Presented by Leyue Performing Arts and the Edgar Snow Memorial Foundation
October 6, 2018, 4:00-6:00 p.m.
Kauffman Performing Arts Center
1601 Broadway Boulevard, Kansas City, Missouri
The Edgar Snow Memorial Concert will be presented by Leyue Performing Arts and the Edgar Snow Memorial Foundation on October 6, 2018, at 4:00-6:00 p.m. in the Kauffman Performing Arts Center. The concert will offer a tribute to the legacy of Edgar Snow with songs, music and Chinese folk dances.
Edgar Snow was a Kansas City-born journalist known for his 1937 book “Red Star Over China.” He first visited China in 1928 and resided there for thirteen years. He was the first Western journalist to interview key Chinese leaders and to report the heroic fighting of the Chinese people against the Japanese invasion in World War II. His books played a significant role in promoting Western understanding of China and he is regarded as an old friend of the Chinese people.
The concert is intended as a tribute to Edgar Snow, with songs, music and Chinese folk dances of diverse ethnicity and styles presented by famous singers from China and the U.S. and by artists from local performing troupes. A special song lyric “Snow” created by Chaorui Huang and Zhansui Mai (both well-known musicians from Guangxi, China) will be performed by Chai-lun Yueh (world-famous baritone), Lingling H. Peng (mezzo-soprano), Guilin Wei (tenor, director of Leyue Performing Arts) and Qingyao Liang (soprano).
The famous choir “Defend the Yellow River,” which is part of the Yellow River Cantata by Chinese composer Sinn Sing Hoi, will be performed by Kansas City Leyue Performing Arts, St. Louis Yangtze River Art Ensemble Choir, and Chicago Dongfang Chinese Performing Arts Association Choir Group. The concert will also present inspirational music by the Kansas City Wind Symphony.
Concert tickets are now available at the special advance price of $20.00 per person. Click here to reserve your concert tickets.
About the Performers
Hongwei Wang is one of China’s most famous lyric tenors. He is a professor in the music school of Hunan Normal University and serves as a board member of the Chinese Musician Association. He has won numerous national musical awards for first-place performances and earned the name “King of Western Singers of China” for his exceptional talent in performing the folk songs of northwestern China. He is highly praised by critics for his recent personal solo concert in Vienna, Austria. Since his first solo album in 1994, he released other masterpieces, including “Xibufangge,” “Erxingqianli,” “DaJiangN an,” “GuTuQing,” “Goodbye, Dabieshan,” and “TianLu.” As one of China’s most outstanding tenors, Hongwei Wang enjoys great popularity as a leading vocalist on Chinese opera stages, renowned for his powerful performance and gentle personality.
Chai-lun Yueh is an exciting and dramatic baritone, music director and educator. He is the only Chinese-born performing artist to receive a preliminary nomination for the Grammy Award. Mr. Yueh teaches voice and opera and serves as the Senior Adviser for international student recruitment at the Hartt School in Connecticut. He is also a visiting professor at Ningbo University, China. He is a member of the National Music Honor Society and National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) and winner of The Metropolitan Opera National Auditions (New England Region) Luciano Pavarotti Vocal Competition. His CD albums have won Global and Prestige Golden awards. As a soloist, Mr. Yueh has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Boston, Chicago Symphony Center, and in Vienna, Salzburg and Prague. Mr. Yueh serves on the board of directors for CONCORA, and (as the first Chinese-American) serves as the chair of its Concert Committee.
Dr. Mei Zhong, soprano, is Professor of Voice at Ball State University. She earned a D.M.A. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and an M.F.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles, both in Vocal Performance. Dr. Zhong has performed several leading roles in opera productions, such as Butterfly in Madame Butterfly, Sister Angelica in Suor Angelica, and Micaela in Carmen. She was a soloist in choral and symphony productions of Dvorak’s Te Deum, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, and Dona Nobis Pacem. Her solo recitals and performances in concerts and operas have been presented in more than twenty-four U.S. states and several cities in China. Zhong has given many master classes and lecture recitals at many international institutions and conferences. Her acclaimed publications include books and recordings on singing, teaching, Puccini and new vocal repertoire.
Lingling H. Peng, mezzo-soprano, has been singing with the Washington National Opera in Kennedy Center since 2005. Her performances have been commended as “fantastic, rich and strong.” She was invited to perform at a music festival in Rome, the Waterford International Light Opera Festival in Ireland and the Asia Music Festival in Singapore. She was a winner in the 7th Gerda Lissner Foundation International Vocal Competition in New York City and in the 3rd Monte Carlo Voice Masters International Competition. She won first prize in a singing competition sponsored by the Singapore Association of Composers in 1997 and was a recipient of the Singapore National Arts Council Bursary for three consecutive years. Ms. Lingling received a Master of Music degree from the School of Music at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a Graduate Performance Diploma from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.
