Luoyong Wang

The US-China Music Institute of the Bard College Conservatory of Music announces the second season of the China Now Music Festival,September 25-October 6. The festival's major concerts take place at Carnegie Hall in New York City and at Bing Concert Hall at Stanford University. The festival is dedicated to promoting an understanding and appreciation of music from contemporary China through an annual series of concerts and academic activities. Last year's inaugural season, titled Facing the Past, Looking to the Future, showcased new orchestral works by contemporary Chinese composers. The theme for 2019 is China and America a?' Unity in Music, in recognition of the 40th anniversary of the normalizing of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and China in 1979.

ANNIE, this year's Hollywood Bowl Summer Musical, will be performed by an all-star cast July 27, 28 and 29. Each year, a condensed version of a full-length Broadway musical corrals name performers from theatre, television and music with crazy, busy schedules that normally wouldn't be available for a full musical schedule commitment. We have the opportunity to chat with Tony Award winner Lea Salonga, who will be playing Grace Farrell in this production.