East Meets West: Dialogue Between Chinese and Western Music

ALFRED, NY – Alfred University’s Confucius Institute will host the seventh monthly “East Meets West” virtual concert and forum at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 24, as celebrated conductors Steven Fei Fang and David Wroe chat with host Daisy Wu, director of Alfred University’s Confucius Institute. The event will be held virtually via Zoom.

Steven Fei Fang is Artistic Director and Conductor of the Asian Cultural Symphony of the U.S.A. and Founder of the New York Eastern Chamber Orchestra. Since the 1970’s, he has served as a cultural ambassador, devoted music educator, and choral and orchestral conductor. He is the first Chinese conductor to perform in the U.S. Capitol, Bryant Park in Manhattan, and the Oculus of the new World Trade Center Transportation Hub.

He has frequently performed at the Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York City and has also cooperated with the Shanghai Theater Academy, Shanghai Dance Academy and other institutions to present Peking opera, dance poems and dance drama. Maestro Fang has served as music director of CCTV (Chinese national television) China Youth Talent Show U.S. East Coast Auditions and as a vocal competition judge.

David Wroe is Music Director of the New Jersey Festival Orchestra and Principal Conductor at Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice in New York. Orchestras conducted include the Boston Symphony Orchestra, NYC Opera, Saint Louis Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and L’Orchestre National de Lille, to name but a few.

A preferred conductor in Asia, he has conducted influential orchestras in China, Korea, Macau, and Taiwan.  Maestro Wroe was Seiji Ozawa’s Assistant Conductor at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and 2007 marked Maestro Wroe’s recording debut with L’Orchestre National de Lille. He has directed opera companies across the U.S. and Europe, including the summer‘Opera Under the Stars’series at the 7000-seat Garden State Arts Center in NJ. He served as Judge with Anna Moffo for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Fully committed to music education, Maestro Wroe has led youth symphonies and festivals and given master classes at a number of prominent universities.

The East Meets West series is organized by Confucius Institute of Alfred University and is co-sponsored by the Performing Arts Division of Alfred University, the Music Department of China University of Geosciences, the Almond 20th Century Club Library, the Cuba Circulating Library, the Hornell Public Library, the David A. Howe Library in Wellsville, and the Wimodaughsian Library of Canisteo.

Register for this event at no charge, or scan the QR code from the accompanying image of the concert poster. If you have questions, please contact Wu or CIAU Assistant Director Susan Steere at 607-382-4140 for further details.