FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE UPDATED January 28, 2015 January 13, 2015 Contact: Katherine E. Johnson (212) 875-5718; [email protected] NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC TO CELEBRATE THE YEAR OF THE SHEEP WITH FOURTH-ANNUAL CHINESE NEW YEAR CONCERT and GALA LONG YU TO CONDUCT Cellist YO-YO MA, Sheng Player WU TONG, Vocalist LEI JIA, and Ghijak Player GULINAER YIMING To Perform Free Event Open to Public on Lincoln Center’s Josie Robertson Plaza To Feature Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company Performing Traditional Dragon Dance and National Dance Institute Performing Folk-Inspired Dances, 4:30 p.m. February 24, 2015 The New York Philharmonic, in collaboration with CAMI Music, will celebrate the Chinese New Year for the fourth consecutive year, this time welcoming the Year of the Sheep with a program of Chinese composers, musicians, and traditional instruments, celebrating the cultural heritage of China and honoring the Chinese-American community, on Tuesday, February 24, 2015, at 7:30 p.m. Long Yu — music director of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, artistic director and chief conductor of the China Philharmonic Orchestra, artistic director of the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, and founding artistic director of the Beijing Music Festival — will return to the Philharmonic following his January subscription debut to conduct the Chinese New Year Concert for the fourth consecutive season. This year’s program will feature cellist Yo-Yo Ma and sheng player Wu Tong as the soloists in the U.S. Premiere of Zhao Lin’s Duo for cello, sheng, and orchestra, written for Mr. Ma and Mr. Wu; Wu Tong performing Hai-Deng Yan’s Jin Tune for sheng and orchestra; a selection from Borodin’s Prince Igor; ghijak (traditional Chinese bowed instrument) player Gulinaer Yiming performing Fantasy on Maqam Themes for ghijak and orchestra; and vocalist Lei Jia performing two traditional Chinese folk songs: The Village of Sanshilipu and In Praise of Cattle. The Spring Festival Overture, Li Huanzhi’s traditional work celebrating the Chinese New Year, will once again open the concert. The Philharmonic’s salute to the Year of the Sheep will also include a free outdoor event the afternoon of the concert at 4:30 p.m. on Lincoln Center’s Josie Robertson Plaza featuring the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company performing the traditional Dragon Dance, as well as public school students from the National Dance Institute performing folk-inspired dances. (more) Chinese New Year / 2 Gala events will include a pre-concert champagne reception from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m., which will include a traditional Dragon Dance by the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company; the concert; and a seated dinner immediately following the performance. Gala dress will be traditional Chinese attire or black-tie. The Honorary Gala Chairmen are Mr. and Mrs. Maurice R. Greenberg, H.E. Ambassador Liu Jieyi, Mr. and Mrs. James D. Wolfensohn, and H.E. Consul-General Zhang Qiyue. The Gala Co-Chairmen are Angela Chen, Guoqing Chen and Ming Liu, Gary W. Parr, Agnes Hsu-Tang and Oscar L. Tang, and Shirley Young. The Starr International Foundation is the Presenting Sponsor of the Chinese New Year Gala. Yo-Yo Ma will have also appeared with the Philharmonic and the Silk Road Ensemble the previous week, February 19–21, in a concert celebrating that ensemble’s 15th anniversary. As music director of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Long Yu played a central role in the establishment of that orchestra’s partnership with the New York Philharmonic to establish the Shanghai Orchestra Academy and Residency, part of the New York Philharmonic Global Academy. Artists Conductor Long Yu is music director of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, artistic director and chief conductor of the China Philharmonic Orchestra, artistic director of the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, and founding artistic director of the Beijing Music Festival. He shares the position of artistic co-director of the MISA Festival with Charles Dutoit, bringing classical music to the young people of Shanghai. Long Yu was born in Shanghai in 1964 into a family of musicians. His grandfather Ding Shande, a renowned composer, encouraged him to study at the Shanghai Conservatory and the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin. Upon returning to China Mr. Yu was appointed principal conductor of the Central Opera Theatre in Beijing. He has been named a Chevalier dans L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and received the Montblanc Cultural Foundation’s 2002 Arts Patronage Award and the title of L’onorificenza di commendatore from the Italian government in 2005. In 2014 Mr. Yu and the China Philharmonic became the first Chinese conductor and the first Chinese orchestra to play at the BBC Proms with a televised performance at London’s Royal Albert Hall viewed by millions of people across the U.K. He performs regularly with ensembles and opera