The Central Conservatory Of Music Symphony Orchestra Of Beijing Performs United States Debut With Conductor Feng Yu At Carnegie Hall

The Central Conservatory of Music Symphony Orchestra of Beijing is proud to make its United States debut under the baton of Feng Yu at New York's iconic concert venue, Carnegie Hall's Isaac Stern Auditorium/Ronald O. Perelman Stage, on Friday, December 13, 2019 at 8 PM. The performance, presented by MidAmerica Productions (MAP), opens MAP's 37th Annual Concert Season.

Feng Yu, the internationally renowned maestro who also serves as President of the Central Conservatory of Music (CCOM), conducts the concert in his Carnegie Hall debut. Including compositions by eight of China's most distinguished living composers, the program features an astounding six United States premieres with several works featuring soloists performing on traditional Chinese instruments. It is the second in a series of concerts featuring prominent Chinese contemporary works by Central Conservatory of Music professors, following a January 2018 Lincoln Center performance of world premieres.

"MidAmerica is very proud that this international-caliber orchestra will make its United States debut to open our 37th concert season," states MAP General Director and Music Director Peter Tiboris. "I conducted them on a visit to China earlier this year, and was very impressed with their focus and preparation. The Central Conservatory is the best of its kind in China, and compares favorably with its counterparts around the world. Furthermore, the composers represent not only the best of the best in China; this is some of the most interesting music being written today. Each work on the program will offer a unique perspective on how the modern symphony orchestra can express a Chinese sensibility."

Conductor Feng Yu says, "The Central Conservatory of Music Symphony Orchestra is an important part of the Central Conservatory of Music. This concert by Chinese composers and performers exemplifies the creative concept of the Central Conservatory of Music, which is rooted in national creation, embracing the world, embracing the future, and presenting the artistic style of the Central Conservatory of Music."

These eight composers, all professors at the CCOM, bring Chinese traditions to symphonic forms each in his own way. Xiaogang Ye is regarded as one of the most influential contemporary Chinese composers and is founder and artistic director of the Beijing Modern Music Festival. He was the first Chinese composer to sign with Schott Music and is the current vice chairman of the International Music Council, vice chairman of the Chinese Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and chairman of the Chinese Musicians Association. Ye's piano concerto Starry Sky, written for Lang Lang, was performed at the opening ceremony concert of the 2008 Beijing Olympics to a worldwide audience of three billion people. Wenchen Qin, Vice President of the CCOM, has written works widely programmed by ensembles throughout Asia and Europe. His music is published exclusively by Sikorski Musikverlag, Hamburg. The New York Times calls Wenjing Guo "the only Chinese composer who has never lived abroad but established an international reputation." He was the first Asian composer to sign with the Italian publisher Casa Ricordi in the past 200 years. Guo has been commissioned to write a piano concerto for the Beijing Olympic Winter Games in 2022.

Jianping Tang is a founding member of the Chinese Folk Orchestra Society, creative director for the China Symphony Development Foundation, and director of the Chinese Opera Research Institute. Guoping Jia founded the Ensemble ConTempo Beijing in 2011, the first Chinese ensemble for modern music in which Western and Eastern instruments are combined. Composer Danbu Chen, whose works have won numerous domestic and international awards, is Executive Director and Academic Director of the Beijing Modern Music Festival. Weiya Hao, currently head of the composition department of the CCOM has achieved worldwide recognition for the new ending to Puccini's opera Turandot, which he composed for the premiere season of the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing. Ping Chang is the Deputy Director of the composition department at the CCOM, graduate adviser, and Vice President of the CCOM Affiliated High School. In 2019, Naxos Records released an album of Ping Chang's set of four concertos worldwide.

The instrumental soloists, all internationally acclaimed as master performers, include the pipa player Qiang Zhang, bamboo flute players Ya Dai and Linfeng Fan; marimba player Jingli Zhang; and sheng player Yang Zheng.

The program includes:

Guoping Jia?Ling Lai (Listen to the Sounds of Nature) – U.S. Premiere
Wenchen Qin: The Cloud River, Concerto for Sheng and Orchestra – U.S. Premiere
Weiya Hao: The Dream of Peony Pavilion, for Bamboo Flute and Orchestra – U.S. Premiere
Xiaogang Ye: The Backyard of the Village (2019)  
Jianping Tang: Cang Cai, for Marimba and Orchestra – U.S. Premiere
Danbu Chen: Sleeve Dagger and Warriors, Pipa Concerto – U.S. Premiere
Ping Chang: Black Light – U.S. Premiere
Wenjing Guo: Chou Kong Shan ("Sorrowful, Desolate Mountain"), for Bamboo Flutes and Orchestra

Tickets – $20, $50, $100, $150 – are available by contacting CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800, visiting the Carnegie Hall Box Office at 57th Street and 7th Avenue in New York, NY, or by going online to www.carnegiehall.org. For more information, contact Molly Waymire at 917-513-3080 or molly.waymire@piptix.com.

