By GARY LINEHAN
The Union Democrat Chinese-born musician Karen Han, an erhu virtuoso who
performed in Sonora in 2001, will be featured during the 2008 Olympic Games in
Beijing.
She may be involved in the opening theme, but will definitely be heard in a
new Oreo commercial that will air throughout the games in August.
The 2008 opening theme has not yet been officially announced. Composers
worldwide have submitted entries, including one by Tan Dun featuring the Italian
tenor Andrea Bocelli, with Han contributing on erhu, a two-string Chinese
instrument that predates the violin by a thousand years.
The song, reflecting the 2008 theme “One World, One Dream,” was recorded Feb.
9 at the Village Studio in Los Angeles and submitted to the Olympic Committee in
Beijing.
The winner originally was scheduled to be unveiled 100 days before the
opening ceremonies on Aug. 8, but a decision still has not yet been revealed.
“I am not sure if it has been chosen for the official song yet,” Han said
from her home in Los Angeles. “It is very hard in China with all kinds of
political stuff, especially for the Olympic 2008. I haven’t talk to Tan Dun
since that recording, but hopefully it will be the one.”
Tan Dun, born in Changsha, capital of south China’s Hunan Province, is a
graduate of Beijing’s Central Academy of Music and an Academy Award winner for
his sound track to “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”
Andrea Bocelli was born in 1958 in Lajatico, a rural farming community in
Tuscany, Italy.Visually impaired from birth, an accident permanently blinded him
at age 12.
Bocelli has been the biggest selling classical artist in the world for more
than six years.
“I am so happy to be involved with the Olympic 2008, although I won’t be able
to attend it,” Han said.
Regardless of the song’s outcome, Han’s music will be heard in the cookie
commercial, titled “Train,” composed by Mark Isham.
“Yes, the Oreo film will be play everywhere during the Olympic season for
sure,” she said.
The Beijing Olympics will take place from Aug. 8 to 24.
Han was featured with the Symphony of the Sierra in Sonora in 2001, playing
erhu in the world premiere of Joseph Curiale’s “Tea in Chinese Camp.”
A native of China, Han moved to Los Angeles in 1988, not knowing a word of
English. Born Hwa-Chee Han, she took her American name from Karen Carpenter.
Han went on to perform with major symphonies and recorded film and television
sound tracks, including “The Last Emperor” and “The Joy Luck Club.”
Her recent work was featured in the hit movie “The Forbidden Kingdom” and
will soon be heard in the animated feature “Kung Fu Panda,” due in theaters June
6.
Other recent films include “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,”
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “The Pursuit of Happyness” and “Memoirs of a
Geisha.”
Han also is a new mother.
“I am doing lots of recordings rather than performance since I was pregnant
last year, and then raising Theo, my son,” she said. “He is turning 1 this
month.”
She and Hollywood sound designer Paul Ottosson, an Academy Award nominee for
the 2004 “Spider-Man 2” sound track, were married June 30, 2006, at the
legendary Hackeberga Castle in Sweden.
Han returned to the concert stage in January. Future performances will be
given Aug. 8 in Las Vegas and Sept. 27 in Thousand Oaks, with a lecture
scheduled Sept. 20 at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Santa Ana.
“I’m not planning for any overseas concerts, but maybe next year,” she said.
Han serves as the music director of the Hollywood Chinese Musicians Ensemble
and has established the Chinese Strings Instrument Institute in Los Angeles.
This will be at least the third time that the Olympics have had a musical
connection to Tuolumne and Calaveras counties.
Soprano Claudia Waite, a Sonora High School graduate, was a soloist during
the opening ceremonies of the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, and the
music of violinist Kim Angelis, a resident of Calaveras County at the time, was
used during the floor exercise by Chinese gymnast Kui Yuanyuan at the 2000
Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
