Tradition and Discovery: Teaching Chinese Music in the West

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TRADITION AND DISCOVERY: Teaching Chinese Music in the West 传统与探索:在西方教授中国音乐

March 30–31, 2018 Bard College


us-china music institute bard college conservatory of music

TRADITION AND DISCOVERY: conference

Teaching Chinese Music in the West

传统与探索:在西方教授中国音乐 The world of music in the 21st century is more diverse than ever before. Chinese music is becoming more accessible to music students and audiences outside of China. With the rise of China as a global musical, cultural force, music education can play a major role in creating cross-cultural connections and understanding. The mission of the US-China Music Institute is to promote the study, performance, and appreciation of music from contemporary China, and to support musical exchange between the United States and China. We are committed to developing greater access to Chinese instrumental teaching in the West as part of this mission. To that end, in fall 2018 we welcomed our first cohort of undergraduate majors in guzheng and erhu, with new majors being added this year in dizi, ruan, and pipa. As we grow this program and look to the future for new and exciting ways to bring Chinese music into the Western world, outreach to fellow educators and musicians for inspiration becomes increasingly important. For the second annual conference of the US-China Music Institute, we explore the successes and challenges in teaching Chinese music in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Bringing together experts in Chinese music education from varied programs and backgrounds, we envision creating a worldwide collaboration to further our mutual goals. We cherish the relationship between the Bard College Conservatory of Music and the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, and we are grateful to Central Conservatory President Yu Feng for participating in this important conference. We also acknowledge our copresenters, the Music Confucius Institute of the Royal Danish Academy of Music and the Center for Chinese Music and Culture at Middle Tennessee State University. Finally, we thank the many people and organizations who have come to Bard to participate. We hope this event marks the beginning of many collaborations for years to come. Jindong Cai Director, US-China Music Institute, Bard College Conservatory of Music Professor of Music and Arts, Bard College March 2019


MONDAY, MARCH 11, 2019 | LÁSZLÓ Z. BITÓ ’60 CONSERVATORY BUILDING

CONFERENCE SESSIONS 9:00 am – noon

Session 1 The World of Chinese Music Education Jindong Cai, Director, US-China Music Institute, Bard College Conservatory of Music How to Create Artistic Collaboration and Context-Related Activities Marianne Løkke Jakobsen, Director, Music Confucius Institute, Royal Danish Academy of Music Exotic to Fundamental: A Leap in the Teaching of Chinese Music Performance in the Context of Western Music Pedagogy Han Mei, Director, Center for Chinese Music and Culture, Middle Tennessee State University Coffee Break Achieving Depth and Breadth: Reflecting on Teaching Chinese Music in Canada Gloria Wong, World Music Program Chair, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra School of Music Creating Cultural Bridges: How Does Chinese Music Survive and Thrive Outside of Asia? Patty Chan, Music Director and President, Toronto Chinese Orchestra

Noon – 1:00 pm

Lunch Break

1:00–1:30 pm

US-China Music Institute Student Recital Undergraduate double-degree program majors Liu Beitong, erhu; Liu Chang, erhu; Wang Sibei, guzheng; Wang Yixin, guzheng Advanced Performance Studies graduate students Li Cangxiao, erhu; Ye Yisi, guzheng

1:30–3:00 pm

Session 2 Chinese Music in 21st-Century America: Understanding Its Multifaceted Presence Zheng Su, Associate Professor of Music and East Asian Studies, Wesleyan University Chinese Music Performance in the Liberal Arts Context W. Anthony Sheppard, Marylin and Arthur Levitt Professor of Music, Williams College The Genesis of the US-China Music Institute Robert Martin, Director, Bard College Conservatory of Music

3:00–4:00 pm

Afternoon Tea: Discussion in Chinese

4:00–5:00 pm

Roundtable Discussion in English Opening comments and demonstration by John Thompson, guqin scholar and performer

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MONDAY, MARCH 11, 2019, 8 PM | LÁSZLÓ Z. BITÓ ’60 CONSERVATORY BUILDING

CONCERT Wu Man and Friends: A Musical Journey Wu Man, pipa Han Mei, zheng Edward Perez, bass Kaoru Watanabe, Japanese drum/flute World-renowned pipa virtuoso Wu Man and friends lead the audience on a superb musical journey, using music to bridge cultural divides by combining traditional Chinese instrumentation with world music and Western jazz-inflected elements. Program will be announced from the stage.

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Wu Man, photo by Stephen Kahn


TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2019 | LÁSZLÓ Z. BITÓ ’60 CONSERVATORY BUILDING

CONFERENCE SESSIONS 9:00 am – noon

Session 3 On the Importance of Teaching Chinese Music Outside of China Yu Feng, President, Central Conservatory of Music Behind Music Language Chen Tao, Founder and Director, Melody of Dragon Music From China: The Experience of a Music Ensemble in Teaching Chinese Music on the East Coast Susan Cheng, Executive Director, Music From China Coffee Break Sculpting Sound: Music of the Ears Randy Raine-Reusch, Composer and Concert Artist Reflections on Teaching Traditional Chinese Musical Instruments in Western Society Li Xin, Chinese Vice Director, Music Confucius Institute, Royal Danish Academy of Music; Professor of Musicology, Central Conservatory of Music Remarks Leon Botstein, President, Bard College

Noon – 1:00 pm

Lunch Break

1:00–3:00 pm

Wu Man Workshop: On Improvisation With students of the Bard College Conservatory of Music Harrison Jarvis, piano Alexander Levinson, cello Cangxiao Li, erhu Beitong Liu, erhu Chang Liu, erhu Nathaniel Savage, bass Alex van der Veen, violin Cree Vitti, oboe Betty Wang, guzheng Yixin Wang, guzheng Meilin Wei, percussion Yisi Ye, guzheng

3:00–4:00 pm

Reception

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PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS US-China Music Institute, Bard College Conservatory of Music The Bard College Conservatory of Music is recognized as one of the finest conservatories in the United States. Founded in 2005, the conservatory is guided by the principle that young musicians should be broadly educated in the liberal arts and sciences to achieve their greatest potential. The mission of the conservatory is to provide the best possible preparation for a person dedicated to a life immersed in the creation and performance of music. In 2017, the conservatory formed the US-China Music Institute with the goal of creating a major platform in the United States for the study, performance, and appreciation of contemporary Chinese music. In partnership with the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, it has embarked on a five-year Chinese Music Development Initiative to aid promotion of Chinese music through a number of innovative programs including a degree program, an annual music festival, and an annual scholarly conference. In fall 2018, the institute welcomed its first undergraduate students in Chinese instrument performance. Like all Bard College Conservatory of Music undergraduates, the Chinese instrument majors earn a bachelor of music degree and a second bachelor of arts degree in a field of their choice. New students for the 2019–20 academic year are being recruited in dizi, erhu, guzheng, pipa, and ruan. In 2018, the US-China Music Institute hosted its first annual scholarly conference,“Harmony and Power: The Role of Music in the Cultivation of the Literati in Ancient China,” and created a 2V-week-long Bard Youth Chinese Orchestra Summer Academy. The institute also produced the first annual China Now Music Festival at Bard and in New York City. Titled “Facing the Past, Looking to the Future: Chinese Composers in the 21st Century,” the festival featured world-premiere and U.S.-premiere works by some of the most celebrated Chinese composers of our time. The 2019 China Now Music Festival, “China and America,” will present the world premiere of an oratorio by celebrated composer Zhou Long. Titled Men of Iron and the Golden Spike, the piece tells the story of the Chinese railroad workers who helped to build the Transcontinental Railroad, completed 150 years ago. The US-China Music Institute continues to grow and develop innovative programming, including our new collaboration with China Institute in Manhattan, Music at China Institute 华美音乐, which will feature classes in Chinese instruments for children and adults at its downtown location, starting this spring.

