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Steven Greenman w/Cleveland Chinese Music Ensemble, Cleveland, OH, 12 May, 2012

Steven GreenmanSteven Greenman in collaboration with the Cleveland Chinese Music Ensemble

This Saturday May 12th, 2012 at 2:00pm I'll be performing once again with the Cleveland Chinese Music Ensemble at the Cleveland Public Library. Ensemble founder and ethnomusicologist David Badagnani has created a fantastic ensemble dedicated to performing traditional Chinese folk music showing once again the bountiful richness and diversity of Cleveland's cultural and ethnic communities. For my participation, I will be performing two pieces from the "classical" Chinese repertoire: 1) excerpts from the beautiful "Butterfly Lover's Violin Concerto" with the brilliant pianist Shuai Wang and "Xin Chun Le" together with David playing the sheng (Chinese mouth organ). I hope you can attend this wonderful event!

Cleveland Public Library Fine Arts Department
presents
"A Celebration of Spring"
featuring
Cleveland Chinese Music Ensemble
and
Xue "Snow" Yu, voice
with special guests
Steven Greenman, violin
Shuai Wang, piano
Guangsheng Wang, Chinese painting and calligraphy

2:00 p.m., Saturday, May 12, 2012
Louis Stokes Wing Auditorium
Cleveland Public Library Main Library
325 Superior Avenue Northeast
Cleveland, Ohio
Free

East meets West when the Cleveland Chinese Music Ensemble is joined by violinist Steven Greenman and pianist Shuai Wang for a diverse program of Chinese classical and folk music, played on both traditional and Western instruments. The event, which is free and open to the public, is part of the Cleveland Public Library Fine Arts Department's monthly Music at Main series. It will take place in the Cleveland Public Library's beautiful Louis Stokes Wing Auditorium.

The ensemble's instruments include sheng (mouth organ), pipa (pear-shaped lute), guzheng (21-string zither), gongs, drums, and cymbals. For a rare treat, Greenman and Wang will present a rendition of the theme to the "Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto," which is beloved as the most famous Chinese composition for violin. The classically trained vocalist Xue "Snow" Yu of Qingdao, Shandong, China will join the ensemble for several selections, and, for a rousing finale, all participants will join together in a rousing performance of the Shanxi piece "Zui Gu" (Drunk Drum), for Chinese percussion and piano.

The event will also feature a showing of traditional watercolors by the distinguished Chinese painter Mr. Guangsheng Wang. Wang, who taught erhu (Chinese fiddle) for 25 years at the Tianjin Conservatory, settled last year in Lakewood, Ohio, near his daughter, Shuai Wang. See some of Mr. Wang's amazing paintings here:
plus.google.com/photos/110084156877541067982/albums/5512893484237231345?banner=pwa

Prior to the concert, Mr. Wang will also demonstrate the art of Chinese ink-and-brush calligraphy, writing audience members' names upon request.

Finally, also prior to the concert Mr. Wang's wife, Judy, will serve handmade traditional Chinese jiaozi dumplings, with pork and vegetable fillings, for no charge.

The painting and calligraphy demonstration, and the serving of the dumplings, will take place from 2:00 to 2:30 p.m., and the concert itself will be from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.

More information:
www.cpl.org/EventsClasses/MusicatMain.aspx
www.facebook.com/events/293028264086783

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