Inspired by connections
between the East and the West,
musicians from China and the
United States staged a concert,
performing pieces from two
sides of the world at the Lincoln
Center in New York on Nov. 13.
Presented by the China Arts
and Entertainment Group,
East/West: A Symphonic Cel-
ebration is part of Image China,
a cultural exchange initiative
aimed at introducing traditional
and contemporary Chinese
performance arts to people
around the world.
Featuring conductor Cai Jin-
dong of the Bard College and the
New York City Ballet Orchestra,
the concert presented several
traditional Chinese musical piec-
es and one U.S. musical piece,
including Butterfly Lovers, Great
Wall Capriccio and Appalachian
Spring Suite.
“If the concert tonight can be
illustrated as a picture, then this
picture is from the Appalachian
Mountains to the Great Wall,”
Cai said. “Through this picture,
everyone can feel the connec-
tion between the cultures.
“Music indeed is a very good
art form for communication.
Putting aside politics, economy
and idealism, communication
between people is the most
important. And music is the best
way to communicate.”
The concert included per-
formances by U.S. musicians,
providing the audience with
the opportunity to get to know
traditional Chinese music. By
performing traditional Chinese
music, Cai said, the musicians
try to interpret it themselves.
“During our rehearsals I heard
someone say, ‘Wow, Chinese
traditional music is so beautiful’,”
Cai said.
Many enjoyed Chinese tradi-
tional music at the concert.
“It’s very different from West-
ern music, absolutely,” said Wes-
ley Michalski, a member of the
audience. “Especially when you
listen to how the soloists play,
you can hear a lot of different
inflections and styles of playing
that are not traditionally done in
Western music, which I thought
is really interesting.”
Hu Shenghua, the violinist who
played the Butterfly Lovers violin
concerto, says he felt proud to
play Eastern music at the Lincoln
Center, one of the world’s lead-
ing performing arts centers.“Music is the universal
language of mankind. Music
helps peoples and nations com-
municate through means that
are more efficient than words,
because it touches the core of
humanity by awakening empa-
thy and compassion.”
Holly Flack, a coloratura so-
prano who sang songs derived
from ancient Chinese poems
A Night Mooring by the Maple
Bridge, Ode to the Goose and
Song of Snow, said the concert
brought hope to people in China
and the U.S.
“The concert is very reflective
of hope. Everybody everywhere
went through an unquestionably
difficult time that was unprec-
edented. But it’s like the crocus
coming up for spring out of the
snowy winter. We can come back
slowly as long as we all cooper-
ate together, and music itself is
universal.
“You don’t even have to speak
the same language to be moved
by a piece of music. If everyone
feels the same way emotion-
ally, we can almost get over any
other kind of problems we have.”This year marks the 50th
anniversary of Ping-Pong
Diplomacy between China and
the U.S., a mission that helped
to open up exchanges between
the two countries, culminating in
president Richard Nixon’s trip to
China in 1972.
“Since then, people of all
walks of life in China and the
U.S., including those in the art
field, have deeply engaged in
promoting China-U.S. rela-
tions and made contributions
to build a healthy and stable
bilateral relationship,” Huang
Ping, China’s consul general in
New York, wrote in a letter to
the concert.
Since 2012, Image China has
presented a series of Chinese
dance dramas at the Lincoln
Center’s David H. Koch Theater,
including The Peony Pavilion,
Silk Road, The Red Dress, The
Legend of Mulan, Dragon Boat
Racing, Confucius, Soaring
Wings and Princess Zhaojun.
A second concert, China Inspi-
rations, was staged on Nov. 28
with artists from the Chamber
Music Society of Lincoln Center.BY MINLU ZHANG
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Soprano Esther Maureen Kelly (left) and coloratura soprano Holly Flack sing during the concert, East/West: A Symphonic
Celebration, at the Lincoln Center in New York on Nov. 13. PHOTOS BY LI RUI / XINHUAConcert brings Chinese
and U.S. artists together
at Lincoln Center
Violinist Hu Shenghua leads the
orchestra during the concert.