China's Largest Art Academy Partners with Top U.S. Arts & Culture Organizations to Celebrate Chinese New Year in New York City

NEW YORK, Feb. 12, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- In a sign of the growing recognition of, and support for, relations between the people of the United States and China, the leading arts and cultural organizations from both countries are partnering to present the largest U.S.-China artistic celebrations ever to commemorate Chinese New Year in New York City starting on February 17^th—including the first time in U.S. history that a large-scale fireworks show will celebrate the Lunar New Year.

Organized by China's largest and most prestigious arts academy, the China Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA), "Happy Chinese New Year: Fantastic Art China" will honor Lunar New Year on a grand scale through a wide range of visual and performing arts events being undertaken throughout February by partners including the New York Philharmonic, New-York Historical Society, National Dance Institute, Fireworks by Grucci, U.S.-China Cultural Institute / Committee of 100, China Institute, and the Chinese Consulate of New York.

Major visual and performing art events taking place throughout New York include:

• A special Chinese Lunar New Year lighting of the Empire State Building (Feb 17-19)
• A spectacular 20-minute, 3-barge Fireworks Spectacular on the Hudson River (7:30PM, Feb 17) that will nearly equal the iconic Macy's Independence Day Fireworks Spectacular in scope, organized by Fireworks by Grucci with support from Barbash Arts Consulting Services.
• A Chinese contemporary art exhibit open to the public at the David Rubenstein Atrium and Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center (Feb 18-24) featuring works by internationally renowned visual artists including HUANG Jiancheng, XU Bing, XU Jiang, LV Shengzhong, CHEN Wenling, and ZHAN Wang.
• Family New Year events at the New-York Historical Society throughout February.
• The New York Philharmonic's fourth annual Chinese New Year Concert and Gala concert featuring Yo-Yo Ma, conductor Long Yu, Wu Tong, vocalist Lei Jia and ghijak player Gulinaer Yiming (Feb 24) and free outdoor community event on Lincoln Center's Josie Robertson Plaza featuring public school children from the National Dance Institute performing traditional folk-inspired dances.

As part of the public art exhibit at Lincoln Center, Huang Jiancheng will present a animated video recreating the momentous painting "Qingming Shanghe Tu" (Along the River during the Qingming Festival), considered by many as the most significant classical Chinese painting in history. Xu Bing, recipient of the 2014 State Department Medal of Arts in the US, will exhibit a hand-painted animation explaining the connections between Chinese characters and the temperament of people who write them.

Zhan Wang, a professor at CAFA, will display signature sculpture "Artificial Rocks," which was part of the first-ever Chinese contemporary sculpture to be featured at the Metropolitan Museum. Xu Jiang, head of the Hangzhou-based China Academy of Art and whose work has been featured at the Venice Biennale, will show his steel sculpture Symbiosis that combines nearly 400 sunflowers. 

Chen Wenling will discuss the symbolism of the era in "The Scene in the Future" while Lv Shengzhong, a CAFA professor of experimental art, will show both his "Little Red People" series and "Creativity Market" which is both a real market showing handicrafts from across China and a contemporary art piece.

On February 24^th, the New York Philharmonic will present its fourth annual Chinese New Year Concert and Gala at Avery Fisher Hall conducted by Long Yu, Music Director of the China Philharmonic and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, and featuring acclaimed Grammy Award-winning Chinese-American cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Grammy Award-winning musician Wu Tong,  vocalist Lei Jia and ghijak player Gulinaer Yiming.  The Honorary Gala Chairman are Mr. and Mrs. Maurice R. Greenberg, James and Elaine Wolfensohn, Permanent Representative of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations H.E. Ambassador Liu Jieyi, and Consul-General of China in New York H.E. Ambassador Zhang Qiyue. A free outdoor community event will take place the afternoon of the concert at 4:30 p.m. on Lincoln Center's Josie Robertson Plaza featuring 80 local public school children from the National Dance Institute performing folk-inspired dances, and the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company performing the traditional Dragon Dance.

Additional festivities as part of Fantastic Art China include a series of Chinese New Year family events during the month of February organized by the New-York Historical Society, NYHS's DiMenna Children's History Museum, and a Lunar New Year lecture and reception by the China Institute on February 27^th.

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SOURCE China Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA)