Chasing Dreams From the China Now Music Festival Reviewed in the Millbrook Independent
Jindong Cai, director of the US-China Music Institute. Photo courtesy of USCMI
The Millbrook Independent reviewed the China Now Music Festival’s ninth season performance, Chasing Dreams, on its closing weekend. Kevin McEneaney’s positive review first looked at Chasing the Sky, a multi-instrument piece in five movements which he calls “a visionary work that will remain a classic for future centuries to look back upon with enthusiasm.” The second half of the concert was the oratorio Men of Iron and the Golden Spike, commemorating the lives of Chinese railroad workers in the western US during the 1800s. “Although most Americans possess the notion that the spine of this country was built by Chinese laborers,” McEneaney writes, “the details of this dangerous undertaking have long faded from their minds. We live at a time when the globe needs to unite to confront the perils of the future, at a time when China and the United States need to be resident[s] in the halls of amiable friendship.”
The China Now Music Festival is presented by the US-China Music Institute of the Bard College Conservatory of Music. The Institute aims to promote the study, performance, and appreciation of music from contemporary China, and to support musical exchange between the United States and China.
Post Date: 10-13-2026
The China Now Music Festival is presented by the US-China Music Institute of the Bard College Conservatory of Music. The Institute aims to promote the study, performance, and appreciation of music from contemporary China, and to support musical exchange between the United States and China.
Post Date: 10-13-2026