The start of 2013 sees the beginning of a very unique collaboration between Yi Yao, the acclaimed virtuoso Chinese classical accordionist and composer and established British painter Chris Gollon. The outcome will be an extraordnary work of art and music, which when completed is planned to tour the UK and China. Now aged 60, Chris Gollon is at the very height of his powers and is about to embark on a fascinating collaboration with Yi Yao . She is an acclaimed classical accordionist and composer, with a recent Grammy nomination for her virtuoso work with Jose Serebrier.
Neither Yi nor Chris know where exactly the collaboration will go, which makes it doubly exciting, and they relish the process of working together, and one discipline inspiring or influencing the other. It’s also an in-depth look at the relationship between colour and music. Chris is planning a work with a huge sweep of humanity in it, and the seven ages of Man, which will be at least 60ft long in twelve 5ft panels. He will paint a panel, show it to Yi, and she will then compose a piece of music inspired by it, which she will then play and then give to Chris. He will then play it in his studio incessantly and respond in paint by trying to give in a painted image the same emotions (and colours) to the viewer as the music gives, and then move us again seamlessly in a new direction, and the panel he paints he will then show to Yi to inspire the next piece of music. This two-way traffic of musical and artistic inspiration will occur twelve times, and the intellectual conversations Yi and Chris are having are already fascinating, as they discuss in depth and work with things like synesthesia and the colour of sound. The final work will only be shown with a full orchestra and Yi Yao playing solos, and a tour is being planned in the UK and to China.