Central Conservatory of Music Established in 1949, the Central Conservatory of Music (CCOM) in Beijing is a specialized Chinese institution of higher education for nurturing high-level music professionals. The CCOM consists of the Departments of Composition, Musicology, Conducting, Piano, Orchestral Instruments, Traditional Instruments, and Voice and Opera, as well as the Institute of Music Education, ViolinMaking Center, Orchestra Academy, CCOM Middle School, Modern Distance Music Education College, and a key research center. It currently enrolls 1,543 undergraduate students and 633 graduate students. Functioning as a national center of music education, composition, performance, research, and the social promotion of music, the CCOM represents the highest caliber of music education in China, offering a comprehensive range of specialized programs. The CCOM’s Traditional Instruments Department is recognized worldwide as the leader in teaching heritage and ethnic Chinese instrumental performance at the highest level. The department was

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founded in 1950, originally as a folk music group, and took its current form in 1956. Led by Director Zhang Hongyan and Deputy Directors Hu Yu and Ji Wei, the department has made remarkable achievements in teaching, scientific research, and artistic practice. It has published various ethnic instrumental music teaching materials as well as more than 100 theoretical works and 400 sets of audio and video products. The award-winning students and faculty have been successful in many major national and international competitions, receiving the Golden Bell Award, CCTV Folk Instrumental Competition, and more. The Central Conservatory of Music Chinese Instrument Orchestra is one of the most acclaimed and dynamic orchestras of its kind. From 2013 to 2015 the orchestra was invited to Eastern Europe, North America, and South Africa to visit, speak, and display the artistic charm of Chinese traditional music to the world, enhancing the international status of China’s musical culture. In recent years, through the Chinese Folk Music Festival and other activities, the department has contributed to academic exploration, building a platform for innovation and development in contemporary Chinese music.

Melody of Dragon Melody of Dragon, Inc., a Chinese music ensemble based in New York City, was founded in 1998 by four virtuoso musicians from leading conservatories in China—Chen Tao, Chen Sisi, Zhang Baoli, and Liu Li—to introduce and promote Chinese musical repertory in the United States. The ultimate purpose of Melody of Dragon is to build a bridge of musical and cultural exchange between China and the United States. Melody of Dragon maintains a full itinerary of performances and educational programs. Concerts feature traditional, classical, and folk music, as well as contemporary music. Melody of Dragon has performed and lectured at New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Lincoln Center, The Juilliard School, China Institute, Japan Society, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nicholas Music Center at Rutgers University, Charleston University, Winona University, Columbia University, Wesleyan University, University of Cambridge, and Smithsonian Institution, and presented workshops with Midori’s adventure concert series in elementary schools in Long Island, Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and the Newark area.

Center for Chinese Music and Culture, Middle Tennessee State University The Middle Tennessee State University Center for Chinese Music and Culture (CCMC) was established in spring 2016, a joint venture between Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) and Hanban, the Confucius Institute Headquarters, in Beijing, China. The center is the first of its kind in North America. Located in Murfreesboro, part of the metropolitan Nashville community, the center occupies 3,200 square feet of space with a musical instrument gallery, classrooms, library, and archives. CCMC holds a collection of more than 200 Chinese musical instruments, including a set of replica Zenghou Yi chime bells and stone chime. CCMC also holds a collection of Chinese music archives donated by the family of late Dr. Fredrik Lieberman, Professor Han Kou-Huang, and many other scholars. CCMC’s mission is to create a hub for the sharing, teaching, and research of Chinese music, with an aim to cultivate an understanding and appreciation of Chinese culture. CCMC presents two concert series, Treasures of Chinese Music and Dialogue between Cultures. The former brings top Chinese musicians to perform traditional and contemporary music, and the latter pairs Chinese instrumentalists with those of other cultures. CCMC has presented two annual festivals of Chinese arts, a conference on teaching Chinese music in North America (2017), and a symposium on preservation of traditional music (2019). CCMC collaborates with Chinese institutions of higher education to bring acclaimed Chinese and international artists for concerts, lectures, and workshops on the

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MTSU campus. The MTSU Chinese Ensemble, a credit-bearing course, is open university-wide, and CCMC offers outreach through school and community programs in the Middle Tennessee region. The center is gaining regional, national, and international attention. Recently the center recorded a bronze bell performance, which is installed in the exhibition Mirroring China’s Past: Emperors and Their Bronzes at the Art Institute of Chicago. CCMC has been featured in Music Reference Services Quarterly, a national academic journal, and a Nashville Public Television documentary.

Music From China Music From China is a chamber ensemble performing eclectic programs of traditional Chinese music and contemporary work. Established in 1984 by Executive Director Susan Cheng, the group has performed at the Library of Congress, Asia Society, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Smithsonian Institution’s Freer and Sackler Galleries, among others; and festivals including the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, American Folk Festival, Boston Early Music Festival, and Ecstatic Music Festival. Music From China has appeared on such college and university campuses as Princeton, Duke, Colgate, Pittsburgh, Wesleyan, Bowdoin, Williams, Vassar, William and Mary, Bard, Peabody Conservatory, and Eastman School of Music. Championing new music is an essential part of Music From China’s mission. For more than two decades, its annual Premiere Works concert series has presented contemporary works by some of the most outstanding composers of our time. Music From China has commissioned composers such as Bright Sheng, Zhou Long, Chen Yi, Huang Ruo, Lei Liang, Zhou Tian, Eric Moe, Derek Bermel, Neil Rolnick, and Mathew Rosenblum. Music From China is the recipient of an Adventurous Programming award from Chamber Music America and ASCAP. Arts in education programs have taken Music From China to schools from the Bronx to Flint, Michigan, giving students hands-on experience with Chinese instruments and a musical window into Chinese culture. The Music From China Youth Orchestra, established in 2006 and conducted by Artistic Director Wang Guowei, has performed in such prestigious venues as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Bruno Walter Auditorium at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Middlebury College, and has made three trips to Shanghai and Taipei.

Music Confucius Institute, Royal Danish Academy of Music The Royal Danish Academy of Music is a power center in the classical music world, representing the highest level of achievement and cooperating with some of the foremost music academies in the world. The academy offers study of music and music pedagogy, taught by a corps of teachers that includes several of the greatest names in music, including many affiliated as guest professors. The study environment is cosmopolitan, characterized by healthy competition accentuated by interaction among the students, Danish as well as international. The Music Confucius Institute (MCI) was established in 2012 as a creation of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and the Royal Danish Academy of Music (RDAM) in Copenhagen. The purpose of the MCI is to facilitate musical and cultural exchange between China and Denmark. MCI aims to contribute to the future global development of music by creating synergies between classical Western and Chinese musical traditions. As an institute within RDAM, MCI works with projects that create and develop new relationships between Chinese and Western musical culture. The institute’s activities include lectures, workshops, and concerts in collaboration with local partners, businesses,

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Danish/Chinese organizations, and RDAM students. MCI believes that music has a universal power to transcend borders and create new relationships, and facilitate inspiration and collaboration among people of diverse backgrounds. MCI cultivates this concept by presenting tailored performances and cultural events for all platforms: business, government, educational, cultural, and local and private institutions.

