Pipa Virtuoso Wu Man And The Shanghai Quartet Perform NY Premiere of RED LANTERN

Renowned pipa virtuoso Wu Man and the Shanghai Quartet give the New York premiere of Chinese composer Zhao Lin's 2015 quintet Red Lantern, based on music from a classic Chinese film score by the composer's father, Zhao Jiping. The two back-to-back concerts, which celebrate contemporary Chinese music, are presented by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) at the Daniel and Joanna S. Rose Studio on Thursday, April 13 at 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. The later performance will be streamed live via the CMS web site (click here). The program also features pianist Gloria Chien and contemporary works by Chinese composers Bright Sheng, Ye Xiaogang, and Zhou Long.

Tickets priced $35 are available at the box office, by calling (212) 875-5788, or online at www.ChamberMusicSociety.org. A broadcast of the 9 p.m. concert, hosted by CMS Co-Artistic Director Wu Han, will be streamed live via the CMS web site at www.ChamberMusicSociety.org/watchlive.

Wu Man and the Shanghai Quartet, members of which were her former schoolmates at the Central Conservatory in Beijing, have long collaborated in efforts to cultivate a western audience for contemporary and traditional Chinese music. They commissionedRed Lantern, a five-movement quintet, from Zhao Lin in 2015 and gave the world premiere performances as part of their 2015-16 North American tour program, "A Night in Ancient and New China." They will reprise selections from this program at the Park Avenue Armory on June 20 and 21.

Zhao Lin describes Red Lantern as a tribute to his father, the eminent Chinese film composer Zhao Jiping, whose Pipa Concerto No. 2 was written for Wu Man and premiered by her with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 2013. Zhao Jiping composed the score for the classic Chinese film Raise the Red Lantern, and his son draws upon this music in the recent quintet. Zhao Lin also describes the piece as a tribute to the Chinese musical tradition more generally. He explains:

Inspired by Chinese traditional Beijing Opera, this work explores its unique musical style and language with the many colors of our traditional music. The quintet is a suite of stories that take place in a traditional Chinese private courtyard through the centuries. It tells an emotional story of Chinese family relationships in older times and the impact of the family's isolation from society.

Zhao Lin and Zhao Jiping will both be in attendance for Wu Man and the Shanghai Quartet's New York premiere of Red Lantern. The other three composers on the program will also be present to hear their works performed.

Wu Man is the world's premier pipa virtuoso. As a soloist, educator, and composer, she has given her lute-like instrument-which has a history of over 2,000 years in China-a new role in both traditional and contemporary music. She has premiered hundreds of new works for the pipa while spearheading multimedia projects to both preserve and create awareness of China's ancient musical traditions. Her collaborations with musicians from wide-ranging artistic disciplines allow her to reach diverse audiences as she works to break through cultural and musical borders. For more information, visit wumanpipa.org.

The Shanghai Quartet (violinists Weigang Li and Yi-Wen Jiang, violist Honggang Li and cellist Nicholas Tzavaras) is renowned for passionate musicality and impressive technique that melds the delicacy of Eastern music with the emotional breadth of Western repertoire. Formed at the Shanghai Conservatory in 1983, they have performed throughout Europe, Asia, North and South America, from the Beijing International Music Festival to Carnegie Hall. They currently serve as Quartet-in-Residence at the John J. Cali School of Music, Montclair State University. For more information, visit shanghaiquartet.com.

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