Concert/Lecture
The festival’s opening event traces the story of Beethoven’s ascent into the cultural imagination of China. Bard College President Leon Botstein shares remarks on Beethoven’s universal appeal and enduring relevance, followed by performances by Bard’s The Orchestra Now and the Shanghai Youth Philharmonic. Host Jindong Cai, the artistic director of the festival and the director of the US- China Music Institute, provides the historical context for the festival. Watch the program and view more details below.
featuring
Leon Botstein has been president of Bard College since 1975. An innovative voice in American higher education, he has sought to recast undergraduate liberal arts education in a new model that contributes to the character of culture and public life. He has published widely in the fields of education, music, and history and culture. President Botstein is also music director and principal conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra and Bard’s The Orchestra Now. More information at leonbotstein.com
President Botstein offers opening remarks on Beethoven’s role in society in the first evening of the 2020 China Now Music Festival, ‘China’s Sage of Music.’
Artistic Director, China Now Music Festival
Conductor Jindong Cai is director of the US-China Music Institute, professor of music and arts at Bard College, and associate conductor of The Orchestra Now. Over his 30-year career in the United States, Cai has established himself as an active and dynamic conductor, scholar of Western classical music in China, and leading advocate of music from across Asia. Cai founded the US-China Music Institute at the Bard Conservatory in 2017 and created the Institute’s the annual China Now Music Festival in the following year. In its first two seasons, China Now presented new works by some of the most important Chinese composers of our time, with concerts performed at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Bard’s Fisher Center, and Stanford University.
Dean, Bard College Conservatory of Music
The world-renowned artist and UNESCO Global Goodwill Ambassador Tan Dun, has made an indelible mark on the world’s music scene with a creative repertoire that spans the boundaries of classical music, multimedia performance, and Eastern and Western traditions. A winner of today’s most prestigious honors including the Grammy Award, Oscar/Academy Award, Grawemeyer Award, Bach Prize, Shostakovich Award, and most recently Italy’s Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement, Tan Dun’s music has been played throughout the world by leading orchestras, opera houses, international festivals, and on radio and television. In 2019, Tan Dun was appointed dean of the Bard College Conservatory of Music. As dean, Tan Dun will further demonstrate music’s extraordinary ability to transform lives and guide the Conservatory in fulfilling its mission of understanding music’s connection to history, art, culture, and society. Read more at http://tandun.com
The China Now Music Festival is thrilled to be presenting Tan Dun’s Internet Symphony No. 1 (Eroica) in the ‘Beethoven Made in China’ program on Dec 13, performed by the You Tube Symphony Orchestra.
Cao Peng is one of the most distinguished conductors in China. He was born in Jiangyin, Jiangsu in 1925. In 1946, he entered the Arts Department of Shandong University. In 1950 he was principal conductor of both the Shanghai Film Studio Orchestra and the Beijing Film Studio Orchestra. In 1955, he went to Russia to study at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory under the celebrated conductor Leo Ginsberg. Cao Peng was appointed resident conductor of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra after his return in 1961. He is now artistic director and principal conductor of the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, artistic director of the Marco Polo Symphony Orchestra, music advisor and resident conductor of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, and music director and principal conductor of the Shanghai Chamber Orchestra.
Can is also conductor and artistic director of the Shanghai Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, whose performance of the final movement of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is featured in the opening evening of the China Now Music Festival, China’s Sage of Music, on Dec 11.
Originally from Shenyang, China, Wu Weiqiao began studying at the Central Conservatory of Music in China at the age of ten with Xiaoshao Huang. His passion for performance led him to study with Markus Placci at The Boston Conservatory, and he is now a member of The Orchestra Now. He has played in the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra under Conductor Benjamin Zander and performed as a soloist with the Chichibu International Music Festival Orchestra and the Boston Conservatory String Ensemble. He was the winner of 2014 and 2015 Boston Conservatory String Competitions and has appeared as concertmaster at The Boston Conservatory, National Orchestra Institute and Tanglewood Music Center orchestra under Conductor Andris Nelsons in 2017 and 2018.
Mr. Wu performs Beethoven’s ‘Spring’ Sonata for violin, opus 24, for the opening concert of the 2020 China Now Music Festival on Dec 11, ‘China’s Sage of Music.’
Russian-born pianist Diana Borshcheva started her career nearly 15 years ago. Ms. Borshcheva won several competitions in Russia and Europe, among them the International Piano Competition in Gorizia (Grand Prix), Moscow Virtuoso Competition (First Prize), and International Piano Competition by S. Moniuszko (First Award) before she moved to the USA. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Solo Performance from Longy School of Music of Bard College in 2016, and Master of Music Degree in both Solo and Collaborative Piano from Cleveland Institute of Music in 2019. She is a current recipient of the Bard College Conservatory of Music Collaborative Piano Fellowship.
For the China Now Music Festival Ms. Borshcheva will accompany violinist Weiqiao Wu in a performance of Beethoven’s Spring Sonata for the Dec 11 program ‘China’s Sage of Music.’
Music Director: Leon Botstein
The Orchestra Now (TŌN) is a group of vibrant young musicians from across the globe who are making orchestral music relevant to 21st-century audiences by sharing their unique personal insights in a welcoming environment. Hand-picked from the world’s leading conservatories—including The Juilliard School, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Royal Conservatory of Brussels, and the Curtis Institute of Music—the members of TŌN are enlightening curious minds by giving on-stage introductions and demonstrations, writing concert notes from the musicians’ perspective, and having one-on-one discussions with patrons during intermissions. Conductor, educator, and music historian Leon Botstein founded TŌN in 2015 as a graduate program at Bard College, where he is also president. The orchestra’s home base is the Frank Gehry-designed Fisher Center at Bard, where they perform multiple concerts each season and take part in the annual Bard Music Festival. Learn more at theorchestranow.org
Having performed major new works by Chinese composers in the first two seasons of the China Now Music Festival, TŌN makes a special contribution this year in the Dec 11 opening event, with a historic representation of the 17-member Peking University Orchestra, active in the 1920’s and the first Chinese orchestra to play Beethoven symphonies.
Music Director: Cao Peng
The Shanghai Youth Philharmonic Orchestra was established with the aim of making an “urban cultural name card” for Shanghai, the international metropolis, and its modern education, gathering high-quality resources of arts education in Shanghai, and setting up a high-level platform for orchestral music for students in Shanghai. The renowned artist CAO Peng is the Music Director of the Shanghai Youth Philharmonic Orchestra. Principal players from the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and other renowned ensembles, both in China and abroad, act as instructors for all parts. The Shanghai Youth Philharmonic Orchestra participates in the annual Music in the Summer Air Festivai (MISA).
The orchestra’s rousing performance of the final movement of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony during the 2020 MISA festival will be presented in the opening program of the China Now Music Festival, ‘China’s Sage of Music,’ on Dec 11.
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
Introductory Remarks
Beethoven’s Image in the World
Leon Botstein, president, Bard College with Jindong Cai, artistic director, China Now Music Festival
Presentation
Beethoven in China
Jindong Cai
Musical Performances
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68, 1st Movement
Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92, 4th Movement
The Orchestra Now (Festival Ensemble)
Andrés Rivas, conductor
Violin Sonata No. 5 in F major, Op. 24, 'Spring,' 1st Movement
Wu Weiqiao, violin
Diana Borshcheva, piano
Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, 4th Movement
Shanghai Youth Philharmonic Orchestra
Cao Peng, conductor
The program will run approximately 1 hour 20 minutes.
special thanks to the following festival partners
- Posted in Concert/Lecture