DVD version. 10 years in the making, 2 films by Evans Chan trace the artist’s life, career and pianism.

Strumming the strings of a grand piano like a harp and performing Beethoven on toy piano are among the surprising scenes in Evans Chan’s documentary, Sorceress of the New Piano (2004). The film celebrates the trans-cultural career of Singapore-born, New York-based pianist Margaret Leng Tan, hailed by The New Yorker as “the diva of avant-garde pianism”.

Featured performers and critics include Joan La Barbara, Edward Rothstein (The New York Times), Mark Swed (Los Angeles Times), and Joshua Kosman (San Francisco Chronicle) sharing their thoughts on Tan’s artistry and musical lineage.

With additional featured appearances by composers John Cage, George Crumb, Raphael Mostel, Toby Twining, Lois V Vierk, Somei Satoh and Ge Gan-ru.

Incorporates vintage footage of Merce Cunningham’s dance, Jasper Johns’ art, and a Marcel Duchamp film; Sorceress also highlights Tan’s latest transformation as the world’s premiere toy piano virtuoso.

The DVD includes the bonus film The Maverick Piano (2007, 50 minutes), an excursion into the sonic world of the avant-garde piano, in which Margaret Leng Tan gives complete performances of six pieces by John Cage, Ge Gan-ru, Erik Satie and Toby Twining. The film represents the grand piano in various transformations: as a conventional keyboard instrument, prepared piano also played with fists and forearms, as a stringed instrument both plucked and bowed, strummed while played from the crook of the piano, and in combination with the toy piano.

Best Music Documentary Nominee, Silverdocs: AFI-Discovery Channel Documentary Festival (2005). Best Documentary Nominee, San Francisco Asian American International Film Festival (2005). Critics on the documentary: “an exemplary documentary” (TimeOut Film Guide, 2005); “an exciting work of art in itself” (Tim Page, The Washington Post); “a charming, very human film” (John Schaefer, WNYC).

Sorceress of the New Piano (2004, 90 minutes), with excerpts from works by Beethoven, Cage, Cowell, Crumb, Distler, Ge Gan-ru, Glass, Klucevsek, Montague, Satie, Satoh, Tan Dun, Twining and Vierk
The Maverick Piano (2007, 50 minutes)
Subtitles in English, German, French and Spanish