Chinese New Year Concert in Chinatown Celebrates Culture By Featuring Award-Winning Performances and Diverse Audience

Dong Fang Performing Arts Chorus and Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra play several Chinese folk songs together. Dong Fang Performing Arts Chorus was founded in 2005 and is one of the biggest groups within Chinese Performing Art Associations in Chicago.

Philip Simmons conducts Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra. Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra became part of the AMF in 2002.

Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra performs an excerpt from “Chinese Sights and Sounds,” including Little Cabbages and Green Willow.

Female members of the Dong Fang Performing Arts Chorus perform the songs “Lift Your Veil” and “Shangri-La.” Many classic traditional songs can be heard during Chinese New Year holidays.

Male members of the Dong Fang Performing Arts Chorus perform the songs “Lift Your Veil” and “Shangri-La.” “Lift Your Veil” is a traditional Uyghur folk song from Xinjiang.

Award-winning Soprano Carol Wang, who was born in Guangzhou, China, sang the Chinese folk song “My Mother and I.” She earned many awards in vocal performances.

Member of the Dong Fang Performing Arts Chorus waits for her performance at the preparation area. The red printed-fabric pattern, named cheongsam, symbolizes luck, joy and vitality in Chinese culture.

Philip Simmons (second from left) thanks everyone for coming to enjoy the blend of American and Chinese music.

	By Nicole Shih Youth & Education editor

The Chicago Public Library Chinatown Branch kicked off Chinese New Year with a concert aiming to bridge American and Chinese culture gaps. The Chinese New Year, also called Lunar New Year, celebrates the start of a new year on Chinese traditional calendar. It is a week-long celebration which started on Jan. 24 this year, but the concert took place on the 25th. Co-sponsored by the Chinatown branch and the Chicago Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, the concert featured several artists and bands including Dong Fang Performing Arts Chorus, independent soprano player Carol Wang and flutist Michele McGovern.

To help celebrate both Chinese and American culture, Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra --a world-renowned orchestra under the American Music Festivals (AMF) organization --was invited to perform. AMF is a nonprofit organization promoting cultural exchange by the power and beauty of orchestra music. This is accomplished by using prominent figures like the Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra and its founder and artistic director, Philip Simmons.

Simmons founded American Music Festivals (AMF) in 1997. They’ve performed worldwide since 1998, like in Russia, China, Korea and many European countries etc.

“Our goal as American Music Festivals, to promote friendships, to build relationships, to promote business, and to just share cultures,” Simmons said.

Mae Phillips, a native Chicagoan, lives three miles away from Chinatown and came to the concert to appreciate the joy of Chinese New Year. She has been getting to know Chinese culture for a while as the neighborhood she lives in is surrounded by many Chinese people.

Phillips brought her son to the concert to emphasize the importance of embracing different cultures. The kindergarten her son attends hosts field trips to Chinatown and the surrounding areas to experience Chinese culture.

Qiao-Er Yang, a middle-age woman who is originally from Taiwan, has been in the United States for over forty years. She frequents the Chinatown Branch Library regularly and volunteers at the Chinese American Service League (CASL).

A senior center in CASL brings the elderly together for them to participate in activities such as Chinese calligraphy, traditional Chinese painting classes and musical programs. Yang said she came to the senior center a week before the concert to design spring couplets to pass out to residents.

“The concert would definitely remind me of something. I’m familiar with all of these Chinese songs like ‘Lift Your Veil’, it is a Xingjiang folk song. It’s acceptable for me and I believe most Chinese would be deeply impressed as well,” said Yang.