The Hopkins Symphony Orchestra will be opening its 2005-2006 season in Shriver Hall on Saturday, Oct 22 at 8 p.m. with an unusual and fascinating program. Jiebing Chen, one of the world's most acclaimed and widely-recognized performers of the Chinese erhu, an ancient string instrument, will be the featured soloist, playing The Butterfly Lovers Concerto by Cheng Gang and He Zhan-hao. Also on the program is the Symphony No. 3 in F Major, Opus 90 by Johannes Brahms. Preceding the concert will be a lecture and demonstration from Chen on Friday, Oct. 21 in the Glass Pavilion at noon, as well as a pre-concert discussion at 7 p.m.
Chen is known for combining the erhu, a Chinese violin or fiddle with two strings, with Western music styles, including classical, contemporary and jazz. Chen began performing in Shanghai when she was 6 years old and joined the Chinese Navy Orchestra at age 9, earning her widespread fame as a child prodigy. She studied at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music with China's most illustrious musicians and graduated in 1982. She also won first prize in the National Competition of Traditional Instruments in Beijing in the same year.
In 1987, Chen was named a "National First Rank Performing Artist" by the Chinese government. She also performed as a soloist on the erhu with Western orchestras and as an accompanist with the Shanghai Orchestra and Chamber Orchestras. She came to the United States in 1989 and received a Masters in Music Theory at the State University of New York.
The Butterfly Lovers Concerto was written in 1958, originally as a violin concerto. The piece is inspired by a Chinese folk legend, which tells of two lovers, a young woman named Zhu Yingtai and a young man named Liang Shanbo. The two meet when Zhu disguises herself as a man so that she can study in a southern province of China. Before Zhu goes home, she tells Liang about a younger sister and tells him to ask her parents for her hand in marriage. However, when Liang goes to Zhu's home and finds out her true identity, Zhu is already betrothed to another man. Liang is heartbroken and, on his trip home, becomes ill and dies. Zhu hurries to his grave on the day of her marriage and it opens beneath her. She commits suicide, jumping into the grave.
At the end of the tale, the two lovers are transformed into butterflies and fly away from the grave, together for all eternity. In the concerto, Liang is characterized by the cello and Zhu is represented by the violin soloist, or in the case of this performance, the erhu. The concerto is divided into three parts. The first part represents the meeting of Liang and Zhu, their friendship and love, and also their separation when Zhu returns to her home. The second part describes their defiance and disappointment of Zhu's arranged marriage. The last part portrays Liang's death and Zhu's suicide in response.
In 1988, one of the composers, Chen Gang, heard Chen's expressive playing of the erhu at the Shanghai Conservatory. He thought that the erhu could also express the emotions between the two lovers and rearranged the concerto for erhu. He then asked Chen to be the soloist in the debut of this new arrangement, which Chen has continued to play in numerous performances around the world.
The second piece on the program, Brahms' Third Symphony, was written in 1883. Brahms struggled, as he composed under Beethoven's shadow, and was often held to Beethoven's standard. Brahms' First Symphony has even often been called "Beethoven's Tenth," and his Third Symphony was compared to Beethoven's Third at the time of its premiere. Despite this comparison, Brahms' Third holds its own as a wonderfully written, romantic piece that has been well-loved since its premiere in December 1883.
The first concert of the Hopkins Symphony Orchestra will be an extraordinary experience for Hopkins students due to the individuality of the combination of the Chinese erhu and a Western orchestra.
