Journey to the East - Music of Alexander Tcherepnin and Art of Xu Beihong at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center

The fifth annual China Now Music Festival concludes with a program highlighting the aesthetic crosscurrents between East and West in the early-mid 20th century, including symphonic works in honor of the great painter Xu Beihong (1895-1953), and a rarely performed chamber opera by Russian composer Alexander Tcherepnin (1899-1977). Jindong Cai conducts the Orchestra of the New Asia CMS, with guest soloists including pianist Xu Fangfang, the daughter of Xu Beihong.

In the swirling, creative atmosphere of the early 20th Century, a blind street musician composes one of the most beloved works of Chinese music, and becomes a legend. A young artist leaves his home in China to study in Paris, and later returns to revolutionize the tradition of Chinese ink painting with horses that seem to gallop off the page, and everyday animals that symbolize the heroic struggle of an entire nation. A Russian composer living in China writes a chamber opera based on a Chinese folk tale, with a libretto in French. He encourages his Taiwan-born protégée to return to China from Japan to make a name for himself in the burgeoning classical music scene. The young composer goes on to write a moving tribute to his homeland and, later on, a piano concerto for a young pianist in honor of her father, the artist trained in Paris who paints horses that look like they are galloping right off the page.

Follow this journey in a program of music that transcends place and time, and reminds us that through music and art we can cross borders and overcome boundaries.