Silicon Valley will mark Spring Festival

Silicon Valley will not be missing out in the Year of the Ram.

A series of cultural exchange activities is set to take place there through February marking the Lunar New Year, but chief among them will be a musical one.

A Chinese New Year Symphonic Concert will be held at the Flint Center in Cupertino on Feb 22, artistic director and conductor Cai Jindong announced at a press conference on Thursday.

Xiao Xiayong, cultural counselor at the Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco, said he hoped that the concert would not only inspire Americans' interest in learning more about Chinese music, but also continue to promote cultural exchange and mutual understanding between China and the US.

"We want to deliver joyful feelings and greetings during China's Lunar New Year in the form of a concert to overseas Chinese and Americans," said Xiao.

He said that in 2014, there were 570 performance and activities being held under the theme of Happy Chinese New Year in 321 cities outside China and he looked forward to seeing more this year.

The Chinese New Year Symphonic concert is organized by Pacific Arts & Culture Exchange (PACE) for the first time in Silicon Valley. "We are excited to present an evening where people from diverse cultural backgrounds can gather and celebrate this special occasion," said Cai. Preparations are currently in full swing. "This is the show you must not miss," said Cai, who noted that the concert would mainly focus Chinese contemporary music.

"We will present an array of exciting Chinese music performances," he said, including Dramatic Cantata, Ask the Sky and the Earth, Spring Festival Overture, Little Sisters in Grassland Pipa Concerto and Yellow River Piano Concerto. The concert features about 200 professionals and music lovers from the Chinese mainland and overseas, including a 100-person ensemble of musicians from the China Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, and other top professionals based in the San Francisco Bay Area, said Cai, who noted that this is the China Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra's first time to visit North America. More than 70 percent of the tickets have already been sold, said Dai Qi, CEO of Chinese Ticket Box, one of the main ticket distributors for the concert.

Besides the Chinese New Year Symphonic Concert, the Stanford Pan-Asian Music Festival 2015 will be held in Stanford's Bing Concert Hall on Feb 20 and 21 to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

zilian@chinadailyusa.com