Chicago kicks off Chinese New Year celebrations with music concert

The Chicago Symphony Center Sunday unveiled the two-week Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations in Chicago with an all traditional Chinese music concert.

An audience of more than 2,000 listened to the National Chinese Traditional Orchestra performing a selection of Chinese folk music, most of which is composed by Ma Jiuyue, a well-known Chinese composer who participated in the Gala show for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and China's Third Poem Festival.

The concert started with Chinese folk music "Dance of the Golden Snake", and featured such Chinese well-known tones as "Horse Racing", "Purple Bamboo Melody", "Fisherman Song at Eventide", "Joyful Celebration", and "Elixir of Love." When members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the National Chinese Traditional Orchestra jointly played "Huxuan Dance" composed by Ma Jiuyue, the concert came to a climax with cheers and applause from the audience lasting a long time.

The idea for a Chinese Lunar New Year concert began when Chicago Symphony Orchestra President Jeff Alexander decided to bring a little bit of China to Chicago.

"Different orchestras across North America are beginning to do this, and in Chicago there was no Chinese New Year concert presented by the Symphony Orchestra," he told Xinhua, "In one of our planning sessions we decided just to give it a try. Obviously it's going very well with the great attendance today and the great guest orchestra."

Jeff plans to make the Chinese New Year concert an annual event.

Wang Yong, acting consul general of China in Chicago told Xinhua that he was excited to watch this excellent performance, "the performance is a perfect combination of first-grade place, first-grade ensemble and first-grade artists."

Wang noted that many of the audience at Sunday's concert are people other than Chinese origin, saying "quality Chinese cultural and artistic products are being accepted by more people in the United States."

"I was absolutely overwhelmed, I didn"t know what to think," said Tony Karman, President of Expo Chicago, "The blend of the traditional and the contemporary was really an ear opener, an eye opener for someone that knows a little about Chinese music."

Steve Robinson, Executive Vice President of WFMT Radio Network, thought this was an absolutely wonderful concert, saying: "I loved everything, it's hard to pick a single piece."

Scott, from Chicago, told Xinhua: "I don't know the instrument but there was a woman near the beginning who was playing a string instrument that was spectacular. The excitement she had for playing the instrument and her skill is spectacular. It was a wonderful concert."

It was the first time for the Chicago Symphony Center to celebrate a Chinese Lunar New Year by staging a Chinese Lunar New Year Concert.

Chicago started to celebrate Chinese New Year in 2014. "This unique event will grow and expand over time until it is the largest in the North America," Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said. The festivities in 2015 are planned to be on a much larger scale than the previous year.