Toronto Chinese Orchestra The Toronto Chinese Orchestra (TCO) is Canada’s longest-running orchestra for traditional Chinese instruments. Established in 1993, TCO has grown from a gathering for Chinese music enthusiasts to an orchestra with a distinct artistic vision. Nationally, TCO collaborates with the British Columbia Chinese Orchestra, Edmonton Chinese Philharmonic, and Vancouver’s Sound of Dragon Music Festival; internationally, TCO works closely with Taiwan’s Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra, has connections with Hong Kong’s LaSalle College Chinese Orchestra and Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, and performs contemporary works by composers in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Additionally, TCO has established a youth wing, a community ensemble (training) and a professional ensemble to raise the standard of Chinese orchestral music in Canada and extend its reach to new audiences. Participants in the youth and community ensembles are trained in sight reading, rhythm, ear training, and following the conductor, and receive performance experiences in the community. The results of TCO’s efforts are reflected in its demographic: young adults trained in Canada as well as new immigrants. TCO’s makeup allows it to perform challenging works for large orchestra, a unique situation among Chinese orchestras in Ontario.

World Music Program,Vancouver Symphony Orchestra School of Music The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra School of Music (VSO SoM) was founded in 2011 as a vision of former VSO Maestro Bramwell Tovey. The school is unique in North America in its affiliation of a professional symphony with a music education institution. The newly built school facilities serve more than 1,000 students throughout the year, offering music education from prenatal and infant classes to classes for children, youth, and adults. The school presents performances and masterclasses by visiting artists and offers students performance and educational opportunities with VSO musicians and faculty. The school has three main programs: Western classical music, jazz, and world music. The world music program has grown since its inception, with the Chinese music program being its largest. The Chinese music program at the VSO SoM includes private instruction on the dizi, sheng, suona, pipa, yangqin, ruan, zheng, guqin, and erhu, as well as Chinese folk singing. The school is also home to the Azalea Chamber Ensemble, a 15-member Chinese instrumental ensemble led by composer and ruan player Zhimin Yu. The mandate of the Chinese music program at the VSO SoM is to offer excellence in traditional Chinese instrumental and vocal music training. The program specializes in providing rich experiences in Chinese chamber music as inspired by traditional, regional genres. Advanced students are also given the opportunity to collaborate on new compositions with students from other world traditions and those from the Western classical music and jazz programs.

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World Music Program, Wesleyan University One of the country’s first world-music programs, Wesleyan’s World Music Program was established in the mid-1960s, alongside and closely intertwined with its Experimental Music Program, whose leading figures included John Cage, Alvin Lucier, and Anthony Braxton. In the past five decades, Wesleyan’s music program has highlighted the breadth and diversity of the world’s musics, integrating world musics into the department’s curriculum at every level and aspect. As a vital part of one of the nation’s leading liberal arts institutions, Wesleyan’s Music Department has enjoyed an international reputation for innovation and excellence, attracting students from around the globe. The Chinese Music Ensemble is among 18 ensembles currently offered for course credit. Ten more ensembles are offered on an ad hoc basis. Courses focusing on Chinese music include “Popular Music in Reform China” and “Spirituality, Theatricality, and Visuality in Tan Dun’s Operas and Music for Martial Arts Films.” Wesleyan has a well-established College for East Asian Studies (CEAS), and all of our East Asian music-related courses are cross-listed with CEAS. Wesleyan’s Music Department held a successful music festival in collaboration with Zheng Xiaoying, one of China’s most well-known conductors, and esteemed composer Liu Yuan. The department has also hosted a number of visiting scholars from China. Wesleyan’s Chinese Music Ensemble was formed in 2001, supported by Zheng Su, then the chair of the East Asian Studies Program. Wang Guowei, a New York–based erhu master musician, was instrumental in instructing and leading the ensemble in its early years, with assistance from Susan Cheng, musician and executive director of Music From China. Since fall 2018, the ensemble is led by a visiting instructor. Enrollment in the ensemble is between 15 and 25 students per semester, and it offers a public concert at the end of each semester for university and community members.

Chinese Music Ensemble, Williams College Department of Music The Williams College Department of Music offers courses and performance opportunities in music from throughout history and across the globe. As a liberal arts college music department, we encourage our students to engage in a wide variety of approaches to the study of music, including composition, history, theory, and ethnomusicology. We feature 17 student ensembles, including the Berkshire Symphony, Kusika and the Zambezi Marimba band, jazz ensembles, two choirs, a wind ensemble, Chinese Music Ensemble, and additional performance opportunities such as the I/O New Music Festival, Williams Opera Workshop, and chamber music. The department offers individual instruction in all the major Western instruments in addition to Indian sitar and tabla, Zimbabwean mbira, and Chinese instruments. The Williams College Chinese Music Ensemble was founded in fall 2014 and is directed by Wang Guowei, who is assisted by Susan Cheng. The decision to establish this ensemble and offer lessons in a variety of Chinese string instruments grew out of successful concert and workshop visits by Music From China and by Wu Man. The ensemble performs traditional and contemporary pieces arranged by Wang Guowei and features such instruments as the zheng, erhu, yangqin, and zhongruan. The repertoire is primarily focused on the Chinese sizhu genre of chamber music. The ensemble typically includes around eight students, and its concerts attract a significant contingent of student and faculty audience members as well as members of the community. The success of this program is marked by the fact that a student pipa player was selected to perform as soloist for the College’s Convocation ceremony in September 2018.

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PRESENTATION SUMMARIES The World of Chinese Music Education

Jindong Cai, Director, US-China Music Institute, Bard College Conservatory of Music It is well known that the learning of Western classical music in China has enjoyed great success. Less widely known is the fact that the teaching of traditional Chinese music is just as successful. With Chinese music becoming more popular and accessible around the world, Chinese music teaching is gaining momentum outside of China as well. My focus is on how we can strategically unify our resources to achieve our common goals.

How to Create Artistic Collaboration and Context-Related Activities

Marianne Løkke Jakobsen, Director, Music Confucius Institute, Royal Danish Academy of Music At Music Confucius Institute (MCI) we have taken on the creation of a better understanding of China through Chinese culture, especially Chinese music. MCI creates the conditions for artistic collaboration between East and West through joint programs that are attractive to both audiences and performers. The vision of MCI is not only to spread Chinese culture to the world but also to encourage the development of Chinese musical culture in the context of a global future.

Exotic to Fundamental: A Leap in the Teaching of Chinese Music Performance in the Context of Western Music Pedagogy Han Mei, Director, Center for Chinese Music and Culture, Middle Tennessee State University

I explore the inclusion of Chinese music as an essential element in Western musical pedagogy. I argue that the knowledge and information developed and conveyed through performing Chinese music can become an essential part of students’ musical language, affecting and informing their other music making while enhancing their preparations to work as musical professionals. Chinese Music Ensemble, as a credit-bearing course, has been established in many higher education institutions in North America. Yet education in non-Western music has been viewed pedagogically as a separate domain from that of Western music. Training in Western classical theory and practice is considered fundamental for a music career, whereas any world music—no matter how sophisticated or relevant to our changing world—has for the most part been considered simply a musical and cultural excursion. My experiences teaching Chinese music brings this practice into question.

Achieving Depth and Breadth: Reflecting on Teaching Chinese Music in Canada Gloria Wong, World Music Program Chair, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra School of Music

The Chinese music educator abroad, in many respects, has a broader mandate with higher stakes than that of one operating in the motherland. How do we go about defining our success and charting a path toward improvement? We desire to train students with excellent musicianship, both of Chinese music and other world traditions; for the sake of personal engagement and ambassadorship, we desire to shape a proper historical understanding of their music making; and for the sake of sustainability, we cultivate leadership and anticipate a lifetime of commitment to local organizations. In many Canadian cities, we are celebrating our second to third generation of growth and looking with hope to the future.

