Sun, Oct 21, 2018, 3 PM
at David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center in NYC
The Orchestra Now, conducted by Jindong Cai, presents a program of contemporary works reflecting on three wrenching historical events that helped to shape modern China. The concert begins with the four-movement symphony Humen 1839 by Chen Yi and Pulitzer-prize winner Zhou Long. The work is a musical portrait of the heroic effort to confiscate and burn imported opium during the first Opium War. Ye Xiaogang’s work My Faraway Nanjing for cello and orchestra is dedicated to the 300,000 civilian victims who were killed in the Japanese invasion of Nanjing in 1937, during WWII. The Oratorio-Cantata Ask the sky and the earth by composer Tony Fok and writer Su Wei, is a moving interpretation of what is now known as the “sent-down youth” movement which began 50 years ago, during the Cultural Revolution. The piece features a chorus of over 200 members from around the U.S. The composer, writer, and some members of the chorus were among the young people “sent-down” from the cities to work in the countryside.
Conducted by Jindong Cai
director of the US-China Music Institute
Chen Yi and Zhou Long Symphony ‘Humen 1839’
Ye Xiaogang My Faraway Nanjing
Tony Fok and Su Wei Ask the Sky and the Earth
with the China Now Festival Chorus
Pre-concert lecture at 2 PM