Distinguished composer and Michigan State University faculty member Zhou Tian is one of two living composers whose works, including one world premiere, were featured in a major festival held at the newly opened Tianjin Juilliard School.

Festival Connect ran from January 29 to February 5, 2021, and featured prominent composers of the 20th century as well as two living composers whose styles are influenced by or inherited by their predecessor’s. In this its inaugural year, festival organizers decided to honor Béla Bartók (1881 – 1945). Zhou was selected as a featured living composer, along with Hungarian composer Ádám Kondor, and concerts during the festival included their world premiere works. 

Zhou's Flowing Sleeves for cello and piano quintet, co-commissioned by the Juilliard School and the Tianjin Juilliard School, received its world premiere led by Tianjin Juilliard School faculty cellist Yeonjin Kim on February 3. Originally written as a cello concerto for the acclaimed Deutsche Grammophon Artist Jian Wang, this new chamber version adds a more transparent soundscape and soloistic writing for all six players.

Flowing Sleeves gets its inspiration from costumes and traditional practices of Chinese opera, in which performers use long silk sleeves to create different movements reflective of the inner thoughts of the characters. The four movements of the piece, Brush, Lift, Reflect, and Dance, present four distinctively different characteristics of music. In his review on the concerto’s Singapore premiere last year, Marc Rochester of the Straits Times wrote “The musical language was rich, opulent, luxurious, infinitely varied and, at times, profoundly beautiful…This was a lovely performance of what deserves to become a classic of the cello concerto repertory.”

Cello Concerto “Flowing Sleeves” (II. Lift)
Jian Wang with the Hangzhou Philharmonic conducted by Yang Yang

The concert also included Zhou’s Joy for string quintet which made its debut in 2016. On February 5, Zhou’s Viaje was performed by Tianjin Juilliard School faculty flutist Gergely Ittzés with the Tianjin Juilliard Orchestra conducted by En Shao. Zhou also gave masterclasses and coaching sessions during the festival. 

“This is quite an international distinction and recognition of great significance,” MSU College of Music Dean James Forger said. “I am so pleased for Zhou Tian and for the impact his exceptional creative work has brought to the world of music. We look forward to sharing videos of the performances when they become available.”

This opportunity came not long after Zhou spent time as artist-in-residence with the prestigious Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. Zhou’s Concerto for Orchestra was nominated for two 2018 Grammy Awards, including Best Contemporary Classical Composition and Best Orchestral Performance for its premiere with the Cincinnati Symphony.

In addition to this high-profile residency, Zhou recently announced that beginning February 23, 2021, PBS stations around the country will begin airing a documentary on the making of Zhou’s commissioned work Transcend at the Reno Philharmonic.

Trailer for the PBS documentary “The Work of Art,” winner of 2020 Silver TELLY Award for Best Documentary - Individual. Click here to watch the full hour-long film. 

Festival Connect is modeled after Juilliard’s annual modern music festival, Focus, which offers a survey of a topic in contemporary music each year. In its first ten years, Festival Connect aims to showcase the central composer’s masterpieces in performances, highlighting those works within the cultural and social context of the composer’s world. At the same time, tracing the composer’s legacy and special highlights of the composer’s influence on contemporaries and future generations, especially living composers of our time. Learn more about Bartók and his legacy here.

Zhou explained that Tianjin Juilliard is the first performing arts institution in China to offer a U.S.-accredited Master of Music degree, and currently there are also 28 students from the New York Juilliard School studying there in an exchange program after a lengthy quarantine. He recently had a chance to watch one of their rehearsals.

“I’m very honored for this opportunity. I just watched a rehearsal tape of my piece, and seeing all of them working together, making music passionately really moved me,” Zhou said. “It’s a fine example of our globalized world, and one can’t help but feeling the extra warmth in the music during this cold and cruel pandemic. I look forward to introducing MSU to the students and colleagues there.”