It seems an impossible task to build a bridge from China to America, but Bright Sheng has done it, not with bricks or metal but with music.
“He is the link between eastern and western music,” said Donald Harris, professor of music composition and theory at Ohio State. “Chinese folk music is at the base of everything he does, yet he has a wonderful knowledge of western musical instruments.”
“China Dreams: The Music of Bright Sheng” will be performed at 8 p.m. tonight at Weigel Auditorium by several instrumentalists, vocalists, and the OSU Chamber Orchestra conducted by Marshall Haddock. Sheng will be playing the piano for two of the pieces.
Sheng said his goal is to have a firm grasp on both cultures and to portray that in his music.
“I strive to have my music deeply rooted in both cultures so they don’t go in and out as a trend,” he said.
Sheng combines eastern and western music is in his piece “Three Songs for Vioncello and Pipa.” The pipa is a Chinese instrument similar to the lute and is rarely played in the United States. Sheng’s piece combines this traditional Chinese instrument with the cello, a western instrument, to give the piece a flavor all its own.
Sheng said when he is composing music he thinks about how he would react as an audience member.
“You absorb different types of music into you and it eventually comes out into something I feel as an audience member I would like to hear,” Sheng said.
He said students should not come to the concert to be educated, but to have a good time.
“I as an audience member want to be touched, moved or shocked. I want something to happen to me. Coming out indifferent is tragic,” Sheng said.
Harris did not seem to think anyone should worry about coming out of Sheng’s concert indifferent.
“His music is very colorful. He is a master of the orchestra – of instrumental and vocal color,” Harris said.
Sheng said he thinks the most important quality in making music or any performance piece interesting is substance.
“If the meat itself is not fresh, no amount of spices will help,” Sheng said.
He said he can never gain enough knowledge or stop learning about either civilization.
“The result of the fusion of different cultures is only interesting if it comes from the deepest end; not on a superficial level. That is lifetime commitment. You have to keep pursuing and digging,” Sheng said.
He said his tolerance and understanding of both cultures is an original trait to him. The combination of eastern and western music is a mirror to his life which has been a mix of the different cultures.
“I am speaking to you in English, but I have a Chinese accent,” Sheng said. “I look Chinese and I don’t want to change that, but I started to absorb the western civilization when I came here.”
Sheng was born in Shanghai, China, but moved to the United States 20 years ago. He received his undergraduate degree in music composition at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. He moved to New York in 1982 and earned his graduate degrees at Queens College and Columbia University.
Harris said students should take advantage of this opportunity to see one of the great composers of China and the United States.
“This is a unique occasion when a person of this stature comes to this campus,” Harris said.
Sheng said he hopes people will come to have a good time and later after the show the music will invoke thought.
“If they could have a good time and think about it – especially if they are not music students – that is satisfactory for me,” Sheng said.
Tickets are available at the door and are $12 general admission, $10 for OSU faculty, staff and Alumni Association members, $5 for seniors and free for OSU students with a student ID.
