Choate Chamber Orchestra Woos Yale at Chinese Music Night
By Grace Park ‘07 News Staff Reporter
On Saturday, November 5th, Choate Chamber Orchestra was invited to play at Woolsey Hall, Yale University’s most hallowed concert hall, for a Chinese Music Night. The Yale Chinese Chorus, Chinese Culture Center, Kanghua Chorus, and North America Chinese Performing Art Association hosted Chinese Music Night to provide people a night to enjoy Chinese music played by award winning Chinese and American musicians. As well as holding significance for the musically inclined, Chinese Music Night was also culturally important for people in New Haven community.
The opening of the concert began with Yale’s director of foreign relations recapping the more than 150 year-old history of Yale University and China. After the Yale-Chinese Chorus performed, Chamber Orchestra played two famous Chinese pieces: “Reflection of the Moon,” by Fu Yuan Soong and “Nostalgia on a Summer Day,” by Yanjun Hua and Zuguang Wu. Chamber Orchestra played each note with precision and delicacy that aroused a round of big applause from the captivated crowd.
One of the directors of the concert, Zihai, expressed his impression of Chamber Orchestra to Mr. Ventre after the concert, “Heartfelt? Yes! The performances from your group were awesome. Many people asked me which professional music school these young musicians are from. Everybody performed with passion. It was such a great evening!”
Apart from Chamber Orchestra’s, many other talented musicians and music groups performed. An award winning Pi-Panist (Pi-Pa is a traditional Chinese guitar-like string instrument), Yi Zhou, also an award-winning young pianist, Remy Zhang, and a famous Dulcimer Performer, Zhenitian Zhan each played with dexterity that kept the excitement of the crowd ongoing. After the presentation of one of China’s vocal music masterpiece, “Yellow River Cantata,” the three-hour concert ended. Choate’s Chamber Orchestra played an integral part of Chinese Music Night’s program, among many other award-winning musicians. Dae Ro Lee’07, one of Chamber Orchestra’s talented cellists, said, “I thought the concert was amazing because our music just resonated beautifully and consistently for about 10 straight minutes in front of a huge crowd.”
