Celebration by Gao Hong Performed by University of Minnesota Wind Ensemble Emily Threinen, Conductor

Celebration (2021/2024) by Gao Hong
Gao Hong (b.1964) is a Chinese composer, educator, and performer who began her career as a professional pipa player at the age of twelve. Hong graduated from China’s premier music school, the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, where she studied with pipa master Lin Shicheng. Gao currently serves as director of the Chinese Music Ensemble and professor of Chinese Musical Instruments at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. In 2016, Hal Leonard published Hong’s pipa method book, the first to be written in English. Hong is an advocate and champion of Chinese music education presenting numerous educational programs and lectures worldwide. In 2022, Mayor Melvin Carter of St. Paul proclaimed April 3, 2022 to be “Gao Hong Day in the City of St. Paul.”
About the piece, Hong writes: “In China, we have many festivals that we celebrate each year. In this piece I use drum solos interspersed with instrumental passages to create joyful rhythms and melodies that depict the festive atmosphere of families gathering together in a festival. The slow middle section expresses the peoples’ yearning for peace, prosperity, and happiness. Celebration was commissioned and premièred by the Minnesota Sinfonia, conducted by Jay Fishman on October 19, 2021, at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, Minn. In 2022, the full orchestra version was performed by the Maryland Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Elizabeth Schulze. It has been my great honor to write this full band version of this piece for “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band and the world première performance at the American Bandmasters Association 2024 Conference in Washington D.C. conducted by Darren Lin."
Composer biography and program note compiled by Rose Craig Tyler
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