CHINESE NEW YEAR SPECTACULAR at Carnegie Hall to Celebrate the Year of the Pig

Premier Event Management Inc. & Harvard Wealth Strategy & Management, LLC announce the Fifth Annual Chinese New Year Spectacular concert at Carnegie Hall to ring in the Year of the Pig on Friday, February 15, 2019 at 7:30 p.m. at Zankel Hall, offering a special program that celebrates both Chinese and American cultures.

As a highly anticipated annual performance, Spectacular has become a NYC tradition to mark the beginning of the New Lunar Year. The evening will feature Chinese Pianist Jie Chen and Shanghai Soprano Quan Chen, who are new to the 2019 program, as well as featuring returning performers, tenor Dr. William Weimin Cai and American violinist Deni Bonet.

"We are excited to have such a strong assemblage of new and returning talent this year. Spectacular V is sure to be a grand and glorious event," saidCharles W. Sullivan, Chinese Spectacular V event producer and president of Premier Event Management, Inc.

The evening's program will feature a wide range of musical compositions, ranging from: Fantasy Impromptu by Frederic Chopin and Zueignung by Richard Georg Strauss, along with Butterfly Lovers by He Zhanhao and I Love You China! by Zheng Qiufeng.

The evening's four headliners include:

• Critically acclaimed pianist Jie Chen is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. She has received eleven prestigious international prizes including the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Israel, the Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition in Spain, and the International Piano-e-Competition in Minnesota, U.S. Chen debuted with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Maestro Wolfgang Sawallisch at the age of fifteen, and has since been featured in solo performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Louvre in Paris, and many other venues throughout Europe and Asia. She has been named one of the "Top 10 Pianists in China" by CCTV and has been named a "Culture Leader" by the Shanghai Government. A visionary arts administrator, Jie Chen is also the founder of the Music Department at the University of Shanghai Science and Technology (USST), where she successfully implemented innovative curricula combining technology teaching with music practice. She is currently the first candidate with a music background ever admitted to the Mid-Career Master in Public Administration program as an Edward S. Mason Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
• Soprano Quan Chen is a member of the Shanghai Musicians Association. Chen holds two Master's Degrees in vocal performance from both Shanghai Conservatory and the Manhattan School of Music. She was the first prize winner of the Lieder and Song Competition from the Grand Stage International Arts Foundation. Chen made her Carnegie Hall debut in the role of Second Lady (Die Zauberflöte); the role of Tourière (Suor Angelica) at the National Opera Center; and the role of Fiordiligi (Così Fan Tutte) at Lincoln Center. Previous credits include Poppea (L'incoronazione di Poppea) with La Lingua Della Lirica, and Frog (L'enfant et les Sortilèges) with the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. She has also performed at Guangzhou for the prime minister of China, Jiabao Wen and at the Shanghai World Expo for the former president of China, Jintao Hu.
• Chinese tenor Dr. William Weimin Cai was born into a family of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and began Gong Fu (traditional Chinese martial arts) and Qi Gong (traditional Chinese techniques for energy-based healing) training at a very young age. As the first opera tenor who implements Chinese Qi Gong into Western Opera, he embodies a combination of both Eastern and Western art. Luciano Pavarotti, one of the most celebrated tenors of all time, taught and praised him for his brilliant bright tone, his dramatic and operatic voice, and his ability to carry Qi and the art of medical science and music. Dr. Cai is also a New York State Licensed Acupuncturist, President of the American Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine (AATCM), and Director of the Federation of Eastern American Acupuncture Association. In December 2017, he performed with the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra to a sold-out audience and has performed at Lincoln Center in New York City.
• Violinist Deni Bonet is a U.S. born singer/songwriter, electric violinist, and multi-instrumentalist. Bonet has performed and recorded with Cyndi Lauper, R.E.M., Sarah McLachlan and many others. Her previous appearances include Carnegie Hall, The Great Wall of China, the United Nations, and the White House for President Obama. She has been a recent soloist with the Baylor Symphony Orchestra, the Symphonic Pops of Long Island, and will be performing with the Danbury Music Center Summer Festival Orchestra in July 2019. For the past several years, Bonet has been touring in the U.S. and Europe. She was recently awarded a grant through the Arts Envoy Program from the U.S. Government to spend a month on a residency in Africa teaching violin, songwriting, and rock 'n roll at a music college in Zanzibar. She'll also be performing concerts for the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Bonet has released several CDs of her own original music, including last year's critically-acclaimed "Bright Shiny Objects."

The annual Spectacular is produced by Premier Event Management Inc. and Harvard Wealth Strategy & Management, LLC, two American organizations which share the common goal of bridging the culture gap between Chinese and American cultures. The two groups have collaborated on a series of successful projects that bring Chinese culture to the U.S. including Tong Ren Tang, the world's oldest brand of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) which opened its first U.S. location in New York City. Premier Event Management Inc. and Harvard Wealth Strategy & Management, LLC have worked together to sponsor American high school students and New York-based Police Athletic League (PAL) teens to attend "Joy Dancing Beijing," a cultural event put on by the Beijing government.

Tickets start at $28 and go on sale Friday, January 11 online or by phone at (212) 247-7800. Children under 12, seniors over 60 and active duty military members are eligible for a 25 percent discount.

Image: Upper Left: Jie Chen; Lower Left: Quan Chen; Upper Right: Dr. William Weimin Cai; Lower Right: Deni Bonet