China Now Music Festival concludes with powerful finale

Hosted by the US-China Music Institute of Bard College and the Central Conservatory of Music, Season Eight of the China Now Music Festival concluded at Lincoln Center on Sunday with a powerful finale.

The China Now Music Festival is dedicated to bringing both traditional and contemporary Chinese music to American audiences, presenting a new theme each year. The festival was conducted by Jindong Cai, director of the US-China Music Institute and professor of music and arts at Bard College.

"Politics often divides us, but art and music have a unique power to connect," said Cai. "Through the China Now Music Festival, we hope to use music as a lens to bring people and cultures closer together."

The afternoon featured a dynamic three-part program: Guan Naizhong's percussion concerto From the Age of the Dragon; Ma Hanrui's chamber opera Mi (The Enigma); and Wang Danhong's symphonic poem Four Seasons in Lingering Garden.

Together, these works celebrated the legacy of three generations of Chinese composers, highlighting their innovative contributions at the intersection of music, dance and opera through immersive, multi-sensory performances.

The concert opened with Guan Naizhong's percussion concerto The Age of the Dragon. Inspired by the dragon's powerful symbolism in Chinese culture, and by the rare alignment of the first year of the 21st century with the Year of the Dragon, an event that happens only once every three thousand years, the work unfolds in four movements: The Sun, The Moon, The Stars, and The Earth. For this performance, the first and last movements were presented: The Sun, symbolizing light, strength, and faith, and The Earth, celebrating human connection.

Mi by Gen Z composer Ma was up next, showcasing the fresh perspective of a rising young talent. Born in 1998, Ma is a Ph.D. candidate at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. She began studying composition at the age of 12, and her work reflects a unique fusion of Eastern cultural elements with Western compositional techniques.