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Creating Cultural Bridges: How Does Chinese Music Survive and Thrive Outside of Asia? Patty Chan, Music Director and President, Toronto Chinese Orchestra

Through examining the history and development of traditional Chinese music ensembles in the Toronto community, I attempt to show that bridges must be built between Eastern and Western cultures in order to stay relevant and thrive. What is Chinese music in Canada? How will it survive beyond first-generation immigrants? Preservation or development of Chinese music? Is this progress or distortion? These are necessary questions that I have had to address in creating a vision for the Toronto Chinese Orchestra, which is the longest-running Chinese orchestra in Canada. I will show how our path has changed since we were first established 1993, and our how our journey is unfolding.

Chinese Music in 21st-Century America: Understanding Its Multifaceted Presence Zheng Su, Associate Professor of Music and East Asian Studies, Wesleyan University

“Chinese music” is a complicated and even a contested concept in the context of 21st-century America. Currently on the scene are Chinese-government-funded Chinese music performances as part of public diplomacy; local community-based Chinese American music ensembles’ grassroots performances as part of multicultural America; historical sound and image legacies of orientalism and racialized migration experiences; academia-based world music ensembles, research courses, and advanced ethnomusicology degree programs; creative, collaborative projects between individual Chinese or Chinese American musicians and various American artists and artistic institutions; as well as internet music. Drawing upon my own research and teaching experiences and Wesleyan’s Chinese Music Ensemble’s 18-year history, this presentation explores Chinese music’s multifaceted presence in 21st-century America, asking how we can understand its significance, and arguing for a wholistic embrace of the concept of “Chinese music.”

Chinese Music Performance in the Liberal Arts Context

W. Anthony Sheppard, Marylin and Arthur Levitt Professor of Music, Williams College The Williams College Chinese Music Ensemble was founded in fall 2014 and is directed by Wang Guowei, assisted by Susan Cheng. This new focus on Chinese music grew out of successful concert and workshop visits by Music From China and Wu Man. Chinese music had been included in our courses but was not integrated into our program. Looking back after five years it is clear the ensemble and lesson opportunities have brought students into the department who otherwise would not have participated in music at Williams. The ensemble’s concerts have introduced Chinese music to a significant student audience and have bolstered our courses. Wang Guowei strikes a balance in programming between traditional styles and contemporary and popular pieces. An ongoing challenge is to remind Admissions of the ensemble’s existence given its relatively small size. Our success is marked by the fact that a student pipa player was selected as soloist for the College’s Convocation this past fall.

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The Genesis of the US-China Music Institute

Robert Martin, Director, Bard College Conservatory of Music In this talk I try to answer the following questions: Why did the Bard Conservatory decide to create the US-China Music Institute? What did we hope to achieve? What circumstances made the creation of the institute possible? What were the main challenges in creating it? What, if any, are the unique or unusual features of the US-China Music Institute? Were there any surprising or unanticipated consequences of creating it? What have we learned so far?

On the Importance of Teaching Chinese Music Outside of China Yu Feng, President, Central Conservatory of Music

President Yu opens the day with remarks that offer the perspective of the prestigious Central Conservatory of Music on the teaching of traditional instruments as a medium for global outreach and cultural exchange.

Behind Music Language

Chen Tao, Founder and Director, Melody of Dragon Special languages exist for different subjects: music language, movie language, computer language, etc. . . . and there is a language for traditional and modem music. What are the characteristics and spirit of Chinese music language? The relationship between Chinese philosophy, aesthetics, and Chinese traditional music? The relationship between Chinese poetry, painting, calligraphy, and Chinese traditional music? The relationship between Western music and Chinese music? What are the characteristics of modem music language? Comparing traditional and modern music, what do they have in common and what special features do they have?

Music From China: The Experience of a Music Ensemble in Teaching Chinese Music on the East Coast Susan Cheng, Executive Director, Music From China

Teaching Chinese music and instruments to children and college students has many rewards as well as challenges. Music From China has worked in this field over a span of more than 30 years.

Sculpting Sound: Music of the Ears

Randy Raine-Reusch, Composer and Concert Artist Music is an aural art. Scores rely on the performer to add layers of expressive effects that are passed aurally, either by a teacher demonstrating to the student or by the student listening to other performers. The moving tone is an essential expression in Chinese traditional music, giving shape to the sound, carrying implied emotion, and signifying identity. With increasing reliance put on scores, are students losing the ability to hear nuances and to be able to sculpt sound? If so, how do we teach students to listen and give shape to the sound that is essential in Chinese music?

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Reflections on Teaching Traditional Chinese Musical Instruments in Western Society

Li Xin, Chinese Vice Director, Music Confucius Institute, Royal Danish Academy of Music; Professor of Musicology, Central Conservatory of Music China’s specific historical, social, and cultural environment has promoted the development of its traditional music instrument teaching. Some classical musical instruments, such as guqin and pipa, by inheriting various schools of playing from ancient times to the present, have formed a number of unique educational models, which led to the emergence of many talented music performers and teachers. Since the 20th century, traditional music courses have been set up in conservatories and other institutions of higher learning. Various contemporary Chinese music schools also have courses in traditional instruments to train professional musicians and music teachers. Many young Chinese music students choose to major in traditional music instrument playing, not only because of their interest in the traditional music itself but, more important, because of the social environment in China that calls for Chinese music instrument players to work as teachers in music schools as well as performers in different music ensembles. In other words, the social demand has become their motivation in learning to play traditional musical instruments. At the same time, as a part of Chinese music education, traditional Chinese instrument teaching has begun in Western society, which has a cultural background entirely different from China’s. Therefore, an important task for Chinese musicians is to explore how to teach traditional Chinese musical instruments in accordance with Western culture. What is the purpose of its teaching? How to teach? How to evaluate the teaching results? In my talk, the discussion focuses on the teaching practice at Music Confucius Institute.

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PARTICIPANTS Leon Botstein is a conductor, music historian, and leader in education reform. He was educated at the University of Chicago (BA) and Harvard University (MA, PhD); since 1975, he has been president and Leon Levy Professor in the Arts and Humanities at Bard College. As music director and conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra since 1992, artistic codirector of SummerScape and the Bard Music Festival, and music director of The Orchestra Now (TŌN), he is known for expanding listeners’ experience of classical music by performing works by lesser-known virtuosi and excavating forgotten works by popular composers. He is also artistic director of the Grafenegg Campus and Academy. He is author of Jefferson’s Children: Education and the Promise of American Culture (Doubleday, 1997); Judentum und Modernität: Essays zur Rolle der Juden in der Deutschen und Österreichischen Kultur, 1848–1938 (Böhlau Verlag, 1991; Russian translation Belveder, 2003); Von Beethoven zu Berg: Das Gedächtnis der Moderne (Szolnay Verlag, 2013). Botstein’s most recent honors include an honorary doctorate of science from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, honorary doctorate of humane letters from Goucher College, and honorary doctorate of music from Sewanee: The University of the South; National Center for Fair and Open Testing’s Deborah W. Meier Award for Heroes in Education; Bruckner Society’s Kilenyi Medal of Honour; Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts, American Academy of Arts and Letters; Harvard University’s Centennial Award; the Austrian government’s Cross of Honor, First Class; Carnegie Foundation’s Academic Leadership Award; University of Chicago’s Alumni Medal; and Leonard Bernstein Award for the Elevation of Music in Society.

