NEW YORK, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- The New York Philharmonic (NY Phil) presented its yearly concert celebrating the Spring Festival on Tuesday night, the eve of the Lantern Festival.
NY Phil continued this tradition, which was started in 2012, by introducing new faces to the audience and honoring Angela Chen, a philanthropist behind the concert celebrating the Spring Festival over the years.
The concert featured a mix of Chinese and Western classics, such as the traditional Chinese repertoire the Spring Festival Overture by Li Huanzhi, the Chinese Folk Dance Suite by Chen Yi and the classic orchestral suite, Carmen Suite No.1, by Georges Bizet.
Both Tianyi Lu, conductor, and Inmo Yang, a violinist and soloist in Chen Yi's Chinese Folk Dance Suite, made their debuts with the NY Phil.
In the Chinese Folk Dance Suite, the performers integrated Chinese percussive singing into the violin performance, highlighting the unique charm of artistic and cultural fusion.
"I thought it was very engaging, and it was very nice that they had premieres and unusual and interesting works from different cultures in the same concert," said Tengku Irfan, a concert-goer from Malaysia.
Chengjin Koh from Singapore, who is a fan of the traditional Chinese instrument, the dulcimer, said she particularly enjoyed the Chinese Folk Dance Suite.
The conductor re-imagines them, making them sound like traditional percussion and vocals, a good cultural combination and a rare one, Koh said.
The 2,300-seat theater was nearly full for the performance, and the music was met with thunderous applause.
"This is such an important evening because it shows the world that music is a unifying force for good," said Matias Tarnopolsky, president and CEO of NY Phil.
Speaking at a briefing before the performance, Tarnopolsky said that the NY Phil's tradition of celebrating the Spring Festival highlights the common ground shared between the people of China and the United States.
Over the years, an increasing number of Chinese people, especially young people, have been involved in musical and cultural exchanges between China and the United States, said Chen, who is also a board member of the orchestra and co-chair of the NY Phil International Advisory Board.
Chen said that in the future, NY Phil will visit China more often to learn about Chinese culture and help promote cultural exchanges between China and the United States.
New York State has included the festival as an official public school holiday since 2024. With the inclusion on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, the influence of the Spring Festival has further increased overseas. ■
