This exhibit celebrates Carleton’s Chinese Music Ensemble, which won the 2024 International Cultural Role Models award, given by the United Nations World Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Foundation. During the same year, Director Gao Hong won recognition for being a Chinese Art Master from the same organization.
Please join us for a performance by soloists from the ensemble on January 30th at noon (12-12:45pm) in the library Athenaeum, in celebration of the Lunar New Year.
Box lunches will be provided after the performance.
The Carleton Chinese Music Ensemble, under the direction of Gao Hong, was featured nationwide on American Public Media’s “Performance Today,” – America’s most popular classical music radio program hosted by Fred Child. Ensemble members performed pre-concerts for the Minnesota Orchestra on Peavey Plaza and in Orchestra Hall’s Target Atrium, receiving high praise from audiences and orchestra patrons alike.
In August and September 2023, the Ensemble, along with CAAM Chinese Dance Theater, represented China at two prestigious UNESCO-sponsored festivals in Zaragoza and Ronda, Spain. In July 2024, they received the “International Cultural Role Model” award from the United Nations World Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Foundation. In collaboration with the European Philatelic Association and postal administrations from France, Austria, the Netherlands, Germany, and other countries, the United Nations Postal Administration released the “Chinese Cultural Yearbook of World Stamps,” featuring ensemble photos on official postal stamps. Their performance was also showcased on the 18,000-square-foot screen at New York’s Times Square TSX Building.
Established in 2005, the Carleton Chinese Music Ensemble has performed at numerous notable venues and events, including the ASIANetwork 22nd Annual Conference in Chicago, Winona State University’s International Music Series, University of Wisconsin-River Falls, Ordway Concert Hall, and the Ordway’s Flint Hills International Children’s Festival. They have also been featured at the National Conference for Silk Road Scholars at the University of Minnesota, the Schubert Club, Harmony for Mayo Concert Series, Westminster Concert Series and Town Hall Forum (live-streamed on MPR), Land O’Lakes Company’s Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Concert Series, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Mall of America, and at Northrop Auditorium, among many others. In Northfield, they performed the inaugural concert for Northfield Library’s Carnegie Concert Series, the AALAC 2019 National Conference, at St. Olaf College, Northfield High and Middle School, and for Carleton’s international festivals, gallery openings, and Chinese New Year celebrations. They were even featured on KSTP Channel 5 News. In May 2023, the Ensemble was showcased at Carleton’s Honors Convocation.
In 2015, the Carleton Chinese Music Ensemble, along with the Global Chamber Music Ensemble, released their first CD, “Music from China and Beyond,” featuring performances spanning from 2005 to 2015. Many Ensemble members have won gold and silver medals in international competitions, with the ensemble itself receiving major awards in China and the U.S. In June 2024, Ensemble member Ammy Lin won the inaugural Karin Larson YourClassical Prize from MPR, receiving a $20,000 monetary award and a recording session in MPR’s state-of-the-art studios.