Jindong Cai is director of the US-China Music Institute of the Bard College Conservatory of Music, professor of music and arts at Bard College, and academic director and associate conductor of The Orchestra Now. Prior to joining Bard, he was a professor and director of orchestral studies at Stanford University for 14 years. Over three decades of his career in the United States, Cai has established himself as a dynamic conductor, respected expert of Western classical music in China, and leading advocate of music from across Asia. He is frequently interviewed by news media around the world, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, BBC, and NPR. Together with his wife, Sheila Melvin, Cai has coauthored many articles on the performing arts in China and the book Rhapsody in Red: How Western Classical Music Became Chinese. Their latest book, Beethoven in China: How the Great Composer Became an Icon in the People’s Republic, was published by Penguin in 2015. Cai is a Beijing native with strong ties to China’s musical world. He came to the United States in 1985 and studied at the New England Conservatory and the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati. In 1989, he was selected to study with famed conductor Leonard Bernstein at the Tanglewood Music Center, and won the Conducting Fellowship Award at the Aspen Music Festival in 1990 and 1992. Cai is a three-time recipient of the ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music, and received an “Asian Hero” award from the California State Legislature in 2010.

Leon Botstein, photo by Ric Kallaher. Jindong Cai, photo by Li Muji

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Patty Chan was born in Toronto. She is an erhu musician, educator, author, and president and music director of the Toronto Chinese Orchestra (TCO). As an erhu musician, Chan has collaborated with many ensembles and organizations, including the Strings of St. John’s, Red Snow Collective, Toronto Masque Theatre, and Canadian Children’s Opera Company. She has performed in world premieres of theater/opera productions such as Red Snow (2012), The Lesson of Da Ji (2013), Comfort (2016), and The Monkiest King (2018). Her composition Redemption: The Chan Kol Nidre (2015) for erhu and viola da gamba has been added to the archives at the Beit Hatfutsot in Tel Aviv, a museum for the Jewish people. Chan has taught erhu and Chinese music at York University, Ryerson University, and Carleton University. She published Playing Erhu: Bridging the Gap (2011), the world’s first erhu instruction book in English, which has been sold in over 30 countries. Others include Playing Erhu: Foundation Essentials 1 (2017), and Playing Erhu Booklet (2019). Chan has been with the Toronto Chinese Orchestra since it was established in 1993. Under her leadership, she has formed the youth and community training ensembles and the Chamber Players (a professional ensemble), along with the main orchestra. TCO has hosted piano, conducting, and composition competitions, organized exchanges, and performed in Vancouver, Edmonton, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Sharing the beauty of music with a new generation and a new audience has always been her passion.

Chen Tao is an internationally acclaimed Chinese flutist, music educator, composer, and conductor of Chinese orchestra; founder and director of Melody of Dragon, Inc., and of Melody of Dragon & the Youth; artistic director and conductor of the Chinese Music Ensemble of New York and conductor of New Jersey Buddha’s Light Youth Chinese Orchestra; artistic director of New York Guqin Association; and executive chairman of the New York Chinese Music Instruments International Competition since 2015. He is also a 27th-generation musician of Zhi-Hua Buddhism music. The New York Times called Chen Tao a “poet in music” and his playing “a miracle of the oriental flute.” Conductor Herbert von Karajan praised him as an artist who “performs with his soul.” A graduate of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, Chen Tao was the winner of the 1989 National Folk Instrument Competition in China and has toured the United States, Germany, Italy, France, England, Holland, Singapore, and elsewhere. He has collaborated with the BBC Philharmonic, and National Orchestra of Lyon. His playing can be heard on soundtracks of Hollywood movies including Seven Years in Tibet, Corrupter (with the New York Philharmonic), and on the PBS documentary Under the Red Flag. Since coming to the United States in 1993, Chen Tao has been invited to perform and lecture throughout the country. His second flute recital was performed in Carnegie Hall by the New York Flute Club in 2001. He has performed at Lincoln Center and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center with groups such as the Manhattan School of Music’s Chamber Orchestra, Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, and H. T. Chen Dancers. China Institute in America has invited him to perform and lecture on the Chinese flute since 1995. The World Journal and Tsingtao Daily have called him “king of the flute.” As a music educator, Chen Tao has been leading Melody of Dragon in collaboration with the Midori & Friends Foundation to develop Chinese music culture in elementary schools and high schools throughout the New York metropolitan area.

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Susan Cheng, executive director of Music From China, has maintained a lifelong devotion to the promotion and development of Chinese music in the United States, founding Music From China in 1984. In addition to performing on yangqin (hammered dulcimer) and ruan (guitar), Cheng is a lecturer and workshop leader of programs for children and adults. She is artist associate in Chinese string instruments at Williams College and instructor of Chinese plucked strings for the Westminster Choir College Chinese Music Ensemble.

Han Mei, PhD, is associate professor of the School of Music and founding director of the Center for Chinese Music and Culture at Middle Tennessee State University. Han is an ethnomusicologist, musician, and educator specializing in Chinese instrumental music. Her studies also include music of minorities in Southwest China, East Asian music, and Western contemporary music influenced by East Asian philosophy. She has published in English and Chinese, including entries for the New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments and New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. She has lectured at universities and music institutes in North America, Europe, Asia, and South Africa. Han founded and directed a number of Chinese ensembles, including those of University of British Columbia, University of Michigan, and Kenyon College. Han Mei is an internationally acclaimed concert artist on the zheng (Chinese long zither). Presenting music deeply rooted in Chinese culture, Han is transforming this stately instrument into a powerful tool for the contemporary international concert stage. She has appeared with leading artists around the world in a multitude of musical genres including symphonic, chamber, and new music; traditional to world music; creative improvisation to electronic. Han studied with zheng masters Gao Zicheng and Zhang Yan. She was a featured soloist for over 10 years with the prestigious Zhanyou Ensemble in China. She has played concerts in Asia, North America, Europe, Australia, and Africa, including at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; National Day Celebration in Ottawa; WOMAD Festival in Australia and Singapore; and Concertgebouw, the Netherlands. She premiered the first zheng concerto composed by a non-Chinese composer (John Sharpley) with the China Philharmonic Orchestra in Beijing, and performed with the San Francisco Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, and other orchestras. She has recorded more than 10 solo and chamber music albums and received two Juno (Canadian Music Award) nominations.

Marianne Løkke Jakobsen is director of international affairs and director of Music Confucius Institute. She is a member of the Royal Danish Academy of Music (RDAM) distance-learning development team. She has been employed at the Royal Danish Academy of Music since 2000. Since 2012, Jakobsen has been fully engaged in the establishment of the world’s first Music Confucius Institute (MCI) in cooperation with Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Jakobsen has created the international profile of RDAM. Her work is characterized by personal engagement in innovative thinking in distance and online learning, global relations, intercultural insights, quality assurance, entrepreneurship, and competence development. She has built up a national and international network of music academies; higher education; and government-based steering groups including the Ministry for Culture, Ministry for Education and Research, and Foreign Ministry; and has been involved in the development of the Internet2 art network.

