Lunar New Year

Chamber Music with Members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic

Yi-Wen Jiang’s string quartet arrangements of popular Chinese folk melodies are at the heart of our celebration for the Year of the Goat: a symbol of peace, compassion, and inner strength in Chinese culture. 

Hot Pepper, composed for marimba and violin, is based on a song from Sichuan, the Chinese province known for its spicy cuisine. The Los Angeles Times’ Mark Swed wrote that Bright Sheng’s piece has “the feel of a Bartók rhapsody, a seductive warm-up of the tune, with some fancy virtuosic ornamentation, and then a section of wildness.” 

Members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic ramp up the evening with Chinary Ung’s “futuristic folk music,” a description the Cambodian American composer gave his elusive sound and style. And to close, Dvořák’s Opus 106 expresses how “inexpressibly happy” he was to return home to Bohemia after three years of composing, working, and teaching in the United States.

Arrive as early as 6:30pm for a complimentary glass of wine to complete the perfect early kickoff to the Lunar New Year holiday. 

Program

• Chinary Ung — Spiral III
• TRADITIONAL — Selections from ChinaSong
• Bright Sheng — Hot Pepper
• Antonín Dvořák — String Quartet No. 13 in G major, Op. 106