October 12–19 2024
Carnegie hall, NYC
bard college
SEASON SEVEN
“Generations of composers in China have been paving the way for the future of classical music. Some are now experimenting with rapidly developing technologies, like AI, that can provide us with new ways to enhance musical expression. This year, China Now explores these new frontiers in music with some of the greatest living composers from China. But even as we venture into this brave new world, we remain certain that, at its core, music-making must always come from the creative heart and imaginative mind of a human being.”
— Jindong Cai, artistic director
PHOTO GALLERIES
PHOTOS BY FADI KHEIR
MAIN EVENTS
MORE ABOUT CHINA NOW 2024
The 7th annual China Now Music Festival returned to New York City with two concerts at Carnegie Hall featuring contemporary works from China on the cutting edge of music.
This year’s China Now programs looked at the intersection of technology and music, with a focus on the future.
Saturday, October 12, 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM
2nd Annual China Now Music Forum
”Composing the Future”
Rohatyn Room at Carnegie Hall
festival artists
MEET THE FESTIVAL COMPOSERS
The China Now Music Festival is an annual series of events produced by the US-China Music Institute of the Bard College Conservatory of Music in collaboration with the prestigious Central Conservatory of Music, China. China Now is dedicated to promoting an understanding and appreciation of classical music from contemporary China. Each year’s festival explores a singular theme. The inaugural festival in 2018, Facing the Past, Looking to the Future: Chinese Composers in the 21st Century, presented US and world premieres of orchestral works by 11 living Chinese composers in concerts at Bard College, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center. The following year, the festival presented China and America: Unity in Music at Bard College, Carnegie Hall, and Stanford University, and featured the world premiere of the symphonic oratorio Men of Iron and the Golden Spike, a major new work by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Zhou Long honoring the Chinese railroad workers of the American West on the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. Recent seasons include Beethoven and China in 2020, Asian American Voices in 2021, East of West in 2022, and The Bridge of Music in 2023.
The 2024 China Now Music Festival is presented in collaboration with the Central Conservatory of Music, China.
