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Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra (VICO), In the Key of the World

1. Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra (VICO). Established in 2001, VICO is an ensemble of 28 musicians and composers from diverse artistic and cultural communities, including Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese, Indian, Persian (Iranian) and Middle Eastern, Latin and South American, Vietnamese, North American and European. “We have developed a groundbreaking sound palette and repertoire that combines aural and written traditions, ancient and contemporary styles, and a huge variety of instruments into one ensemble,” says VICO Artistic Director Mark Armanini.

2. In the Key of the World. Recorded a year ago at Armoury Studios in Vancouver, In the Key of the World is the ensemble’s first full-length studio recording. (VICO has also recorded with the Laudate Singers and released an EP in 2011.)

3. Collaboration. The album features pieces by Canadian composers Dorothy Chang, John Oliver, Moshe Denburg, and Farshid Samandari. The composers and musicians worked together on the pieces.

4. Gypsy Chronicles. The process of collaboration was new to Oliver, whose contribution is titled Gypsy Chronicles. “I was trained in writing down everything, expecting I could control or dictate every aspect of the music,” says the composer. “Then I realized I was hampering the musicians from expressing themselves. It became more successful the less I wrote into the score.”

5. The King is Dancing. Denburg wrote his piece in the modal style of Indian music. “To me, it (the title) represents the marriage of the intellectual and the sensual worlds,” the composer says. “That these should not be separate.”

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