The Spring 2025 Bard Chinese Ensemble concert’s program features some truly captivating highlights:
A stunning double concerto for dizi and flute, seamlessly blending Eastern and Western musical traditions with a deeply moving narrative.
Two movements from the sheng concerto Peacock, evoking the elegance of Baroque music.
The Blasting of Master Handan with explosive, dramatic passages reminiscent of The Rite of Spring.
The Four Seasons Garden by the esteemed composer Wang Danhong, delivering emotional depth that goes straight to the heart.
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC! Music Director Shutong Li promises a program that will deeply resonate with the audience. Please join us!
Livestreaming on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/live/VDmXVduiYKo
PROGRAM
Wang Chenwei 王辰威
Winds of Affinity double concerto for dizi and flute 《梆笛，长笛双协奏曲 “笛缘”》
Minghui Mia Wu, dizi
Elizabeth Bennett, flute
Guan, Naizhong 关乃忠
Peacock sheng concerto Mov. 3, 4《笙协奏曲 “孔雀”》III IV
Hengjian Zhang, sheng
Lin Tsen-Ling 林岑陵
The Blasting of Master Handan 《炸寒單》
Wang Danhong 王丹红
"The Four Seasons Garden" Symphonic Poem《交响诗 “四季留园”》
ABOUT THE SOLOISTS
Elizabeth Bennett, flute
Elizabeth Bennett is a second-year flute performance and anthropology major at Bard College and Conservatory. She comes from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she studied with Rhian Kenny and played for the Seton Hill University’s Westmoreland Symphonic Winds and Sinfonia, the Three Rivers Young Peoples Orchestra, and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s 2023 Side-by-Side Program. Currently, she studies with Tara Helen O’Connor, plays for the Bard Conservatory Orchestra and the Bard Chinese Ensemble, and works with Bard’s incredible composition students to perform new works. Her academic interest lies in ethnomusicology, specifically studying Irish traditional music and narrations of history and identity, which has led her to begin learning the tin whistle performing with the Bard College Traditional Music Club.
Mia Wu, dizi
Mia Wu is currently studying at Bard Conservatory of Music in the MA in Chinese Music and Culture program, and holds a bachelor’s degree from the Central Conservatory of Music. She was invited to perform at the US-China Music Institute’s China Now Music Festival closing concert at Carnegie Hall in October 2024, and participated in The Sound of Spring Chinese New Year Concert with The Orchestra Now at Fisher Center and Lincoln Center in January 2025. From 2020 to 2024, she was frequently invited to perform at the NCPA Art Salon in Beijing. Additionally, she is the founder and artistic director of the Dizi brand "Qiu Yun Lu."
Hengjian Zhang, sheng
Hengjian Zhang was born in Weifang, Shandong Province, China. He developed a passion for music from an early age and began studying the sheng under the guidance of his first teacher, Pei Dazheng. He started studying at Tianjin Conservatory of Music in 2020. He has continued his sheng studies under the guidance of Professors Wang Lei, Dong Qing, and Chen Shuo. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, Xiaobailou Hall, and Tianjin Grand Theatre. Hengjian Zhang is currently a first-year graduate student at Bard Conservatory of Music in the MA in Chinese Music and Culture program.
ABOUT THE BARD CHINESE ENSEMBLE
The Bard Chinese Ensemble is comprised of the Conservatory’s Chinese instrument majors, along with various students of Western instruments joining each semester to create a unique new sound for traditional and new Chinese repertoire. With increased enrollment in Chinese instrument majors each year since 2018, the Ensemble is composed of over 20 musicians from both the undergraduate double-degree program and the master of arts in Chinese music and culture.
The Bard Chinese Ensemble and Music Director Shutong Li. Photo by Aya Rebai.