The Bard East/West Ensemble (BE/WE) and guest soloists will grace Bard’s historic chapel with a program of Chinese musical compositions specially arranged for the unique instrumentation of a Western string quintet, seven traditional Chinese instruments, and percussion.

Bard East/West Ensemble and Duo Chinoiserie. Photo by Fadi Kheir.

Top of page: Photo by Chris Kayden

Artistic Director Jindong Cai conducts BE/WE in the first half, joined by the dynamic Duo Chinoiserie performing Zhong Kui’s Adventures by French composer Matthias Duplessy, along with guqin soloist Qizhi An performing the moving concerto Ode to Farewell, composed in 2018 by Huang Wen.

Suona master Yazhi Guo

The second half will feature suona master Yazhi Guo gathering his own unique combo of western and Chinese instrument players, including fellow faculty members from the Bard Conservatory as well musicians from the Berkeley School of Music. The program will be “An East West Encounter” of improvisational, jazz inflected tunes and riffs on traditional melodies.

Don’t miss an exciting evening highlighting innovative approaches to mixing, honoring, and questioning musical notions of East, West, Modern and Traditional.

FREE and open to the public.

PROGRAM

Bard East/West Ensemble
Jindong Cai, conductor

The Carnival of Miao Village (World Premiere, commissioned by USCMI) 《苗寨狂欢》
Xinyan Li (b. 1978)

Zhong Kui’s Adventures
Matthias Duplessy (b. 1972)
arr. Vsevolod Polonsky
1. Regrets
2. Hunting
Duo Chinoiserie

An Ode to Farewell guqin concerto《别赋》
Huang Wen (b. 1991)
Qizhi Coco An ’26, guqin

From Appalachian Spring
Aaron Copland (1900–90)
arr. Xinyan Li

Intermission

Yazhi Guo and Friends: An East/West Encounter

Yazhi Guo, suona and guanzi
Tao He, erhu
Jin Yang, pipa
Jing Xia, guzheng
Bin Hu, guitar
The Jiayi Guo Quartet

The second half of the program will be announced from the stage.

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