A New York gala celebrates Chinese New Year
Chinese students from 32 US universities, such as Harvard, Yale and Columbia, will take the stage at the 2017 North American University Lunar New Year Gala along with performers from China and the United States on Saturday. The show will be at the concert hall of the Performing Arts Center of Purchase College, State University of New York.
The Chinese Lunar New Year falls on Jan 28.
Singers, including Jin Chi and Ding Kesen from The Voice of China — the popular Chinese singing competition reality show by Zhejiang Satellite TV Station — will share the stage with Olivia Rox and Dalton Rapattoni, singers who competed on American Idol.
“This is my first time to perform for overseas Chinese students, and I am very excited. It’s a pity that I have never been to college. This trip will give me a chance to feel the campus atmosphere,” says singer-songwriter Jin Chi, who participated in the first season of The Voice of China in 2012 and was among the top 16 competitors.
Jin has released two studio albums and recently traveled to Taiwan to record with Bunun people, the Taiwan aborigines who are best known for their polyphonic vocal music. She will showcase her hits as well as new pieces in the show.
Renowned Chinese singer Gong Linna will perform a song called Girl With Mountain, along with Bang on a Can, a music project which aims to break barriers that separate music communities. It was launched by composers Michael Gordon, David Lang and Julia Wolfe in 1987. In June 2015, Gong was part of an annual marathon concert initiated by Bang on a Can in New York, and her performance won rave reviews.
According to Gong, the song, which was co-written by musicians of Bang on a Can and her husband, German composer Robert Zollitsch, was inspired by famous Chinese poet Qu Yuan’s Chu Ci Anthology.
Calling their compositions Chinese new art music, which use elements from Chinese music and literature to create contemporary works, Gong says that she will introduce the music before she performs during the gala.
“The students will not just listen to the music but also know more about Chinese culture and literature,” Gong says.
She will also perform one of her most famous hits, Tan Te (Perturbed), which was also written by Zollitsch. When the lyric-less song was released online in 2011, it quickly became one of the most controversial and talked-about things on the internet.
Other highlights of the gala will include an ethnic band, Elephant, from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, and overseas Chinese students from The Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music.
The first North American University Lunar New Year Gala was held at the Lincoln Center on Jan 31, 2016.