Asian Moon Festival Interactive Concert to Take Place on Campus

Asian Moon Festival falls on Sept. 13 this year and is one of the major festivals in Asia honoring family, friends, and the community. On Sept. 9 (Monday), the Asian Studies Program in conjunction with Asia Club and Asian Studies Honor Society at the University of Scranton will celebrate the 2019 festival with the renowned New Asia Chamber Music Society, while tasting tea/coffee and sampling Asian moon cake. This interactive concert featuring east-west music and an educational workshop will take place at Brennan Hall, the Rose Room (Room 509), on the fifth floor, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. The community members are welcome to attend.

Hailed by New York Concert Reviews as “an impressively organized and professional group… comprised of many young and gifted players”, the New Asia Chamber Music Society (NACMS) was founded in 2010 by an entrepreneurial group of young Asian-American virtuosi. Propelled by a shared passion for classical chamber music performance, the members of NACMS are prize winners of world-renowned international competitions, graduates from America’s most prestigious music schools, including The Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute, and appear regularly on major stages across the globe. Based in New York City, NACMS is committed to bringing audiences exciting chamber music performances of the highest caliber and innovation. By delving into the giants of traditional chamber music repertoire, cultivating new voices of contemporary composers that meld elements of Western and Eastern cultures, and collaborating with a broad network of art organizations – NACMS is creating a trifecta of innovation to enable new concert-going experiences for the audience. This exciting young collective also seeks to engage its technologically wired peers around the world with its lively social media presence, fostering a more interactive and social environment for chamber music performance & presentation.

The New Asia Chamber Music Society gave their sold out inaugural performance at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall in 2011, and have since performed in New York City’s major concert venues including Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall, Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall, Kaufman Center’s Merkin Hall and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. NACMS’s innovative programming has brought music to Ellis Island, Queens Museum, Flushing Town Hall, Joe’s Pub, Chelsea Museum, and the Taipei Culture and Economic Center of New York. In the 2015-2016 season NACMS toured Taiwan, performing at venues across the country including Taiwan’s National Concert Hall, and teaching masterclasses at the National Taiwan Normal University and Tainan National University of Arts.

The New Asia Chamber Music Society was the recipient of the 2016 Huang-Yu-Ting Memorial Award and New Music USA’s project grant. New Asia Chamber Music Society’s activities in 2017 include concerts at Merkin Hall featuring renowned violinist Cho-Liang Lin, and pianist Orion Weiss in Chausson’s Concert for Violin, Piano and String Quartet, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall concert featuring guest pianist Zhang Fang, its Second Annual Gala at New York City’s Riverside Church, and performances as part of a cultural festival in Paraguay. Special guest artists in past seasons include acclaimed violists, Toby Appel, Hsin-Yun Huang, and the

Amphion Quartet. In an effort to broaden the chamber music going community, NACMS has launched two new series, the House Salon Concerts and the Between The Bars Series. These events offer the audience a more intimate, intellectually stimulating and social experience. Ranging from informal and interactive workshop style talks given by musicians on the intricacies and beauty of chamber music informed by decades of experience – to behind-the-scenes perspectives of the chamber music life in performance and preparation. In 2018, NACMS continued presenting monthly installations of the House Salon Concerts and Between The Bars Series, as well as making its debut appearance at the Hudson River Performing Arts Center in Houston.

NACMS has partnered with other arts organizations to create innovative new works and concert experiences. Recently, NACMS collaborated with the Peridance Contemporary Dance Company to premiere Igal Perry’s ballet, Dia-Mono-Logues. Collaborated with the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company performing Huang Ro’s string quartet Crosscurrent at New Jersey Performing Arts Center. Multiple appearances with tango bandoneonist/composer JP Jofre, as well as partnering with Flushing Town Hall for its Chinese New Year Temple Bazzar and annual fundraiser.

For more information or questions about the Moon Festival Interactive Concert, contact Ann A. Pang-White, Director of Asian Studies, Professor of Philosophy, at ann.pang-white@scranton.edu or 570-941-6312.