Undertaking a journey to the West

"I wanted to depict the journey of Xuanzang and his three companions in a poetic way, as well as imbue the music with the spiritual experience found in this great monument of Chinese literature," he adds.

He also invited artist friends to participate, with Eric Soyer taking charge of the stage set and lighting design, and Mathieu Sanchez of the multimedia technology.

The score was released by the classical music label, Naxos, on April 28 last year, with a cover painting by monk and painter Shi Dachan titled The Big Fight Against the Yellow-Robed Monster that portrays a scene from Journey to the West.

The piece premiered in Tianjin, Wang's hometown, as well as in Beijing, as part of the 14th edition of the Yabin and Her Friends project last year. Afterward, Wang made revisions.

"I grew up reading Journey to the West and watching the cartoon and TV drama adaptations. Many Chinese are familiar with the story, but it really intrigued me to see how a foreign reader would interpret the story," says Wang, who trained as a dancer as a child and attended the Beijing Dance Academy, where she studied classical Chinese dance, ballet and contemporary dance.

The composer and choreographer worked together to tell the story, which begins with the monk Xuanzang embarking on his journey and setting Sun Wukong free from the mountain under which he has been trapped, and the ring of gold being placed on the Monkey King's head to control his rebellious nature.