Teaching Chinese Music in the West 17


Li Xin, PhD, professor in the Musicology Department, Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing, is also Chinese vice director of Music Confucius Institute at the Royal Danish Academy of Music. Li is interested in the study of world music and has published articles and books on the subject, including “A Comparative Study of the Common Musical Characteristics of North American Dakota Indian Folk Songs and Chinese Altaic Language Family”; “The African Thumb Piano”; “A Study of the Drum Culture in African Traditional Music”; “Go South from Sahara: A Study of African Music”; and “Indian Music on the Silk Road in Ancient China.” Well-known in professional circles of ethnomusicology in China, Li has given lectures on world music in many universities and research centers worldwide. Robert Martin is director of the Bard College Conservatory of Music. As a cellist, he “offers polished, vital music-making in an imaginatively conceived program,” according to the Los Angeles Times. Martin, in addition to his work as conservatory director and vice president for policy and planning, is also professor of philosophy and music at Bard. Martin was the cellist of the Sequoia String Quartet from 1975 to 1985, during which time the ensemble made many recordings and toured internationally. He was assistant dean of humanities at UCLA and founded and produced the Los Angeles chamber music series Music for Mischa, later presented at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Martin studied cello at the Curtis Institute of Music with Leonard Rose and Orlando Cole, and liberal arts at Haverford College. He made his New York recital debut, with pianist Richard Goode, in the Young Concert Artist Series. During his doctoral studies in philosophy at Yale University, he was principal cellist of the New Haven Symphony and cellist of the Group for Contemporary Music, then at Columbia University. After receiving his PhD, he pursued a dual career in music and philosophy, holding joint appointments at SUNY Buffalo and Rutgers University. Martin came to Bard College in 1994 as as professor of philosophy and music, dean of graduate studies, and associate dean of the College. He has served as the director of the Bard College Conservatory of Music since its founding in 2005.

Edward Perez resides in the cultural crossroads of Queens, New York, where he leads parallel careers as a composer, arranger, and bassist. His works have been performed by the likes of the Silk Road Ensemble, Yo-Yo Ma, Alan Gilbert, Galician gaita powerhouse Cristina Pato, Latin jazz legend Ignacio Berroa, Latin Grammy–nominated Peruvian singer Jorge Pardo, and oud phenom Kenan Adnawi. His music has been played in venues ranging from nightclubs in New York to the Kennedy Center, David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, Massey Hall, Chicago Symphony Center, El Gran Teatro Nacional de Lima, Damascus Opera House, and Boston Symphony Hall. Perez began his career as a jazz bassist, but branched out to Latin jazz and traditional styles from Peru, Colombia, Brazil, and other parts of South America. He earned a math degree at Harvard University, then enjoyed a two-year stint in Lima, Peru, where he performed with Afro-Pervuian musicians including Grammy winners Eva Ayllón and Juan Medrano Cotito, as well as older-generation greats such as Oscar Avilés and Julio “Chocolate” Algendones. The Terraza Big Band, an 18-piece jazz group, plays original works by coleaders Perez and Michael Thomas that run the gamut from modern jazz to Latin American styles. As a bassist, Perez remains rooted in jazz improvisation, but continues to play a myriad of musical styles with a variety of groups.

18 TRADITION AND DISCOVERY

Robert Martin, photo by Li Muji


Randy Raine-Reusch is a composer, organologist, producer, and concert artist specializing in new and experimental music for traditional instruments. An innovator interested in extending the boundaries of music, he has created distinct new performance styles on a number of instruments from his collection of 1,000. His performances often include rare, endangered instruments from remote parts of the world. Raine-Reusch has spent 50 years exploring the relationship of music to psychology, philosophy, and spiritual practices. He also strives for a balance of virtuosity, innovation, and a contemplative depth of spirit, while retaining the essence of his instruments. He studied at the Creative Music Studio with Fred Rzewski, Jack DeJohnette, and Karl Berger before studying with master musicians in Australia, Malaysia, China, the Philippines, Korea, Japan, and elsewhere. As a result his music contains clear influences from a variety of indigenous cultures and is heavily influenced by Taoism and Zen. He has performed and/or recorded with such well-known artists and groups as Aerosmith, Yes, The Cranberries, Hun Huur Tu, Pauline Oliveros, and Wu Man. In addition to his concert tours to international festivals and concert stages, Raine-Reusch has been featured in five documentary films on music, and on a wide variety of national and international radio and TV broadcasts. He was a founder of the Rainforest World Music Festival in Malaysia, serving as artistic director for seven years. He has been artistic director of the Borneo Jazz Fest and consultant for Cirque du Soleil’s Quidam. He has been a guest lecturer in the fields of composition, performance, ethnomusicology, and psychology at prominent universities and conferences, and a contributing editor for Musicworks magazine.

W. Anthony Sheppard is Marylin and Arthur Levitt Professor of Music at Williams College, where he teaches courses in 20th-century music, opera, popular music, and Asian music. He earned his BA at Amherst College and his MFA and PhD from Princeton University. His first book, Revealing Masks: Exotic Influences and Ritualized Performance in Modernist Music Theater, received the Kurt Weill Prize, his article on Madama Butterfly and film earned the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award, an article on anti-Japanese World War II film music was honored with the Alfred Einstein Award by the American Musicological Society, and “Puccini and the Music Boxes” received the AMS H. Colin Slim Award. (This research on Puccini’s use of Chinese folk tunes was also featured in the New York Times and on PBS.) A book entitled Extreme Exoticism: Japan in the American Musical Imagination is forthcoming from Oxford University Press. Sheppard frequently lectures for the Metropolitan Opera Guild, Japan Society, and at major universities in the United States and United Kingdom. Sheppard’s research has been supported by the NEH, American Philosophical Society, and Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. He has served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Musicological Society and is series editor of AMS Studies in Music.

John Thompson, the best-known performer of early music for the Chinese guqin (silk-string zither), began his studies in Taiwan in 1974, learning the traditional repertoire from Sun Yü-ch’in. Since 1976, he has focused on reconstructing old melodies directly from tablature, by now having recorded more than 200 melodies learned from 15th-, 16th-, and 17th-century handbooks. From 1980 to 2000, while serving as artistic consultant to the Hong Kong Festival of Asian Arts, he published seven CDs of his musical reconstructions and four books of transcriptions. Since moving to the New York area in 2001 he has continued his research, also performing and lecturing in the United States and Europe as well as in Asia. His website, www.silkqin.com, is a comprehensive source of information on this music and its cultural and historical context.

Teaching Chinese Music in the West 19


Kaoru Watanabe is a Brooklyn-based composer and musician who specializes in the Japanese shinobue flutes and taiko drums. Watanabe creates music that is at once personal, philosophical, meditative and virtuosic, reflecting his background in Japanese traditional music, American jazz, and his decades-long devotion to cross-cultural musical collaboration. Watanabe was a performer and artistic director of the internationally acclaimed Japanese taiko performing arts ensemble Kodo for close to a decade and has collaborated with such artists as Bando Tamasaburo, jazz pianist Jason Moran, flamenco dancer Eva Yerbabuena, and Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble. Watanabe debuted as an orchestral soloist and composer with the Sydney Symphony at the Sydney Opera House, and was the featured drummer and an adviser on the Oscar-nominated score of Wes Anderson’s film Isle of Dogs. Watanabe’s instruments are provided by the preeminent taiko maker Miyamoto Unosuke Shoten of Tokyo and master shinobue flute maker Ranjo of Chiba Prefecture.

Gloria Wong is an ethnomusicologist and a Chinese music specialist. She holds a doctorate in ethnomusicology from the University of British Columbia (UBC). She was founding chair of the Chinese Music Program at the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra School of Music, established in 2016, and serves as the school’s World Music Program chair. Since 2012, she has been conductor and artistic director of the British Columbia Youth Chinese Orchestra. Wong is also a passionate pedagogue of intercultural music and is serving as principal of the Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra Summer Academy of 2019. Wong’s dissertation research examined the shan’ge (courtship and dialogue songs) of the Hani minority in Yunnan, Southwest China. Her publications include the monograph Yueqi: Chinese Musical Instruments in Performance (British Columbia Chinese Music Association, 2011), coauthored with Alan Thrasher, UBC professor emeritus. She also contributed Chinese instrument articles to the second edition of the Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments (Oxford, 2014).

