The 3rd annual China Now Music Festival goes online in 2020 with Beethoven and China, a series of musical and scholarly events premiering daily from December 11 to 18, coinciding with the week of Beethoven’s birth in 1770. All events are free and open to the public. Presented by the US-China Music Institute of the Bard College Conservatory of Music.

Learn more about the festival at barduschinamusic.org/china-and-beethoven.

EVENTS

China’s Sage of Music 乐圣的华夏足迹

December 11, 2020; 7:30pm EST

Concert/Lecture The festival’s opening event traces the story of Beethoven’s ascent into the cultural imagination of China through discussions with music scholars and musical interludes from the US and China. Hosted by Jindong Cai, conductor, professor of Music and Arts at Bard College, and director of the US-China Music Institute.

贝多芬在中国 (Beethoven in China)

December 12, 2020; 8pm EST

Webinar (in Chinese) China Institute’s Renwen Society hosts Jindong Cai in a webinar discussion in Chinese of his book Beethoven in China: How the Great Composer Became an Icon in the People’s Republic.

Beethoven Made in China 中国版贝多芬

December 13, 2020; 7:30pm EST

Concert/Lecture Experience an exciting and imaginative evening of musical interpretations of Beethoven with Chinese accents, presented by world-renowned artists including bass-baritone Shenyang, pipa virtuoso Wu Man, composer/conductor Tan Dun, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, The Orchestra Now, and musicians of the prestigious Central Conservatory of Music.Hosted by Shenyang and Jindong Cai.

Beethoven is Us 处处贝多芬

December 14, 2020; 7:30pm EST

Producer’s Expo Host Jindong Cai and guests will offer a peek into the Chinese market for all things Beethoven, including a musical based on Beethoven’s life, a play describing how his music became known in China, and an ‘immersive multimedia Beethoven experience’ exhibition in Shanghai.

Shanghai Symphony: Night of Beethoven 上海交响乐团：贝多芬之夜

December 15, 2020; 7:30pm EST

Concert Celebrate Beethoven’s birthday with the illustrious Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, featuring a selection of recent performances of some of Beethoven’s most iconic symphonic and chamber works, specially selected for the China Now Music Festival.

Beethoven in Beijing: an American Orchestra’s Journey《贝多芬在北京》：一个美国乐团的中国历程

December 16, 2020; 7:30pm EST

Private Film Screening Get early access to the new documentary Beethoven in Beijing, which follows the Philadelphia Orchestra on their first historic trip to China in 1973 and chronicles the opening of China to Western classical music since the end of the Cultural Revolution. (NOTE: this event requires separate registration. A link to register will be send out via email.)

Building Bridges through Music: Beethoven in Beijing 音乐之桥：《贝多芬在北京》

December 17, 2020; 8pm EST

Zoom Webinar Hosted by Asia Society and moderated by author Sheila Melvin, this discussion with the filmmakers of the documentary Beethoven in Beijing plus special guests will look at the future of culture and diplomacy through classical music.

Egmont in China《艾格蒙特》在中国

December 18, 2020; 7:30pm EST

Orchestra Concert The 2020 China Now Music Festival closing event is a landmark performance of Beethoven’s complete Egmont, his musical setting of the 1787 play by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, in a new production by the China NCPA Orchestra in Beijing. Featuring narration in Mandarin, the concert was recorded live at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing in November, 2020.

Presented by the US-China Music Institute of the Bad College Conservatory of Music, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY