Los Angeles, CA (Top40 Charts/ CineMedia Promotions) International publishing company Plaza Mayor Company, Ltd. is releasing to soundtracks for two Asian productions, composed by Asian-American composer Nathan Wang. THE PATRIOT YUE FEI- Original
Soundtrack is currently available digitally via iTunes, and CHINESE ZODIAC - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, which will be released digitally on January 7, 2014.
"CHINESE ZODIAC is the fourth movie I have scored for Jackie [Chan], and it never gets easier! In fact, this was by far the most difficult one to compose, because there was a lot of collaboration going on in determining the direction of many cues," said Wang. "Many of my favorite pieces are here in this digital soundtrack. I was very fortunate to find a phenomenal jazz band --- the RJ Band led by Michael Kern. They are based in Shanghai, and we recorded together for two days, almost 11 hours a day, non-stop!! I'm honored that I had an opportunity to work with them."
CHINESE ZODIAC (Chinese: 十二生肖), also known as
Armour of God III: Chinese Zodiac, or CZ12 in the US, and is produced, written, directed by and starring Jackie Chan. It is the sequel to the 1991 film
Armour of God II: Operation Condor. Jackie Chan reprises his role as adventurer and treasure hunter Asian Hawk, who is seeking to repatriate twelve bronze heads of the animals of the Chinese zodiac that were looted from the Old Summer Palace in the Second Opium War.
It was a chance meeting while working on CHINESE ZODIAC that led Wang to THE PATRIOT YUE FEI. "I was waiting in the kitchen at the Beijing China Film Group studios for Jackie to come by between shooting his CHINESE ZODIAC scenes to discuss the direction of the music, when instead of Jackie, Stanley Tong walks in! Apparently he heard that I was meeting Jackie, and Stanley, who just arrived from Shanghai, hopped in a car to catch me," he described. Stanley and Wang go back a long way - back to 1994's RUMBLE IN THE BRONX.
THE PATRIOT YUE FEI is a Chinese television series based on the life of Yue Fei, a Song Dynasty general widely regarded as a patriot and national hero in Chinese culture for his role during the Jurchen campaigns against the Song Dynasty. While the plot is based on historical sources, it also includes elements of fiction and draws ideas from the novel Shuo Yue Quanzhuan(說 岳全傳) and other folktales on the general's life. Filming started in 2011. It is the first Chinese historical television series to be broadcast on HBO. Huang Xiaoming stars as the titular character, and the supporting cast includes Gallen Lo, Shao Bing, Yu Rongguang, Allen Ting, Zhou Bin, Steve Yoo, Ruby Lin, and Cecilia Liu.
"Stanley showed me unbelievable rough footage from the show," said Wang, "and I fell in love with the visuals; the acting, the photography of the landscape, the fighting scenes. It seemed like a dream come true for me, to be able to score for such a beautiful series. To me, it didn't look like a something shot for television --- it looked more like a gorgeous film. I was indeed honored to compose for such a project."
Plaza Mayor Company Ltd., presents THE PATRIOT YUE FEI- Original Soundtrack, currently available digitally, and CHINESE ZODIAC - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, available digitally on January 7, 2014.
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ABOUT NATHAN WANG
Nathan Wang is one of the most successful composers in Hollywood and Asian cinema. Prolific and versatile, he has written music for Jackie Chan movies, Steven Spielberg documentaries, live-action and animated movies for Disney, Dreamworks, and Sony studios. His compositions have been performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Opera, and the
Chicago Symphony.
Wang's musical journey began with classical music, when he started playing piano at the age of three with his mother's encouragement. His father soon introduced him to jazz artists, and after studying composition with famed composer
Morten Lauridsen at the University of Southern California at nine, he graduated from USC at the tender age of 13.
After opting for a general education from Pomona College instead of going to a music conservatory, he received a Fulbright scholarship to continue music graduate studies at Oxford University, England. He excelled in music composition and piano performance overseas, and once he returned to the states, the young pianist began playing at a bar in a popular five-star restaurant, where one of his fans turned out to be a producer for the TV show "China Beach."
Doors opened, and Wang eventually became a composer for that show before moving on to write for "Eek! The Cat" on Fox, "Toonsylvania" for DreamWorks Animation, the television series "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures" and many Spielberg projects.
A collaboration with
Hans Zimmer on the music for Steven Spielberg's "The Last Days" won an Academy Award for best documentary in 1999. Nathan was awarded the Singapore Grammy for "Best Arrangement of a Song" for his work on Faye Wong's song "I
Trust You." He was also commissioned to write an opera in 2000 for Los Angeles Opera, spearheaded by Artistic
Director Placido Domingo. Nathan received an Emmy for "Best Arrangement of a Song" for the award winning Showtime show "Reefer Madness." In 2011, Nathan won another Emmy for the documentary film he wrote for "The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club"
Since then, Nathan has been entrenched in television and film, working with wonderful directors such as Andy Fickman ("She's the Man" by Dreamworks, and Disney films "The Game Plan" and "You Again") and
Kevin Murphy (television series "
Valentine" and "Hellcats"). He also composed for the award winning films "One Six Right", "The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club," and the Spanish film "Maktub." Nathan was also chosen by the eminent
John Williams to co-compose for John Kerry's documentary film shown at the
National Democratic Convention in 2004. In the following year, Nathan saw his musical "Imelda" go to off-Broadway, after it premiered in Los Angeles two years before to sold-out audiences.
Nathan has also been busy working overseas, scoring movies starring international names such as Zhang Ziyi ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,") Wang Leehom, Ji-Seob So,
Aaron Kwok and Norika Fujiwara. He has just finished a 72 episode Chinese television series about the life of General Yue Fei. Because of the outstanding music written for the television series, Nathan was commissioned to write an overture, symphony and suite for Erhu and Orchestra based on themes and melodies composed for this series. The concert was extremely successful and as a result, Nathan has been commissioned to write another symphonic work for the Shanghai Philharmonic in the upcoming 2014-2015 season.
