ARTS / CULTURE & LEISURE
Music festival ends with tribute to generations of composers bridging US, China
The sixth season of the China Now Music Festival culminated in a grand finale on Sunday in a spellbinding concert at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, paying homage to three generations of composers bridging the US and China.
The concert featured major symphonic works by this legendary couple, two of the most influential Chinese-American composers and their renowned teacher at Columbia University, Chou Wen-chung, who passed away at the age of 96 in 2019.
With the addition of two pieces by their young students - Zhou Juan, a student of musical arts from University of Missouri-Kansas City and Li Shaosheng, a composer in residence at the China National Symphony Orchestra and Guangxi Symphony Orchestra, the program linked three generations of composers to highlight the generational musical bridge that Chen and Zhou have built between the US and China.
The concert was presented by The Orchestra Now, a graduate-level training orchestra based at Bard College, conducted by Jindong Cai, artistic director of the festival, and Chen Bing, a professor in the Conducting Department at the Central Conservatory of Music.
The China Now Music Festival is a joint endeavor by Bard College's US-China Music Institute and the Central Conservatory of Music in China.
Since its inception in 2018, it has been dedicated to building a cultural bridge between the US and China through music. Each year, it hosts a series of thematic concerts and lectures, presenting exhilarating contemporary Chinese musical works.
Previous editions of the festival have attracted over 10,000 live attendees, with nearly 80,000 participating in online events.
The concert featured major symphonic works by this legendary couple, two of the most influential Chinese-American composers and their renowned teacher at Columbia University, Chou Wen-chung, who passed away at the age of 96 in 2019.
With the addition of two pieces by their young students - Zhou Juan, a student of musical arts from University of Missouri-Kansas City and Li Shaosheng, a composer in residence at the China National Symphony Orchestra and Guangxi Symphony Orchestra, the program linked three generations of composers to highlight the generational musical bridge that Chen and Zhou have built between the US and China.
The concert was presented by The Orchestra Now, a graduate-level training orchestra based at Bard College, conducted by Jindong Cai, artistic director of the festival, and Chen Bing, a professor in the Conducting Department at the Central Conservatory of Music.
The China Now Music Festival is a joint endeavor by Bard College's US-China Music Institute and the Central Conservatory of Music in China.
Since its inception in 2018, it has been dedicated to building a cultural bridge between the US and China through music. Each year, it hosts a series of thematic concerts and lectures, presenting exhilarating contemporary Chinese musical works.
Previous editions of the festival have attracted over 10,000 live attendees, with nearly 80,000 participating in online events.
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