China Now Music Festival
Presented in collaboration with the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, the China Now Music Festival is dedicated to promoting an understanding and appreciation of classical music from contemporary China through an annual series of concerts and lectures. Each year’s festival explores a singular theme.China Now Music Festival 2021
October 12 - October 17
Fisher Center, Bard College
Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York City
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ASIAN AMERICAN VOICESNow in its fourth season, the China Now Music Festival is a leading force in introducing music from contemporary China to the United States and in promoting musical exchanges between the US and China. This year, as we continue to pursue our vital mission, we are broadening our scope to include the voices of a wide array of Asian American composers, with the aim of exploring their importance in contemporary American music and society.
This year's festival arrives in the midst of a particularly challenging time, shadowed by the global pandemic and recent rise in anti-Asian discrimination and violence. Our repertoire thus reflects how Asian American composers have responded to this particular moment, as well as to the historical reception of Asians in America.
Featuring composer-in-residence Huang Ruo, and ensemble-in-residence the Del Sol Quartet, along with many more composers and musicians, the 2021 China Now Music Festival connects culture, history, contemporary society, and the arts through a vibrant series of musical programs and discussion.
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China and BeethovenThe year 2020 marks the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth. Celebratory events have been planned all around the world, and nowhere more so than in China, where classical music enjoys a huge following among audiences of all ages. When theaters, concert halls, and orchestras found themselves unexpectedly shuttered for much of the year, many celebrations were put on hold or re-imagined. As China begins to reopen, Beethoven once again takes center stage.
The third annual China Now Music Festival will provide a window into celebrations happening in China today, as well as exploring Beethoven’s enduring legacy during the changing politics of the 20th century and China’s oscillating affiliation with Western classical music.
All events are online and free with registration. Registration and full event details will be available in mid-November. View the festival website for more information.
China Now Music Festival 2019
September 28 – October 6
Performances at Bard College, Carnegie Hall, and Stanford University
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China and America—Unity in MusicThe second annual China Now Music Festival celebrated milestones in the history of U.S.-China relations through music. Highlights included the world premiere of a symphonic oratorio by Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Zhou Long honoring Chinese workers on the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, and a multimedia musical portrait of renowned diplomat Wellington Koo.
Men of Iron and the Golden Spike
This year’s festival featured the world premiere of Men of Iron and the Golden Spike, a symphonic oratorio by composer Zhou Long and lyricist Su Wei that was commissioned by the US-China Music Institute and the Center for East Asian Studies and Chinese Railroad Workers’ Project at Stanford University. Jindong Cai talks about the Bard–Stanford collaboration in an article for Stanford Live.
Contact the US-China Music Institute
Bard College | PO Box 5000 | Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504-5000 | uschinamusic@bard.edu | 845-758-7026