Bard Chinese Ensemble Spring Concert 2023
- Olin Hall Bard College Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, 12504 United States (map)
The annual spring concert of the Bard Chinese Ensemble will be a special occasion in 2023, celebrating 5 years of the US-China Music Institute and the graduation of the first class of Chinese instrument majors in the Bard Conservatory.
Bard Chinese Ensemble concerts are always lively, exciting, and musically ambitious events, and this year will be no exception. The concert program will feature a number of chamber works for mixed Chinese and Western instruments, plus a new selection of traditional pieces especially arranged by Ensemble Director Chen Tao.
The concert will be held in Olin Hall this year to give more people on campus and in the surrounding community an opportunity to see the extraordinary accomplishments of these young musicians. A celebratory reception in the lobby for all attendees and performers will follow the concert.
Admission is free. Don’t miss this very special event!
WATCH LIVE ON YOUTUBE
PROGRAM
Chamber Music
Wang Baocan
OX FIGHTING TIGER 牛斗虎
Yining Zhu and Yixin Wang, Chinese drum
Liu Tianhua
BIRDS CHIRPING IN THE EMPTY MOUNTAIN 空山鸟语
arr. by Cui Quan
Chen Wang, erhu
Zhe Wang, guqin
Yuling Nan, daruan
Sibei Wang, guzheng
Wenjun Lu, pipa
Zhu Lin
CANG CAI 仓才 “Gong and Drum Scriptures”
Xi Lu, pipa
Xiaoyan Luo, pipa
Danni Chen, pipa
Wenjun Lu, pipa
Sun Zhixuan
YIYUN OF INK WASH PAINTING AND TRACE 水墨意韵
Wenrui Shi, guqin
Yifan Lin, dizi
Yijie Yin, zhongruan
Chen Wang, erhu
Yining Zhu, percussion
Shutong Li, conductor
Taiwanese Folk Song
LOST IN LOVE 阮不知啦
arr. by Zhou Chenglong
re-arr. by Yixin Wang
Yixin Wang, guzheng
Sibei Wang, guzheng
Wenjun Lu, pipa
Yuling Nan, zhongruan
Chung Yiu-Kwong
HEARING THE SPRING
Eric Zheng, soprano saxophone
Beitong Liu, erhu
Yixin Wang, guzheng
Yijie Yin, zhongruan
Francis Huang, vibraphone
Shutong Li, conductor
INTERMISSION
Chinese Ensemble
Chen Tao
SAKYAMUNI 释迦颂
Wu Junshen
NIGHT OF THE TORCH FESTIVAL 火把节之夜
arr. by Chen, Tao
Yijie Yin, zhongruan
Mai Ding
GUESTS FROM AFAR, PLEASE STAY! 远方的客人请你留下来
arr. Zhou Chenglong
re-arr. Chen Tao
Traditional
HIGH ABOVE THE MOON 月儿高
arr. Peng Xiuwen
re-arr. Chen Tao)
Bard Chinese ensemble
Chen Tao, music director and conductor
Shutong Li, assistant conductor and chamber music coordinator
Qizhi enrolled in the undergraduate double-degree program at the Bard College Conservatory of Music in the Fall of 2020 to study guqin performance.
Through Bard’s partnership with the Central Conservatory of Music, she studies guqin under CCOM Professor Zhao Jiazhen.
Danni enrolled in the double-degree program at the US-China Music Institute of the Bard College Conservatory of Music in the Fall of 2020 to study guqin performance. Through Bard’s partnership with CCOM, she studies under CCOM Professor Zhao Jiazhen.
Kendall Griffith joined the Bard Conservatory in the Fall of 2022 with a major in pipa performance. Originally from Boston, she has been studying pipa for several years, as well as the Chinese language. At Bard she is studying with master teacher Zhang Hongyan, the head of the Traditional Instruments Department at the Central Conservatory of Music.
Yifan started at Bard in the Fall of 2020, enrolling in the double-degree program at the Bard College Conservatory of Music, where he studies dizi with Professor Chen Tao.
Beitong enrolled in the first year of the Chinese instrument double-degree program at the Bard Conservatory in the Fall of 2018 to study erhu. Through Bard’s partnership with the Central Conservatory of Music, she studies with CCOM Professor Yu Hongmei. Her second major is global and international studies.