Wu Man, recognized as the world’s premier pipa virtuoso and leading ambassador of Chinese music, has carved out a career as a soloist, educator, and composer, giving her lute-like instrument—which has a history of over 2,000 years in China—a new role in both traditional and contemporary music. Through numerous concert tours she has premiered hundreds of new works for the pipa, while spearheading multimedia projects to both preserve and create awareness of China’s ancient musical traditions. Her adventurous spirit and virtuosity have led to collaborations across artistic disciplines. She was named Musical America’s 2013 Instrumentalist of the Year, marking the first time this prestigious award has been bestowed on a player of a non-Western instrument. As a principal musician in Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project, now in its 20th season, Wu has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia with the Silk Road Ensemble. She is a featured artist in the documentary The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, as well as on the film’s 2017 Grammy Award–winning companion recording, Sing Me Home (Best World Music Album), which includes her original composition “Green (Vincent’s Tune)” performed with the vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth. She has recorded six albums with the group. Her Silk Road Ensemble performances in recent years include summer festivals such as Tanglewood, Wolf Trap, Blossom, Ravinia, and Hollywood Bowl, a tour of Asia, and performances with Mark Morris Dance in Berkeley and Seattle. Adamant that the pipa not become marginalized as only appropriate for Chinese music, Wu strives to develop a place for the pipa in all art forms. Projects she has initiated have resulted in the pipa finding a place in new solo and quartet works, concertos, opera, chamber, electronic, and jazz music

20 TRADITION AND DISCOVERY

Wu Man, photo by Kuandi Studio


as well as in theater productions, film, dance, and collaborations with visual artists including calligraphers and painters. She has premiered works by Chinese composers including Zhao Jiping, Tan Dun, Bright Sheng, and Chen Yi. Other projects include Orion: China, cowritten with Philip Glass for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens and recorded the following year; and Blue and Green, an original composition that she premiered with The Knights. In 2009, she was asked to curate two concerts at Carnegie Hall as part of the Ancient Paths, Modern Voices festival celebrating Chinese culture. In August 2012, she released a documentary DVD, Discovering a Musical Heartland: Wu Man’s Return to China, as part of her ongoing Return to the East project. In the film, she travels to little-explored regions of China to uncover ancient musical traditions that have rarely been documented before.

Yu Feng is president of the Central Conservatory of Music (CCOM) and professor and chair of the Conducting Department at the Central Conservatory of Music. A native of Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, Yu Feng studied in the Conducting Department of the Central Conservatory of Music from 1985 to 1991 and graduated with a master of arts degree. From 1994 to 1996, he studied in the Academy of Music Hanns Eisler Berlin and graduated with the highest diploma PhD degree in conducting. Since June 1997, he has served as chair of the Conducting Department and assistant president of CCOM. In 2009, he was transferred to the China National Opera House (CNOH) as president, art director, and principal conductor. As professor and chair of the CCOM Conducting Department, Yu Feng founded the modern Chinese conducting pedagogy. As president and artistic director of CNOH, he has created such events as the International Opera Season and Opera Gala. He conducted CNOH in world-classic operas: Turandot, Carmen, La Traviata, Madama Butterfly, Der Ring des Nibelungen, and original Chinese operas such as Du Shiniang, Farewell My Concubine, The White-Haired Girl, Love Story of Rawap, and Hongbang Tailor. Farewell My Concubine won the 13th Wenhua Prize; and Love Story of Rawap won the Excellent Play Award in the first National Art Group Joint Performance Congregation organized by the Ministry of Culture. The original opera Hongbang Tailor, with Yu Feng as artistic director and scriptwriter, won the Excellence Award in the 13th Five Best Ones Project of China. He has been awarded many honors, such as the State Council Special Allowance Recipient and Outstanding Teacher of the Nation.

Zheng Su, associate professor of music and East Asian studies at Wesleyan University, is a leading scholar in the field of China/Chinese American music studies. A former member of the China Broadcasting Bureau Traditional Instruments Orchestra (Beijing) and Chinese Music Ensemble of New York, she is author of Claiming Diaspora: Music, Transnationalism, and Cultural Politics in Chinese/ Asian America (Oxford University Press, 2010) and has published extensively in both English and Chinese. Her fieldwork includes research among the Chinese American community, Irish musicians in New York City, and Chinese and African musicians in China. She received her undergraduate degree in musicology at the Central Conservatory of Music (Beijing), received her MA in musicology from New York University, and PhD in ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University. She is a recipient of ACLS / CSCC (Committee on Scholarly Communication with China) National Program for Advanced Study and Research in China Fellowship and Fulbright U.S. Senior Research Scholar Award. She is cofounder of Wesleyan’s Chinese Music Ensemble, Korean Drumming Ensemble, and Taiko Ensemble. She has taught at Harvard University, Yale University, New York University, and the Shanghai Conservatory of Music as a visiting professor, served on the editorial board for the journal Ethnomusicology, and has served as panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts. Her scholarly interests include music and modernity in East Asia; Chinese popular music; gender, sexuality, and women in music; and diaspora and globalization. She is writing a book on contemporary African migrant musicians in China.

Yu Feng, photo by Karl Rabe

Teaching Chinese Music in the West 21


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The US-China Music Institute would like to extend special thanks to: Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing (Yu Feng, President) China Institute Corina Larkin and Nigel Dawn The Mona Foundation

Shanghai No. 1 Traditional Instruments Factory Weiber Consulting (Zhou Wei, Founder and President, Yunzhi Zheng, Yaqi Xu, Zoe Zhang)

The Conservatory gratefully acknowledges the generous support of these recent donors: Theodore and Susan Albert Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Sherrell Andrews and Robert Kuhbach Jane Evelyn Atwood ’70 Al and Arleen Becker Vern Bergelin and Mary Ellen Ross Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, Inc. Bettina Baruch Foundation Dr. László Z. Bitó ’60 and Olivia Cariño Carolyn Marks Blackwood and Gregory H. Quinn Geraldine Brodsky Lisa W. Brown Anna Bulgari Veronica Bulgari Marianne Burhans Sarah Buttrick Camphill Ghent, Inc. Camphill Village USA Mary Caponegro ’78 William Carroll Joseph and Vicky Chang China Institute of America Anita Clark-Anderson Pilar Conde and Alfonso Lledo-Perez Jean T. Cook Lillian and Peter Corbin Mari Cornell Susan Cristofferson John and Wendy Curtis Daniel Shapiro Charitable Fund of the NPT The Dates Fund Arnold J. Davis ’44 Deborah Berke Partners Rosemary Deen Marie and Robert Delaney Kathy and Gonzalo de Las Heras Richard Desir Elaine Douvas and Robert Sirinek Ken Dreyfack Leslie Drojak Malia Du Mont Jeanne Duntz Richard and Hildegard Edling ’78 Elizabeth W. Ely ’65 and Jonathan K. Greenburg Phyllis Feder Mildred and Arnold Feinsilber Julie Hamrah Johnson Fels ‘92 John Ferguson and Valeri Thomson Allen C. Fischer and Renate Belville Robert Fish John J. Fitzpatrick Anthony and Barbara Franco

