The choir premiered the program for the China tour at the June 6th President’s Concert in Corvallis, titled “Voyages.”
Since 2000, Oregon State University music faculty and students have participated in a dynamic cultural exchange with performing arts ensembles and educational institutions in the Henan and Sichuan provinces of China. More than 500 musicians and performing artists, including students and faculty, have contributed to and benefited from this bilateral relationship. Throughout these 15 years, several Chinese performing arts groups have come to visit and perform on campus; faculty exchange scholars and international students from China have come to participate in OSU academic courses and performance ensembles, gaining valuable knowledge and expertise on the American music education system; and OSU music faculty, students, and ensembles have traveled to China to teach, conduct, perform and learn more about Chinese culture.
Poster advertising concerts during Chamber Choir’s 2011 tour.
In just four days, the Oregon State University Chamber Choir will embark on a ten-day performance and cultural exchange tour of China. Directed by Dr. Steven M. Zielke, Chamber Choir is the premier choral ensemble on campus. The auditioned ensemble is comprised of 40 carefully-selected students who perform the finest in choral music repertoire. The choir tours regionally or internationally every spring and has been invited to perform at regional, national, and international conferences and festivals. Recent tours have included Hawaii, Canada and New York — where Chamber Choir, Bella Voce and the OSU Meistersingers performed in Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. The choir last toured China in the summer of 2011.
This upcoming tour takes the choir to Beijing, Zhengzhou and Xi’an, and will include an informal concert at the Great Wall (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), an evening concert at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and an evening concert at the Xi’an Conservatory of Music. It will also include visits to the Summer Palace Royal Garden, the Forbidden City and Tienanmen Square, the Temple of Heaven, Big Wild Goose Pagoda, the Xi’an City Wall and Terracotta Warriors, the Shaanxi History Museum, and more.
Funding for this tour has come from a variety of sources. While student course fees for the year partially cover the cost of the trip, the rest of the expenses are funded through the choral music program, student incidental fees (SIFC) money, fundraising and endowments such as the Robert Walls Fund for Choral Excellence and the Ron Jeffers Fund for Choral Innovation. For many of our students this is a first time experience traveling abroad. Some of our students have never or rarely traveled out of state!
We are so happy to share this exciting voyage with you and look forward to updating this blog with photos and information on our trip as time and internet access allow.
