Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts welcomes the Lunar New Year - The Year Of The Sheep - with an immersive and festive welcome with Pre-Concert Cocktails, a Benefit Concert and Imperial Dinner and Chinese Feast. This black-tie extravaganza on Saturday, January 31 will take place in the Bram Goldsmith Theater, the Jim and Eleanor Randall Grand Hall and the Promenade Terrace. The Honorary Chair is Wallis Annenberg; the co-chairs are Linda May and John Bendheim.
International artists, performing a Chinese classical and traditional folk program, include Madame Sun Ping, the reigning Grand Dame of the Peking Opera; world-renowned pianist Rueibin Chen, who was the inaugural soloist at The Wallis in sold-out performances; and world-class Chinese ensemble L'Ensemble du Ciel with instrumentalists performing on the Pipa, Gaohu, Erhu and Chinese Bamboo Flute.
Generously sponsored by Van Cleef & Arpels, the event features models, who will be dressed by haute couture honoree Eva Hsieh. Eva is founder and designer of Eve by Eve's of
Beverly Hills, and wife of inventor, entrepreneur, philanthropist and USC Trustee Ming Hsieh who also serves on the Board of Directors for Committee of 100. The event is produced by Ben Bourgeois, producer of The Wallis' October 2013 inaugural gala.
Co-chair
Linda May said, "It is truly an honor to launch a new tradition with this Lunar New Year Celebration, which brings the cultures of East and West together in one fabulous soirée to benefit The Wallis. Our exclusive concert will feature some of the world's most talented and renowned Chinese musicians whom we feel so fortunate to welcome to
Beverly Hills. We're thrilled to transport our audience to Imperial China ... but without the jet lag."
The concert will begin with a musical selection by Madame Sun, followed by a solo performance by Chen that will feature, among other pieces, an excerpt from the Yellow River Concerto, the most well known classical Chinese piece and a specialty of Chen. He will then join L'Ensemble du Ciel for a performance of traditional and folk music from various Chinese ethic regions, featuring the world premiere of several new musical arrangements.
On Friday, January 30, the program will be performed for 500 greater Los Angeles students as part of The Wallis' community and educational outreach initiative.
Tickets are available at
TheWallis.org or by calling The Wallis Development Office at 310-746-4000.
About The Wallis - Located in the heart of
Beverly Hills, California, the Wallis
Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (aka "The Wallis") brings audiences world-class theater, dance and music, performed by many of the world's most talented and sought-after artists. With eclectic programming that mirrors the diverse landscape of Los Angeles, and its notability as the entertainment capital of the world, The Wallis offers original and revered works from across the US and around the globe. This fall marks The Wallis' second season, which also includes its prestigious "Arts& Ideas" series, conversations with guests from the realms of culture, literature and politics. Housed in a breathtaking 70,000-square-foot venue designed by Zoltan E. Pali, FAIA of Studio Pali Fekete architects, The Wallis celebrates the classic and the modern. This is reflected in the juxtaposition of the restored, original 1933
Beverly Hills Post Office (on the National Register of Historic Places) that serves as the theater's dramatic yet welcoming lobby, and houses the 150-seat Lovelace Studio Theater, as well as a theater school for young people, and the contemporary 500-seat, state-of-the-art Bram Goldsmith Theater. Together, these two structures embrace the city's history and its future, creating a performing arts destination for LA-area visitors and residents alike.
Rueibin Chen, pianist - Rueben Chen's distinguished career as an internationally acclaimed pianist has earned him a reputation for technical brilliance, immense energy, and intense artistic expression. As the exclusive opening soloist at the 2010 World Expo in China performing the Yellow River Concerto; critics hailed it as the best performance of the iconic piece in its history. In 2014 he performed the same piece with Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl to an enthusiastic audience of 14,000.
A Chinese Austrian born in Taiwan, Chen won a total of eighteen medals, including five gold medals before the age of 20, in various international piano competitions in Tel Aviv (Rubinstein), Warsaw (Chopin), Salt Lake City (Bachauer), Athens (Callas), Vienna, Manresa, and Italy (Rome, Rachmaninoff, Bellini, and Stresa), to name a few.
As a child prodigy, Chen made his debut with the Taipei Symphony at age ten. As one of the youngest ever to attend the Vienna Conservatory at 13; Chen made his European debut to much acclaim in the Grossensaal of the Konzerthaus in Vienna in 1984. Since then, Chen has toured regularly throughout the world, performing solo and with orchestras in major concert halls, such as
Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center (NY),
Walt Disney Concert Hall (LA), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), F. Mann Auditorium (Tel Aviv), , and the Sydney Opera House etc.
Chen is a best-selling classical musician in Greater China in CD recordings with various labels and received the "Millennium Best Artistic Performance Award" as well as the "Golden Melody Awards" (the "Grammy's of Taiwan) for "Best Performance" and "Best Album". Chen is particularly passionate about premiering new compositions and acting as the musical bridge between East and West.
L'Ensemble du Ciel - L'Ensemble du Ciel is a chamber group founded by world-renowned pianist Rueibin Chen, who also acts as its Artistic Director. The goal of the group which consists of the most illustrious soloists of Chinese traditional instruments in Greater China is to present the cultural dissonance and consonance, via the unconventional composition of piano and Chinese traditional instruments, of east meets west. The upcoming concert presents four of the most important and iconic Chinese traditional instruments: Gaohu, Erhu, Chinese Bamboo Flute and Pipa. They bring to the audience the same harmony and acoustic effects of a western string quartet and yet transport them for a new and ethereal musical experience.
