Music from China

Music From China celebrates eighteen years of performing traditional and contemporary Chinese music to audiences throughout the U.S. and preserving this musical heritage among the Chinese American community. The ensemble invokes the delicate sonorities and compelling melodies of traditional Chinese music on age-old instruments such as the erhu and other 2-string fiddles, pipa (lute), yangqin (hammered dulcimer), zheng (zither with movable bridges), ruan (moon guitar), dizi (bamboo flute), and an assortment of Chinese percussion instruments.

Founded in 1984 by Executive Director Susan Cheng, Music From China has been praised by the New York Times for "grace and virtuosity." Artistic Director Wang Guowei leads an ensemble of musicians trained in the most prestigious conservatories and national orchestras of China. The group has been presented in concerts and residencies at Princeton University, Eastman School of Music, Dartmouth College, Duke University, Bard College, Peabody Conservatory, UMKC Conservatory, Chautauqua Institution, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, San Diego Museum of Art, 92nd Street Y, and Boston Early Music Festival, among others. Some recent season highlights include performing with cellist Yo-Yo Ma in Zhou Long’s Rites of Chimes at the Smithsonian Institution’s Freer Gallery of Art; world premiere of Jason Kao Hwang’s chamber opera The Floating Box – a Story in Chinatown in partnership with the Asia Society; and performances in Newcastle, England in 2003 with harpsichordist Andrew Appel.

As a strong proponent of Chinese new music, Music From China has produced twelve seasons of an annual Premiere Works concert in New York City, performing more than 90 new works by 52 composers. Recognition for its work in new music was received from Chamber Music America and ASCAP with an Adventurous Programming Award in 1998. Some of the ensembles and institutions that have collaborated with Music From China include the New Music Consort, Ethos Percussion Group, Peabody Camerata, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Freer Gallery of Art, Four Nations Ensemble, Asia Society, Vineyard Theatre, Sunrise Quartet, and the Wesleyan Ensemble of the Americas.

Music From China conducts arts-in-education programs in New York City and throughout the East Coast. The group has performed children’s concerts at the National Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Guggenheim Museum, Museum of Radio and Television, and Hostos Center for the Arts, among others. Programs for the Chinese American community serve all age groups, including the spectacle of traditional Cantonese opera; free community concerts; Chinese music programs in partnership with local schools, and training a Chinese youth orchestra. Visit Music from China's website at www.musicfromchina.org.