Chinese Fine Arts Society turns 30 with concert ‘project’
Imagine if Pharrell and Adam Levine were performing in a Chicago concert and John Williams, the guy who scored “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones,” was orchestrating a supersecret piece for both of them to perform. That’s (very, very loosely) what’s about to happen for the 30th anniversary concerts of the Chicago-based Chinese Fine Arts Society with Chinese-American music superstars Lei Liang, Huang Ruo and Bright Sheng.
There will be three concerts in all, named “Forces of Nature: The Five Elements Project” each themed to elements significant in Chinese culture: earth, fire, metal, water and wood. The programs were curated by Chicago Symphony Orchestra violinist Qing Hou. One concert features a work by Hubbard Street Dance’s Jessica Tong.
“It’s kind of a nice balance with the very traditional music played by extremely good musicians and then the more contemporary music by the world’s most top of-themoment Chinese musicians,” says Julie Taio Ma, president of the CFAS and daughter of the Shanghai-born-andeventually-moved-to-Chicago founder, Barbara Tiao, who died six years ago. Tiao came to the U.S. on a scholarship as a Chinese cultural ambassador and spent the last decades of her life ensuring that young children are exposed to traditional Chinese music. “We thought using these five elements was a good tribute to her. They are exploring the cutting edge of Chinese music. You get the whole range. The series is a celebration of our 30th anniversary but also honors our late founder, who many people considered her to be somewhat of a force of nature.”
The first concert, planned for April 27 at the University of Chicago, sounds to be an exquisite showcase of the best in modern Chinese music, complete with the first public performance of music commissioned by the society and written by Ruo. “Phrases of the Stream” features ancient Chinese instruments the pipa (a four-stringed instrument similar to a lute) and Chicago’s own Betti Xiang on the erhu (a two-stringed fiddle-like instrument.)
“It was written in honor of my mother’s 70th birthday,” says Ma, 52, herself a retired technologist who has taken over her mother’s role in Chicago. “It was the first piece that we ever commissioned from anybody.”
Ma’s mother wanted to make sure that Chinese-American youth and others were exposed to the breadth and depth of Chinese culture. She also tired of attending recitals where youth played only European composers. That’s when the Society introduced a classical Chinese contest, with the endgame being an eventual recital or concert.
Those are important lessons, says Hou, who is curating the Five Elements concert series. She was born in China, but thinks that American-born children should have a sense of where they came. Adults, too. But she also stresses the concerts are open to everyone and should invite crossracial dialogue.
“Music is so abstract,” says the master violinist. Even so, she’s certain those who attend will be hypnotized. “To hear an erhu . . . it’s so close to a human voice. The instruments all offer different kinds of sound and timbre. So I feel it’ll be very interesting to open your mind to a different, new culture of music.”