Sounds of the New Year
January 23, 2004
The San Francisco Symphony rings in Chinese New Year with a concert on Jan. 25 at Davies Symphony Hall.“This exciting concert program will bring together traditional and contemporary Chinese music with Western favorites performed by Chinese artists and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra conducted by Edwin Outwater,” Chair Margaret Liu Collins said.
As in past years, the pre-concert lobby will explode with cavorting lion dancers, roaming magicians and colorfully costumed models and fortunetellers. Children can also enjoy craft booths for lantern making. There will be explanatory introductions to the various Chinese instruments and the stories of the Chinese opera.
The varied program, developed to interest all age levels, features the eight-member Chinese music ensemble Melody of China, Cantonese opera star Wong Chi Ming and the premier of Chinese Opera Suite by composer Gang Situ.
“As in the past two years, we expect a sold-out audience and since Chinese New Year is always a family time, I encourage everyone to rush out to get tickets and bring their children to learn about Chinese music, the instruments and how well it can work with Western style music also,” Collins said.
Based in the San Francisco, Melody of China Area was formed in 1993 by a group of enthusiastic professional musicians from some of the most prestigious music conservatories in China. Their mission: to promote Chinese classical, folk and contemporary music and to educate American audiences.
Melody of China is an integral part of the San Francisco Symphony’s Adventures in Music program, which brings music into the schools in the San Francisco Unified School District. In the past 10 years, the ensemble has visited nearly a hundred schools and institutions around the Bay Area.
Wong Chi Ming has been instrumental in modernizing Cantonese Opera. After being named Chinese “National First Class Actor” in 1987, Wong began teaching in the United States and now relays his knowledge at the San Francisco Chinese Culture Center, where pupils travel from all parts of the world for his instruction.
“This is one of the first times both Cantonese and Beijing opera will be featured with an American symphony orchestra,” says United Commercial Bank Senior Vice President Joseph Kwok, a sponsor of the event. “Children learning to play Western musical instruments at their schools would enjoy learning about and hearing traditional Chinese instruments playing with a Western symphonic orchestra.
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