Synopsis

Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival, is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays and its observance traditionally begins on the first day of the first month in the Chinese lunar calendar.

Spring Festival is also the title Chinese composer Chen Yi gave to a work for wind band that she wrote in 1999 on commission from American Composers Forum and published as part of their BandQuest music series for young performers.

Spring Festival draws on a southern Chinese folk tune, Lion Playing Ball, but its formal structure is mathematical in nature and based on the ancient Greek idea of the Golden Ratio, traditionally thought to represent an aesthetically pleasing proportion.

Yi received her Master’s degree in music composition from the Central Conservatory in Beijing, and her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Columbia University in New York City, and now teaches at the University of Missouri in Kansas City.

It was in Kansas City that she developed Spring Festival during workshops with the young musicians of the Smith-Hale Junior High School Band, and the finished score received its premiere performance on today’s date in 2000 by that band under the direction of Jan Davis.

Music Played in Today's Program

Chen Yi (b. 1953): Spring Festival; University of Minnesota Symphonic Wind Ensemble; Craig Kirchhoff, conductor; HL-04001978