This concert is supported by Beijing Culture and Arts Fund.

About Feng Yu
Feng Yu is the currently the president, professor and doctoral supervisor of the Central Conservatory of Music. Feng Yu is also former president, artistic director and principal conductor of the China Central Opera Theatre and former artistic director of the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra. He has served as chairman of the China Conducting Society and vice chairman of the China Artistic Education Promotion Association.

In 1991, Professor Yu won the first prize in the China National Competition for Conducting and first prize in the International Competition for Young Conductors in Portugal. Feng Yu has earned many titles from the Chinese government including Excellent Chinese Young Artist conferred by the Ministry of Culture. His book Chinese Modern Pedagogy for Conducting won the second prize of National Award for Education and Technology. In the field of opera, Professor Feng Yu has achieved numerous breakthroughs. Under his baton, several Chinese operas have received notable awards including Xiang Jin's Love Song of Rawab and Tailor of Red Group and Xiao Bai's Farewell My Concubine, which was also presented in New York at Lincoln Center. He has likewise received awards for his conducting of Wagner's Tannhäuser, among others. Professor Yu has collaborated with renowned symphony orchestras at home and abroad, including the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, and Gulbenkian Orchestra in Portugal, as well as the China Philharmonic Orchestra, China National Symphony Orchestra, and Shanghai Philharmonic, among others. He was principal guest conductor of the Rome Symphony Orchestra in Italy from 2011 to 2014. He has also given master classes across the world at leading music universities and conservatories. He was also elected as the representative of the 18th National Congress of CPC in 2012. 

About the Central Conservatory of Music Symphony Orchestra
The Central Conservatory of Music Symphony Orchestra (CCOM Symphony Orchestra), an international professional ensemble, is part of the Central Conservatory of Music (CCOM) in Beijing, China. The Orchestra is composed of outstanding professional musicians from China and abroad with exquisite playing skills and a passionate, serious attitude of performing classic works from ancient and modern China and other countries. The Director of the Orchestra is Professor Feng Yu, an internationally famous Chinese conductor and President of CCOM. Since the establishment of the CCOM Symphony Orchestra in December 2016, it has delivered more than 100 electrifying concerts of domestic and international repertoire in brilliant international-caliber performances to music lovers worldwide.

About MidAmerica Productions and MidAm International
MidAmerica Productions, the foremost independent producer of choral concerts in Carnegie Hall, began when Peter Tiboris created and conducted his first concert in New York on January 7, 1984, at Lincoln Center, featuring the American Symphony Orchestra, vocal soloists, and three choruses – the Louisiana Chorale of Acadiana, Camerata Singers of Baton Rouge, and Collegiate Chorale of New York (now MasterVoices).

During its 37 years, more than 800 conductors have conducted on MidAmerica's series in New York's top venues including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, sharing the stage with 1,300 solo artists from the world's greatest opera companies and concert stages, and 3,700 choral ensembles from the U.S. and abroad. There have been 174 youth and collegiate orchestras and well as 146 youth and collegiate bands, jazz bands, and wind ensembles. Among the renowned guest conductors who have led MidAmerica's concerts are John Rutter, Sherrill Milnes, Lukas Foss, Helmuth Rilling, H. Robert Reynolds, JoAnn Falletta, Michael Morgan, and Jonathan Willcocks. Additional to its Stern Auditorium series, MidAmerica Productions has presented 400 chamber music concerts in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall since 1989 with world-class soloists and chamber ensembles.

Over the years, MidAmerica has commissioned new works and presented numerous premieres in Carnegie Hall and David Geffen Hall (formerly Avery Fisher Hall) with 94 world premieres including works by Dinos Constantinides, John Rutter, and John Leavitt. Its 21 U.S. premieres and 105 New York premieres have featured new and older compositions including works by Mozart, Reimann, Tchaikovsky, Mikis Theodorakis, and René Clausen.

In 2004 Peter Tiboris founded MidAm International, which produces concerts in major international cultural centers in Europe. In 2005, he created the International Festival of the Aegean on the Greek island of Syros where, each July, he presents international-caliber performances of opera, oratorios, concerti, symphonic works, Greek folk music, jazz, theater and ballet.

For more information about MidAmerica Productions, MidAm International, please visit www.midamerica-music.com.