CMS Returns to China For a Six-City Tour

November 29 – December 12, 2023

Hong Kong * Shenzhen * Shanghai
Nanjing * Beijing * Tianjin

Master Classes Offered in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Shanghai and Tianjin

New York, NY: November 10, 2023 — The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS), one of the largest and most influential chamber music organizations in the world, returns to China from November 29 to December 12, 2023, performing eight concerts in six cities, and conducting four master classes for conservatory students. The traveling ensemble is led by cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han, co-artistic directors of CMS, who are joined by four stellar artists from CMS’s international and intergenerational roster of preeminent chamber musicians: clarinetist Jose Franch-Ballester; violinists Chad Hoopes and Kristin Lee; violist Paul Neubauer. The tour in China is part of CMS’s robust program of touring concerts and residencies, which brings CMS musicians and the art of chamber music to cities and towns throughout North America and beyond. 

David Finckel and Wu Han said, “We are thrilled to be bringing the Chamber Music Society back to China, which we first visited in 2015. We believe in China’s potential to become one of the world’s leading chamber music nations, and we hope to make chamber music a major part of that musical development.  We look forward to sharing performances at the highest level with our audiences and introducing them to a selection of beloved chamber music repertoire. Through a series of master classes with conservatory students, we aim to support and encourage China’s most talented and committed young musicians to explore the art of chamber music; this is an art and a discipline that provides critical musical skills, like careful listening, cooperation, and sensitivity, to anyone pursuing a career in classical music.”

The programs to be presented in China feature music that spans four centuries, from a Beethoven trio written in 1793 to a 2020 work by Pierre Jalbert, along with compositions by Brahms, Dvořák, Debussy, Bruce Adolphe, Shostakovich, Weber and Fauré. Performances are presented by the Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts in Hong Kong (Nov 29 and Dec 1-2); School of Music of The Chinese University of Hong Kong in Shenzhen (Dec 5); Shanghai Oriental Art Center in Shanghai (Dec 7); Jiangsu Centre for the Performing Arts in Nanjing (Dec 8); National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing (Dec 9); and Tianjin Juilliard School in Tianjin (Dec 12). 

A complete schedule of concerts and repertoire can be found below. 

In addition to CMS’s performances, the organization will provide master classes at four conservatories in China: Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts; School of Music of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen; Shanghai Conservatory of Music; and Tianjin Juilliard School.  The CMS artists on the tour are all committed educators, with teaching posts at The Juilliard School and Mannes College in New York City, Stony Brook University on Long Island, the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in Ohio and University of British Columbia in Canada.

CMS's longtime commitment to sharing chamber music among CMS and Chinese musicians, composers, and audiences is evident. CMS’s first tour of China, at the invitation of the Beijing Modern Music Festival, was in 2015, with subsequent visits in 2017, 2018 and 2019 to Shanghai, Beijing, Nanjing, and Hong Kong. CMS has also welcomed China’s leaders to its home campus at Lincoln Center; in 2014, Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong visited Lincoln Center and CMS, and the following year, China’s First Lady Peng Liyuan visited Lincoln Center and met with artistic director Wu Han. 

Throughout its programming CMS continues to include many pieces by Chinese composers, including Zhou Long, Chen Yi, Ye Xiaogang, Tan Dun, Bun-Ching Lam, and Dai Wei, among many others. CMS has also featured many Chinese artists, including Wu Qian, Wu Man, Zhang Meigui, Li-wei Qin, Angelo Xiang Yu, Sihao He and the Shanghai Quartet. In addition, Chinese alumni of the rigorous CMS Bowers Program—a highly competitive three-season residency in which participants perform, tour and teach alongside CMS artists—include Zhang Daxun, Lang Lang, Angelo Xiang Yu, Sihao He, and Lun Li. Through its collaboration with Tencent, which began in 2019, CMS has provided more than 100 programs for online video streaming in China, including concerts and educational materials. CMS is a member of Beijing Forum for Performing Arts initiated by National Centre for the Performing Arts and has worked closely with Naxos China to distribute its audio materials and albums in China.