The Bard Chinese Ensemble welcomes Kunqu and Peking opera singer Michelle Yang to perform music from ‘Peony Pavilion’ and other Chinese opera.

The program will also feature premieres of several new arrangements of Chinese music by director Chen Tao for the Ensemble’s unique mix of Chinese and Western instruments.

FREE and open to the public.

This concert will also be live-streamed at https://youtu.be/G4EWmxvN54g

Kunqu opera singer Michelle Yang performs in the chamber opera Painted Skin at the 2022 China Now Music Festival at Jazz at Lincoln Center, presented by the US-China Music Institute.

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program

The Peony Pavilion – Pursuing a Dream
牡丹亭 – 寻梦
Kunqu Opera
Arr. by Chen Tao
Michelle Yang, singer

Beloved Hometown  
故乡情
Zhu Xiao-Gu
Arr. By Chen Tao

Sadness of Chang Men Palace
长门怨 – 古琴重奏
Classical Music
Arr. Zhu Yi & Chen Tao

Dream of Dun Huang – Dizi with ensemble           
敦煌情思 - 笛子与乐队
Chen Tao

Sunset
晚霞
Wang Zhi 
Arr. Chen Tao

Three-Six
三六    
Gu Guan-Ren
Arr. Chen Tao

The Drunken Royal Concubine
贵妃醉酒
Peking Opera
Arr. by Chen Tao
Michelle Yang, singer

Blooming Flowers & Full Moon
花好月圆       
Huang Yi-Jun
Arr. by Peng Xiu-Wen

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bard Chinese ensemble

Chen Tao, music director and conductor
Shutong Li, assistant conductor

Jinghu/Erhu
Beitong Liu
Chen Wang

Pipa
Xi Lu
Xiaoyan Luo
Wenjun Lu
Kendall Griffith

Zhongruan
Yijie Yin
Yuling Nan

Daruan
Wenjun Lu
Yuling Nan
Yijie Yin

Guzheng
Sibei Wang
Lucina Yue

Dizi
Yifan Li

Guanzi
Eric Zheng

Flute/ Alto Flute
Eliza Karpiak

Clarinet
David KeringerChinese Percussion
Yining Zhu
Qizhi An
Kehan Wang
Zhe Wang
Danni Chen

Violin
Santiago Mieres Rausseo
Yuchen Zhao

Viola
Lap Yin Lee

Cello
Zander Grier

Bass
Njya Lubang

Piano
NeoNeo Chen

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About the ensemble

The Bard Chinese Ensemble is mainly composed of the Conservatory’s Chinese instrument majors, along with various students of Western instruments joining each semester, depending on the repertoire. With increased enrollment in Chinese instrument majors each year since 2018, this year the Ensemble is composed of over 20 musicians.

Conductor and arranger Chen Tao is a dizi (bamboo flute) master and the artistic director of Melody of Dragon, an educational and performing arts organization in New York City focusing on traditional Chinese music. Chen Tao studied at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, and has been teaching and performing in the New York area for nearly 30 years.