As the founding director of the US-China Music Institute, conductor Jindong Cai is a leading advocate for Chinese music performance and education around the world. The Sound of Spring annual Chinese New Year concerts represent Cai’s vision for creating authentic Chinese musical experiences in the West. LEARN MORE

A percussionist with The Orchestra Now and Bard Conservatory graduate, Petra Elek was born in Vásárosdombó, Hungary. Her solo performance of the dramatic percussive piece Prancing Dragons and Jumping Tigers during this year’s The Sound of Spring concert illustrates the US-China Music Institute’s commitment to offering opportunities for non-Chinese musicians to perform contemporary Chinese music. MORE ABOUT PETRA ELEK

Every year, The Sound of Spring welcomes professional soloists of traditional Chinese instruments such as the pipa. Gao Hong is an extraordinary pipa player based in St. Louis, Missouri, with a decades-long career presenting and teaching Chinese pipa music both in China and in the United States. She will perform Zhou Long’s striking work for pipa and orchestra, King Chu Doffs His Armor, based on the epic love story of the same name that is also the basis for the celebrated 1993 film Farewell My Concubine. LEARN MORE ABOUT GAO HONG

Beitong Liu is in her final year of the five double-degree program at the Bard College Conservatory of Music, where she is majoring in Erhu Performance and Global and International Studies. Beitong is in the first class to graduate from Bard with a degree in Chinese instrument performance. After graduation, Beitong plans to pursue the Master of Arts in Chinese Music and Culture created by the US-China Music Institute at Bard. Through Bard’s partnership with the Central Conservatory of Music, Beitong studies with legendary erhu performer Yu Hongmei. In 2021, she won the Bard Conservatory Concerto Competition for her performance of The Indomitable Spirits of the Snow Mountain by Liu Wenjin. Every winner of this annual competition is given the opportunity to perform their chosen piece with The Orchestra Now, as Liu does in this concert.

The Sound of Spring annual Chinese New Year concerts offer New York-based musicians from China opportunities to perform major works of Chinese orchestral music not often heard outside their home country. Violinist Na Sun is a member of the New York Philharmonic and a graduate of the Central Conservatory of Music in China. For this year’s The Sound of Spring, she performs the beloved Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto with The Orchestra Now. LEARN MORE ABOUT NA SUN

TŌN is a graduate-level training orchestra based at Bard College comprising vibrant young performers from across the globe. The members of TŌN learn critical skills necessary for modern orchestral musicians: creating their own programs, teaching, recording albums, and performing regularly at venues including Carnegie Hall, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lincoln Center, and the Fisher Center at Bard. LEARN MORE