Carleton’s award-winning Chinese Music Ensemble will perform in concert on Sunday, Oct. 29 at 3 p.m. in the Kracum Performance Hall of the Weitz Center for Creativity. The concert will also feature appearances by the Global Music Ensemble and the Tang-Song Music Ensemble, performing an eclectic program of musical selections from around the world.
The Carleton Chinese Music Ensemble, under the direction of Gao Hong, was established twelve years ago and has since performed to much acclaim at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Mall of America, University of Minnesota, The Confucius Institute’s China Day 2010 event at Northrop Auditorium, the ASIANetwork Conference in Chicago, the National Conference for Silk Road Scholars at the University of Minnesota, the Organization of Chinese Americans’ annual Chinese New Year Celebration, Winona State University, the Land O’Lakes Company’s Celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Concert Series, The Schubert Club’s new concert series Cocktails with Culture, the Flint Hills International Children’s Festival presented by the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, and the Chinese Minghua Language School in St. Paul. Locally they performed the inaugural performance for the Northfield Library’s Carnegie Concert Series, at St. Olaf College, Northfield High School, Northfield Middle School, and Carleton’s international festival, gallery openings, and Chinese New Year celebrations. They even appeared on a broadcast on KSTP news for their performance during the Confucius Institute’s opening ceremony at the University of Minnesota. In 2014, four members of the ensemble won medals at the Huian International Chinese Instrument Competition. In 2017, three other members were awarded gold medals at the New York Chinese Musical Instruments International Competition in New York City.
Gao Hong, a renowned Chinese pipa player and composer, graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing where she studied with pipa master Lin Shicheng. She has received numerous awards and honors at home and abroad. In 2005, Gao Hong became the first traditional musician to be awarded the prestigious Bush Artist Fellowship, and in 2012 she became the only musician in any genre to win four McKnight Artist Fellowships for Performing Musicians. She has received numerous commissions and has performed countless U.S. and world premieres of pipa concerti with organizations such as the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Heidelberg Philharmonic, Buenos Aires Philharmonic, and many others. She is a Guest Professor at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, Tianjin Conservatory of Music in China, and a member of the Board of Directors at the McNally Smith College of Music. More information online at www.chinesepipa.com.
This event is sponsored by the Carleton College Department of Music. For more information, including disability accommodations, call (507) 222-4347. The Weitz Center for Creativity is located at 320 E. Third Street in Northfield.