EAST
OF WEST
OCTOBER 7-22, 2022
BARD COLLEGE
Hudson Hall
Lincoln Center
The US-China Music Institute of the Bard College Conservatory of Music and the Central Conservatory of Music, China, presented the 2022 China Now Music Festival, “East of West”, in celebration of our first five years of partnership and collaboration. This year’s festival featured five major symphonic and operatic concerts held in New York City and in Upstate New York. Exciting new and rarely heard musical selections highlighted the cross-currents between China and the West, both in contemporary classical music and in artistic movements of the recent past.
select photos from this year’s festival
festival EVENTS
“Our festival title this year is ‘East of West’...
But what is West and what is East?
Is there a boundary, or is there no boundary?
If there is one, we want to move it with music. ”
Jindong Cai conducts The Orchestra Now. Photo: Karl Rabe
FESTIVAL ARTISTS
The 2022 China Now Music Festival is presented in collaboration with the Central Conservatory of Music, China in celebration of the first five years of the US-China Music Institute at Bard College and our partnership through the Chinese Music Development Initiative. LEARN MORE
ABOUT THE CHINA NOW MUSIC FESTIVAL
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 partnership with the Central Conservatory of Music, China. 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. In 2020, China and Beethoven presented 8 days of music and discussion online, including video of live performances from China, celebrating the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth. The 2021 festival at Bard College, Asian American Voices, celebrated the work of composer Huang Ruo and featured many prominent contemporary Asian American composers and musicians.