companies including the Orchestre de Paris; BBC, Chicago, Singapore, and Sydney symphony orchestras; Hamburg State Opera; Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; The Philadelphia Orchestra; and Los Angeles, Munich, and Hong Kong Philharmonic orchestras. Long Yu played a leading role in establishing the Shanghai Orchestra Academy, a partnership between the New York Philharmonic and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, with collaboration from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. In 2014 the Philharmonic named Long Yu an honorary member of the International Advisory Board, a network of advocates and ambassadors connecting with individuals and institutions in their home countries to cultivate the Philharmonic’s long-term reach and influence worldwide. Mr. Yu’s first appearance with the Philharmonic was leading the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra on a New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks program on Central Park’s Great Lawn in 2010, and he first led the Orchestra in January 2012, conducting the inaugural Chinese New Year Concert. He most recently led the Orchestra in the February 2014 Chinese New Year Concert and Gala, and is scheduled to lead the Orchestra with soloist Maxim Vengerov January 22–24, 2015. (more) Chinese New Year / 3 The many-faceted career of cellist Yo-Yo Ma is testament to his continual search for new ways to communicate with audiences and to his personal desire for artistic growth and renewal. Mr. Ma maintains a balance between his engagements as soloist with orchestras worldwide and his recital and chamber music activities. His discography includes more than 90 albums, including more than 17 Grammy Award winners. Mr. Ma serves as the artistic director of Silkroad, an organization he founded to promote cross-cultural performance and collaboration at the edge where education, business, and the arts come together to transform the world. More than 80 works have been commissioned specifically for the Silk Road Ensemble, which tours annually, including a January 2015 appearance with the New York Philharmonic. Mr. Ma also serves as the Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Negaunee Music Institute. His work focuses on the transformative power music can have in individuals’ lives, and on increasing the number and variety of opportunities audiences have to experience music in their communities. Mr. Ma was born in Paris to Chinese parents who later moved the family to New York. He began to study cello at the age of four, attended The Juilliard School, and in 1976 graduated from Harvard University. He has received numerous awards, among them the Avery Fisher Prize (1978), the National Medal of Arts (2001), and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2010). In 2011 Mr. Ma was recognized as a Kennedy Center Honoree. He has a very strong interest in the importance of culture in society and the ways in which it can produce positive social change, and currently serves as a UN Messenger of Peace and as a member of the President’s Committee on the Arts & the Humanities. Most recently, Mr. Ma has joined the Aspen Institute Board of Trustees. He has performed for eight American presidents, most recently at the invitation of President Obama on the occasion of the 56th Inaugural Ceremony. Mr. Ma made his Philharmonic debut in 1978 during the Music in May festival, performing Beethoven’s Triple Concerto alongside Shlomo Mintz and Yefim Bronfman conducted by Alexander Schneider; he most recently performed Osvaldo Golijov’s Azul, led by Alan Gilbert, during the 2013–14 season’s Opening Gala Concert, and will have appeared with Mr. Gilbert, the Silk Road Ensembles, and the New York Philharmonic, February 19–21, 2015. Wu Tong, a National Class One Performer of the Central Nationalities Song and Dance Troupe, began studying sheng and suona at age five with his father, and entered the primary school affiliated to the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music in 1983. He graduated in 1994 from the conservatory’s college division, where he trained in Chinese wind instruments. After meeting Yo-Yo Ma in 2000 at Tanglewood, Wu became a founding member of the Silk Road Ensemble, and has since participated in all of its recordings. He is also the founding vocalist of the Beijing- based metal band Lunhui (Again), the first rock band to appear on Chinese Central Television. Wu has performed as soloist with an array orchestras including the London Sinfonietta, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, and Hong Kong Philharmonic; made his operatic debut in 2008 playing two roles in Stewart Wallace’s The Bonesetter’s Daughter at San Francisco Opera; and appeared on CBS’s Late Show with David Letterman. Wu developed a looping technology for a new electronic sheng, giving the Chinese traditional wind instrument a new lease on life, and he wrote and arranged the sound track for Wong Kar Wai’s film Ashes of Time Redux, featuring Mr. Ma; the film was premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008 and was featured in that year’s New York Film Festival.