Lucina Yue is a candidate for the Master of Arts in Chinese Music and Culture at the Bard College Conservatory of Music. She is focusing on guzheng performance. She is also an accomplished player of the konghuo, a form of Chinese harp.
Wenjun Lu (Jessy) is a pipa major in the Bard College Conservatory of Music. She attended the Affiliated Secondary School of Nanjin University of The Arts to learn pipa. Later, she studied with Professor Zhao Jie of the Central Conservatory of Music. Her master teacher at Bard is CCOM Professor Zhang Qiang.
Xiaoyan has shown a strong interest in music since her childhood. She started to learn pipa from a professional pipa teacher at the age of eight. After graduation from primary school, she was admitted to the Affiliated Middle School of Guangxi Art University. She takes an active part in many national instrument competitions and all kinds of performances, and served as the leader of the school's Chinese orchestra and the school’s pipa group, which achieved results in many competitions. Xiaoyan was admitted to Bard Conservatory in 2020, where she studies under Central Conservatory of Music Professor Zhang Qiang.
Yuling is majoring in ruan in the double-degree program at the Bard College Conservatory of Music. Through Bard’s partnership with the Central Conservatory of Music, she studies with CCOM Professor Xu Yang. Her second major is Chinese studies.
Wenrui Shi is a candidate for the Master of Arts in Chinese Music and Culture at the Bard Conservatory. Wenrui studies Guqin with master teacher Zhao Jiazhen of the Central Conservatory of Music.
Chen Wang came to Bard to study erhu in the Fall of 2019. Her master teacher is Professor Chen Wang of the Central Conservatory of Music.
Wang Kehan (Eric) is majoring in guqin performance in the Bard College Conservatory of Music. He studies with Professor Zhao Jiazhen of the Central Conservatory of Music, and has performed with her many times. He won the gold award in the China Instrumental Music Competition held by Eastman Conservatory of Music in 2018 and the Hongqin Cup Gold Award twice in 2019.
Betty enrolled in the first year of the Chinese instruments double-degree program at the US-China Music Institute of the Bard College Conservatory of Music in the Fall of 2018. Betty studies guzheng under Professor Zhou Wang of the Central Conservatory of Music. Her second major is art history.
Yixin enrolled as a guzheng major in the first year of the double-degree program in Chinese instruments at the Bard Conservatory in the Fall of 2018. Through Bard’s partnership with the Central Conservatory of Music, she is studying with CCOM Professor Zhou Wang. Yixin’s second major is mathematics.
Zhe Wang is a candidate for the Master of Arts in Chinese Music and Culture at the Bard Conservatory. His focus is on Guqin performance. Zhe studies with master teacher Zhao Jiazhen of the Central Conservatory of Music.
Yijie is a ruan major in the Bard College Conservatory of Music double-degree program. Through Bard’s partnership with the Central Conservatory of Music, she studies ruan with CCOM Professor Xu Yang.
Lu Xi, or Lucy, is a candidate in the Master of Arts in Chinese Music and Culture at the Bard Conservatory. Lucy is studying ethnomusicology and pipa performance.
Eric Zheng will pursue a Master of Arts in Chinese Music and Culture at the Bard Conservatory with a focus on suona performance. He is studying with suona master and Bard faculty member Yazhi Guo. Originally from Tucson, Arizona, Eric previously studied saxophone performance at Michigan State and Northwestern University.
Yining came to Bard from Texas in the Fall of 2021 to major in Chinese percussion at the Bard College Conservatory of Music’s Chinese instrument double degree program. She is studying with Professor Qiao Jia of the Central Conservatory of Music.
AND
Eliza Karpiak, flute
Maya Yokanovich, clarinet
Chung-Yang (Francis) Huang, piano
Santiago Mieres Rausseo, violin
Junyu Lin, violin
Elizabeth Chernyak, violin
Zander Grier, cello
Njya Lubang, bass
ABOUT THE ENSEMBLE
The Bard Chinese Ensemble is mainly composed of the Conservatory’s Chinese instrument majors, along with various students of Western instruments joining each semester, depending on the repertoire. With increased enrollment in Chinese instrument majors each year since 2018, this year the Ensemble is composed of over 20 musicians.
Conductor and arranger Chen Tao is a dizi (bamboo flute) master and the artistic director of Melody of Dragon, an educational and performing arts organization in New York City focusing on traditional Chinese music. Chen Tao studied at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, and has been teaching and performing in the New York area for nearly 30 years.