Program: Befriending the Dragon: Contemporary Chinese Piano Repertoire for Teaching and Performing

Speaker: Dr. Susan Chan, NCTM

Location: TBA

This multimedia lecture-recital provides comprehensive insight and practical strategies for learning, performing and teaching the music of major, living Chinese and Chinese-American composers. Pianist Susan Chan will introduce, contextualize, and demonstrate intermediate-level arrangements of traditional Chinese folk songs before moving to more advanced selections by internationally renowned composers Tan Dun, Chen Yi, Zhang Zhao, and Pulitzer Prize winner Zhou Long. The presentation features inspiring artwork and photographs of scenery pertaining to the music and includes an enlightening discussion of pedagogical and performance issues. Imaginative, colorful and powerful, these pieces represent an important branch of the modern piano repertoire, and their increasing popularity marks an important shift towards greater understanding and appreciation across cultures.