22 TRADITION AND DISCOVERY

Renate Friedrichsen Friends of Beattie-Powers Place Friends of Chamber Music of Reading Luis Garcia-Renart Peter and Charlene Gay Felice and Yorman Gelman Leslie and Richard Gershon Martha Gershun Christopher H. Gibbs Robert Goldfarb ’59 Alice Goodman Frances Goodwin and Donn Mosenfelder Katherine Gould-Martin and Robert L. Martin Louis and Caroline Haber Elaine Habernig Amy Hebard Donald S. and Margery Hetzel Alan Hilliker and Vivien Liu Jeremy Hirsch ’15 Susan Hirsch Susan B. Hirschhorn and Arthur Klebanoff Deborah Hoffman Thomas Hofmann Robert Hoven Elena and Frederic Howard Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle Andrew Humphrey IBM Matching Grants Program Iridian Asset Management Morimi and Midori Iwama George Jahn Rachel Jewelewicz-Nelson and David Nelson John Cage Trust Zoe Johnson ’16 Joseph Kahn and Shannon Wu Bobbi Katz Linda Kaumeyer Belinda and Stephen Kaye Charlotte Kelly Reynold C. Kerr Ruth Ketay and Rene Schnetzler David and Janet E. Kettler Erica Kiesewetter Jacqueline Knox KOH Residents Association Nancy Kryzak Regina Kuliawat and Frank Sun Christine and Matthew Kurlander Fred Kusko Diane and Garry Kvistad Gary and Edna Lachmund Elina and Jeffrey Lang Alison L. Lankenau

Steven and Deborah Lanser Larkin Dawn Family Fund of JP Morgan Alfred and Glenda Law Shun-Yang Lee ’11 Lifetime Learning Institute at Bard College Helen and William Little Y. S. Liu Marianne Lockwood Jacques and Catherine Luiggi Susan Manuel Leonard Marcus Harvey Marek Marsh & McLennan Matching Gifts Program Martin and Toni Sosnoff Foundation Fulvia Masi Lucy Mattingly Yvonne Mayer Timothy Mayhew James McCarthy John and Patricia McNally Barbara and Arthur Michaels Warren Mikulka Janet C. Mills Karen Moeller Joel Moerschel The Mona Foundation Carol Monteleoni Frances Montgomery Shawn Moore ’11 Ken and Lindsay Morgan Matthew Morris ’12 Ann L. Morse Martin L. and Lucy Miller Murray Barbara C. Myers Lenore Nemeth Suzanne Neusner Northlands Foundation Gail Nussbaum Harold Oaklander Elizabeth J. and Sevgin Oktay Maureen and Mohammed Olfati Marilyn and Peter Oswald Wendy L. Owen Jeffery Palichuck Richard Pargament ’65 Dana Patton Caroline Paulson Walter and Diana Perog David Pesetsky and Janis Melvold Charles and Barbara Pierce Max Pine and Lois Mander Nora Post Kelly Anne Preyer Tricia and Foster Reed


Cathy and Fred Reinis Shirley Ripullone and Kenneth Stahl Helen Rosenthal Irwin Rosenthal Joan Roth Lynn Ruggiero Tim and Frances Ryan Francesca Sansone Saugerties Pro Musica, Inc. Anastasia and Jeff Scheel Barbara and Joseph Schoenberg Pamela Scott Kim Sears Shelley Seccombe Daniel Severson ’10 Charles Shannon Frances L. Sharpless Susan E. Shaw John V. and Margaret Shuhala Ann Marie Sircello Aleksander and Isidora Skular Zachary Snow Winnie Sokolowski Thomas B. and Louise Souders Marjory Spoerri John A. Sprague Serena Stewart Vivian Sukenik Tara and Ned Sullivan Janos Sutyak ’15 Joan Swift Nathalie Theberge Thendara Foundation Felicitas S. Thorne Anita Tiburti-Johnson Trevor-Hunt Charitable Trust Jonah and Ellen Triebwasser Eric Trudel United Way of the Capital Region Dawn Upshaw Dr. H. Tucker and Martha Upshaw Illiana van Meeteren Robert A. Vermeulen Linda Vorhies Suzanne Vromen Estate of Prof. William Weaver Jonathan Wechsler Melissa Wegner ’08 Robert Weiss Ann Wentworth Barbara Jean Weyant Wheelock Whitney III David D. Williams Michael Williams Judith Winzemer Wise Family Foundation Eric Wong Marianne Wurlitzer Yuan Xu ’12 Michael and Kathy Zdeb Irene Zedlacher Wei Zhou ’11 and Yindi Liu ’12 Daniel A. Zlatkin ’16 Donor listing current as of January 15, 2019

BOARDS AND ADMINISTRATION US-China Music Institute

Jindong Cai, Director Kathryn Wright, Managing Director Hsiao-Fang Lin, Director of Music Programming Yu Hongmei, Codirector, Chinese Music Development Initiative Wu Man, Artistic Adviser Advisory Council Chen Yi Martha Liao Tan Dun Ye Xiaogang Shirley Young Yu Long Zhang Xian Zhou Long

Bard College Conservatory of Music Robert Martin, Director Frank Corliss, Associate Director Advisory Board Belinda Kaye, Chair Gonzalo de Las Heras Gregory Drilling ’16 Alan D. Hilliker Susan B. Hirschhorn Stephen Kaye Y. S. Liu Don M. Randel Maximiliaan Rutten Melissa Wegner ’08 Eric Wong Shirley Young

Bard College

Board of Trustees James C. Chambers ’81, Chair George F. Hamel Jr., Vice Chair Emily H. Fisher, Vice Chair Elizabeth Ely ’65, Secretary; Life Trustee Stanley A. Reichel ’65, Treasurer; Life Trustee Fiona Angelini Roland J. Augustine Leon Botstein+, President of the College Stuart Breslow+ Mark E. Brossman Jinqing Cai Marcelle Clements ’69, Life Trustee The Rt. Rev. Andrew M. L. Dietsche, Honorary Trustee Asher B. Edelman ’61, Life Trustee Robert S. Epstein ’63 Barbara S. Grossman ’73, Alumni/ae Trustee Andrew S. Gundlach Sally Hambrecht Marieluise Hessel Maja Hoffmann

Matina S. Horner+ Charles S. Johnson III ’70 Mark N. Kaplan, Life Trustee George A. Kellner Fredric S. Maxik ’86 James H. Ottaway Jr., Life Trustee Hilary C. Pennington Martin Peretz, Life Trustee Stewart Resnick, Life Trustee David E. Schwab II ’52 Roger N. Scotland ’93, Alumni/ae Trustee Jonathan Slone ’84 Jeannette H. Taylor+ James A. von Klemperer Brandon Weber ’97, Alumni/ae Trustee Susan Weber Patricia Ross Weis ’52 +ex officio Bard College Senior Administration Leon Botstein, President Coleen Murphy Alexander ’00, Vice President for Administration Myra Young Armstead, Vice President for Academic Inclusive Excellence Norton Batkin, Vice President; Dean of Graduate Studies Jonathan Becker, Executive Vice President; Vice President for Academic Affairs; Director, Center for Civic Engagement James Brudvig, Vice President for Finance and Administration; Chief Financial Officer Erin Cannan, Vice President for Student Affairs; Dean of Civic Engagement Deirdre d’Albertis, Dean of the College Malia K. Du Mont ’95, Chief of Staff Mark D. Halsey, Vice President for Institutional Research and Assessment Max Kenner ’01, Vice President for Institutional Initiatives; Executive Director, Bard Prison Initiative Robert Martin, Vice President for Policy and Planning; Director, Bard College Conservatory of Music Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, President, Levy Economics Institute Debra Pemstein, Vice President for Development and Alumni/ae Affairs Taun Toay ’05, Vice President for Enrollment and Strategic Initiatives Stephen Tremaine ’07, Vice President for Early Colleges

©2019 Bard College. Photos: Front and back cover, Karl Rabe; All other photographs courtesy of the participants.


Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York 845-758-7026 barduschinamusic.org uschinamusic@bard.edu


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