The 9th annual China Now Music Festival opens with performances at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall by the cross-cultural Bard East/West Ensemble (BWE) and China Now Chamber Orchestra. This year’s theme “Chasing Dreams” celebrates America’s 250th anniversary by telling stories of the shared dreams, resilience, and creativity that connect all of us.
Photography by Fadi Kheir
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Wang Danhong 王丹红 (b. 1985), composer
Forever Shandan-dan《永遠的山丹丹》Zhang Zheng 张征 (b.1978), composer
Feng · Ya · Song《风·雅·颂》Luk Wai Chun 陸尉俊 (b.1993), composer
Moments Between Ledges and Frets for Pipa and Ensemble《彈指品相間》
Yang Jin, pipa INTERMISSION
Huang Ruo 黃若 (b.1976), composer
David Henry Hwang 黄哲伦 (b.1957), librettist The Rift (Opera in One Act) Maya Lin: Karen Vuong, soprano
Phuong Tran: Sophia Maekawa, mezzo-soprano
Grady Mitchell: Christian Mark Gibbs, tenor
Robert McNamara: Daniel Klein, baritone
Eric Ting, director
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
ABOUT THE COMPOSERS AND LIBRETTISTS
The China Now Music Festival is an annual series of events produced by the US-China Music Institute of the Bard College Conservatory of Music in collaboration with the prestigious Central Conservatory of Music, China. China Now is dedicated to promoting an understanding and appreciation of classical music from contemporary China. Each year’s festival explores a singular theme. The inaugural festival in 2018, Facing the Past, Looking to the Future: Chinese Composers in the 21st Century, presented US and world premieres of orchestral works by 11 living Chinese composers in concerts at Bard College, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center. The following year, the festival presented China and America: Unity in Music at Bard College, Carnegie Hall, and Stanford University, and featured the world premiere of the symphonic oratorio Men of Iron and the Golden Spike, a major new work by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Zhou Long honoring the Chinese railroad workers of the American West on the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. Recent seasons include Beethoven and China in 2020, Asian American Voices in 2021, East of West in 2022, The Bridge of Music in 2023, Composing the Future in 2024, and Music in Motion in 2025.
The 2026 China Now Music Festival is presented in collaboration with the Central Conservatory of Music, China.
