Saturday, February 06, 2021

2021 NJSO Lunar New Year Celebration Concert. Online premiere February 6, 2021.

Program
Andante Cantabile for Cello and Orchestra by Tchaikovsky.
Manha de Carnaval by Luiz Donfa.
Der Erlkonig by Schubert arr. Liszt.
Purple Bamboo Tune, Traditional.
Fisherman’s Song at Eventide, Traditional.
Happy Days by Chu Wang-Ha.
Libertango by Piazzolla.
Spring Dawn by Gu Jianfen; Lyrics by Meng Haoran.
Singing and Smiling by Gu Jianfen; Lyrics by Wang Jian.
Flying Free by Don Besig.
Farewell, Traditional arr. Nicholas Hersh.
Gong Xi Gong Xi, Traditional.
 
This was the premiere broadcast of the “event,” which consists of new recordings made at NJPAC on January 22, and archive footage from 2019 and 2020.

Took quite a few screenshots during the broadcast.  There were over 600 people watching, which is a good turnout.

Several NJSO Chinese members introduced pieces in the program, and there were guest appears by Gabriel van Aalst, NJSO CEO; Huang Ping, Chinese Consul General; Lang Lang; and others.

The program was pre-recorded, but still very enjoyable.  Usually I am out-of-town during Chinese New Year, I am glad I caught it this year.

Jonathan Spitz playing cello solo, Andante Cantabile by Tchaikovsky.

Xuefei Yang performing Luiz Bonfa's Manha de Carnaval.

George Li played Erlkonig and Happy Days.

The Purple Bamboo Tune has solo passages for various instruments.  Here is Wyrick doing the violin solo.

Yuefei Yang also performed the traditional tune Fisher's Song at Eventide.

Na-Young Baek at the Cello for the performance of Piazzolla's Libertango; Yufei Yang joined in remotely with the guitar.


Gao Jinfan set the famous poem "Spring Dawn" by Meng Haoran to music.  The Starry Arts Group Children's Chorus is conducted by Rebecca Shen.

The ensemble also sang the song "Singing and Smiling" by Gu Jianfen.

Bart Feller's flute solo in the song "Flying Free" was accompanied by Xian Zhang.  No idea which parts of the chorus were produced in 2021 or spliced in from archived performances.

This is archival footage.  The Song farewell sung by the Starry Arts Group Children's Chorus and the Peking University Alumni Chorus.

The program concluded with the traditional song "Gong Xi Gong Xi," archived from 2020.

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