1、Shenyang
2002 SINO-US NEW YEAR CONCERT
On the evenings of December 30 and 31, 2001, and January 1, 2002, the United States and China Foundation helped sponsor three brilliant concerts in the recently completed Liaoning Grand Theatre in the city of Shenyang, which is now the second largest musical auditorium in China. The Foundation invited five world--class artists for these three concerts: the world-famous Swiss conductor, Niklaus Wyss; the well-known American singer, Lori Brown Mirabal; the celebrated American soprano, Anna Vikre; the famous American tenor, Justin Vickers; and the renowned American pianist, James Lent. These artists were accompanies by the Liaoning Symphony Orchestra. All the attendees appeared to greatly enjoy each of the three concerts.
In addition to the Foundation, the sponsors of the 2002 Sino-US New Year Concerts comprised: the Liaoning Culture Exchange Association, the Liaoning Musician Association, the Liaoning Performance undertaking Company, the Liaoning Rongchang Group, the Shenyang Foreign Enterprises Service General Corporation, the China Northern Airline, the Golden Hotel, and the Shenyang Jiwen Advertisement Co. ltd.
The New Years Concerts featured the largest number of first-class artists from China and US ever to perform together. Ms. Lori Brown Mirabal has a richly expressive mezzo-soprano voice and striking good looks that catapults across the footlights. The young American soprano, Ms. Anna Vikre, is thrilling audiences around the world with her vibrant stage presence and spectacular voice. The tenor, Mr. Justin Vickers, holds a Bachelor of Music Degree in Voice from the University of Illinois and a Master of Music Degree in Voice from the University of Kentucky. He was the winner of the 1999 Concert Artists Guild International Competition and the WOXR Prize of 1999 Concert Artists International Competition. The American pianist, Mr. James Lent, and the Chief Conductor of Liaoning Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Niklaus Wyss, have international reputations as world-class artists.
The music was elegant and fresh, consisting of melodies familiar to the Chinese audiences, such as Chinese folk song, "Moli Hua (Jasmine Flower)" but, also, including favorite arias from "Zauberflote", "Elisird amore", "La Traviata", "Carmen", "Candide", and "Espana".
The well-designed Liaoning Grand Theatre afforded excellent and comfortable seating for all. There was not a "bad seat in the house" from either a visual or audio point of view.
Members of the audience included: high ranking government officers, top level officers from the US Consulate, members of other Consulates located in Shenyang, leaders of many large Chinese and foreign companies and a large number of Chinese music fans who chose to celebrate the Western New Year in this special way.
The Chairman of the Music Association of Liaoning Province noted that this event was "the first internationally recognized concert held in Shenyang city in recent years and the first in the new auditorium. " He also observed that the "Liaoning Great Theater permitted the audience to experience the pure music enjoyment of the natural voice of the artists without microphone "; Ticket sales grossed the highest ticket revenue for events of this type in the local commercial music market. The American artists greeted the Chinese audience with "Happy New Year" in Chinese and with the Chinese folk song, "Jasmine Flower." The concert closed with "Lardshikey March Music", which was received enthusiastically by the audience and, as a result, repeated several times as an encore.
The conductor for the concert, Mr. Niclaus Wyss, who conducted for many of the world famous sopranos, was deeply impressed with the natural but highly skillful voice of Ms. Anna Vikre. Niclaus appreciated her as "wonderful and crazy soprano". The famous Chinese pianist, Mrs. Li Qing, and singer, Mrs. Ding Yaxian, were impressed by the artists' exquisite skill. Many of the audience purchased the pianist's, Mr. James Lent's, CDs and had a photo taken as a memento. They hope the United States and China Foundation could bring more of such kind of international concerts in the near future.
The artists stated that they greatly appreciated the warm reception of the audience. They remarked that they were very surprised by the rapid development of China's economy, the prosperity of China's cultural environment, the musical sophistication of the audience, and the friendly attitude of everyone they met. They would be very pleased to bring all this friendship back home to strengthen mutual cultural exchanges between two nations.
On December 18 and 28, 2001, the United States and China Foundation's Shenyang Office separately held a press conference and journalist reception, During the performance, major press correspondents covered the concerts and gave them high appraise, such as: "The artists from the opposite shore of the Pacific gave performance without a microphone and, thus, conveyed the true essence of the music with their natural, bright, and accurate voices." Many correspondents commended the concerts for: "improving the musical taste, exhibiting an elegant cultural appearance, and honoring the foremost city in the northeast --- Shenyang". Following the concert, the major television network, CCTV, gave a lengthy favorable review of the concerts at eight o'clock am in its golden time period.
The United States and China Foundation's objective in inviting the American artists to perform in Shenyang was to deepen the friendship and enhance cultural and art exchanges between China and the United States. This objective supported the overall goal of the Foundation of erecting a bridge for the people of the US and China to further cement friendly relationships between the two nations. In the future, the Foundation plans to sponsor wider and more comprehensive exchanges and cooperation between China and the US.
2、Shanghai
Sino-US Friendship Christmas & New Year Banquet
With the efforts of all staff in the United States and China Foundation, Shanghai Office, " Sino-US Friendship Christmas & New Year Banquet" was held at Grand Hyatt Shanghai, Grand Ballroom at night on December 24th, 2001. As the general advisor of the USCF, as well as the first Chinese Ambassador to the United States-Mr. Chai Zemin with his wife attended the banquet. Former Chinese Ambassador in United Nation-Mr. Qin Huasun and his wife, Executive Director of the USCF-Mr. Larry L. Lee with his wife, Acting General Consul of Italy to Shanghai-Mr. Calo Ala Bastro with his wife, famous writer-Yexin and well-known artist-Mrs. Qinyi, as well as the distinguished personages in business and cultural circles in Shanghai participated this activity.
At the beginning of the banquet, Mr. Larry L. Lee delivered his season's greetings to every attendant. He said, " Chinese people celebrate the Christmas Day, while the foreigners do the Spring Festival, which shows the globalization tendency in the world, as well as the exchange increasing among all the nations. This is also the purpose of our Foundation, namely, extending bilateral changes and increasing Sino-US Friendship." Mr. Chai Zemin and Mr. Qin Huasun gave their best regards to Shanghai citizens and highly praised the achievements of the USCF in recent years, and other representatives of Shanghai business circles expressed their sincere wishes to the flourish of the USCF in Shanghai.
Shanghai noted artists provided their extremely wonderful performances in the banquet at the same time. Mrs. Jin Caifeng and Mrs. Sun Aizen gave their perfect arias from Beijing and Shaoxing Opera separately. The blowing painting initiator, Mr. Zhu Mozhun showed his unique blowing painting skills and brought down the whole house. Mr. Lu Chunling, the well-known artist for his intellectual achievement on flute performance, presented his excellent show together with a stream of witty remarks and pushed the banquet to the climax. Art Director of the USCF, Mrs. Zhu Jiali, gave her perfect song, "The Happy Days" in the banquet and won the warm applause from the guests as well. The entrepreneur, Mr. Zheng Siquan who made his special trip from Gui Zhou arrived in Shanghai by air and brought 15 bottles of Maotai personally, everyone enjoyed the National Wine, which increased the blessing mood during the activity.
At 12 O'clock, when all attendants were listening to the sound of the bell, blessing and waiting for the New Year's coming, the banquet ended satisfactorily.
