The Year of the Dragon will be celebrated musically next month as the New Haven Symphony Orchestra’s (NHSO) Family Series returns with a statewide tour of concerts for kids celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year.
The free concerts are programmed specifically for children ages 3-7, encouraging listening, playfulness, and participation throughout the interactive performance. Central to the concerts is an instrument that rarely turns up in Western symphonic concerts – the erhu is a two-stringed instrument played with a bow that is popular in China and East Asian countries that are influenced by Chinese culture.
On this 50-minute program, international erhu virtuoso Dr. Chia-Yu Joy Lu of Wesleyan University will play alongside a NHSO violinist Stephanie Hug and NHSO pianist William Braun. The concert’s music will include “Two Tigers,” “Thunder in a Drought,” “Joy & Happiness,” Grasshopper Tricks the Rooster, Beautiful Flowers and Full Moon, and more. While the music plays, a Chinese calligraphy artist will simultaneously hand-draw characters on a screen and families will have the opportunity to practice writing the characters in provided program books.
The concerts will be heard on Feb. 3 at 10:30 a.m. at Ansonia Public Library, on Feb. 3 at 3:00 p.m. at Plumb Library in Shelton; on Feb. 4 at 3:00 p.m. at Russell Library in Middletown, and Feb. 11 at 2:00 p.m. at Dr. Reginald Mayo Early Learning School in New Haven.
More details will be forthcoming on the New Haven Symphony Orchestra’s website, NewHavenSymphony.org and the Lunarfest website, YaleChina.org/Luanarfest.
Photo by Jim Nix / Flickr Creative Commons
