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Philharmonic Society of Orange County presents Moon Festival with Wu Man, a virtual concert

Free Online Event

Kronos premieres a new piece with pipa virtuoso Wu Man as part of this virtual celebration of the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival.

From the Philharmonic Society of Orange County website: “Join us for a free virtual celebration of the Mid-Autumn “Moon” Festival, a thousand-year-old tradition marked by family gatherings, paper lanterns and moon cakes, with the world’s premier pipa virtuoso Wu Man.

The Mid-Autumn Festival began in the early Tang Dynasty (618–907) and is now almost as important as the Chinese New Year, being one of the top traditional Chinese festivals. The Mid-autumn Festival is associated with the moon and “moon appreciation” (shangyue) parties. This is partly because the moon is at its brightest during this time. Many ancient Chinese scholars composed music and poetry to praise the moon’s celestial power and its beauty. In Chinese culture, music is an expression of the perfect harmony between the Earth, human beings, and the heavens above.

A leading ambassador of Chinese music, Wu Man has carved out a career as a soloist, educator, and composer giving her lute-like instrument—which has a history of over 2,000 years in China—a new role in both traditional and contemporary music. Through numerous concert tours she has premiered hundreds of new works for the pipa, while spearheading multimedia projects to both preserve and create awareness of China’s ancient musical traditions. Her ability to reach wider audiences and cross cultural and musical borders were recognized when she was named Musical America’s 2013 “Instrumentalist of the Year,” marking the first time this prestigious award has been bestowed on a player of a non-Western instrument. As a principal musician in Yo-Yo Ma’s Silkroad project, Wu Man has performed throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia with the Silkroad Ensemble.”

Wu Man, pipa
Ann Yao, zheng
Wu Wei, sheng
Wang Hong, huqin
Kronos Quartet

VARIOUS: Musical pieces on Pipa
Introductions of other Chinese Instruments
World premiere of a new work by Wu Man and Kronos Quartet