Program Notes | 2024 Lunar New Year Celebration
This information is provided solely as a service to and for the benefit of New Jersey Symphony subscribers and patrons. Any other use without express written permission is strictly forbidden.
Welcome to the Year of the Dragon! This year represents an exciting return to the full splendor of our annual Lunar New Year celebration, with a variety of exciting performances and craft demonstrations in the lobby, plus our signature blend of festive favorites by Eastern and Western composers on the Prudential Hall stage.
Conductor Yue Bao makes her New Jersey Symphony debut in this performance, bringing her own twist to this New Jersey Symphony tradition. Li Huanzhi’s Spring Festival Overture kicks off our evening as usual, the 1956 work depicting the celebration of the Spring Festival, or New Year. A compact and joyous expression of exuberance, listeners may note similarities with the folk-influenced works of Copland or Dvořák.
Next, we revel in the remarkable talents of an up-and-coming soloist, Tony Siqi Yun. Yun demonstrates his talents in two contrasting works – first, “Yellow River Boatman’s Song” from the Yellow River Concerto – one of the most famous pieces to come out of China in the 20th century. Then, he performs the sparkling first movement, “Allargamente,” from Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G.
Then, we feature the talents of the orchestra in two show pieces. Huang Ruo’s Folk Songs for Orchestra celebrates the folk songs of the composer’s native China and sets well-known Chinese folk tunes for the Western orchestra. The first song we’ll hear is “Flower Drum Song from Feng Yang,” a song that dates back to the late Ming Dynasty. Then, we’ll hear “The Girl from Da Ban City,” a song from the Xinjiang province that is sung by carriage drivers in Turpan. After this, we hear one of Antonín Dvořák’s most famous and jublient works, his Slavonic Dance No. 8 from his first set of Slavonic Dances, Op. 46.
Our beloved choral collaborators, Peking University Alumni Chorus, also share the Lunar New Year stage to delight and dazzle in traditional Chinese songs and operatic favorites. We bring the concert to a spectacular conclusion with Zhou Tian’s Gift. The title of this work comes from a poem titled “Music as a Gift of Decency” by Shen Yue from the Northern and Southern dynasties (ca. 400 CE). What a spectacular way to celebrate the gift that is the new year!
There is nothing more rewarding than celebrating our hopes and aspirations for the coming year with you, our Symphony family, by sharing music that binds us across cultures and languages. Happy New Year!
—Erin Lunsford Norton, Vice President of Artistic Planning