonathan Bernard on dumbek. The big draw? Beloved Métis singer-songwriter Wayne Lavallee collaborating with Tung on an improvisation—a pairing you could only find at Sound of Dragon.

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Janet Smith

Janet Smith is founding partner and editorial director of Stir. She is an award-winning arts journalist who has spent more than two decades immersed in Vancouver’s dance, screen, design, theatre, music, opera, and gallery scenes. She sits on the Vancouver Film Critics’ Circle.

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