This concert could easily be called Perspective… because that’s what I feel every time I spend time with Chen Yi and Zhou Long. I can’t think of any other artists who exemplify the power of music and positive thinking more than these two superlative humans.

Our season-ending concert, After the Revolution, tells their story in music and in their own words. Their life stories are nothing short of inspiring, and as artists and human beings, they’ve had a profound impact on me.

Born during the Cultural Revolution, both were sent to labor camps as teenagers before rising – through sheer talent, grit, and vision – to become two of the most respected composers in the world. Over the years, they’ve generously brought me and several of my 45^th Parallel colleagues to China, opening doors, sharing stories, and connecting us more deeply to the culture that shapes so much of their music.

While filming the interviews we’ll use for this concert, Chen Yi told me that she’s never taken a vacation. When I asked her why, she said “I owe it to my family and to the farmers to honor them with my music and have always worked every day to fulfill that promise.” So yes, perspective is the magic word.

The music is rooted in tradition, reshaped by revolution. Zhou Long won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2011 for his opera Madame White Snake, and Chen Yi is a Guggenheim Fellow and tireless musical ambassador who has reshaped contemporary classical music from the ground up. Together, their music listens backward and moves forward.

To deepen the experience, we’ll be sharing video interviews with Chen Yi and Zhou Long, shown before each of their pieces, offering insight into the stories, traditions, and ideas behind their work. And after the final note, we’ll close the evening with a live Q&A – your chance to hear directly from these remarkable composers and ask your own questions.

We’re also thrilled to feature Guowei Wang on erhu. His sound is haunting, lyrical, and virtuosic, a voice from another world.

The works on our program exemplify East-meets-West musical fusion, both stylistically and instrumentally. I’ve always loved how Chen Yi and Zhou Long have ingeniously used the ancient-sounding tuning systems found in traditional Chinese music in the service of contemporary musical textures.  
 
 
—— PROGRAM ——
 
 
Zhou Long: Chinese Folk Songs (2002)

Zhou Long’s Chinese Folk Songs for string quartet reimagines seven traditional tunes from diverse regions of China. Each movement captures the unique spirit of its source, whether it’s a Mongolian love song, a northern mountain dance, or a lullaby from the Yangtze basin. The harmonies are often crunchy, the rhythms asymmetrical, and yet the heart of each melody is clear and lovingly preserved. This isn’t a sentimental arrangement– it’s bold, earthy, and full of life. Zhou Long’s Pulitzer Prize-winning voice comes through in the details: sliding harmonics that sound like laughter, percussive pizzicatos that mimic folk percussion, and moments of quiet lyricism that feel like someone singing in the distance. These songs feel alive because they are – passed from voice to voice, and now, from string to string.  
 
 
Chen Yi: Fiddle Suite (1995)

Fiddle Suite is Chen Yi’s vibrant tribute to the traditional fiddle music of her native China – filtered through the lens of her virtuosic command of Western classical technique. Scored for erhu and string quartet, the piece unfolds in three brief movements, each inspired by regional Chinese folk styles. But don’t let the word “folk” fool you – this isn’t a gentle pastoral scene. It’s a bold, unflinching celebration of raw musical energy.

The first movement, Mountain Song, channels the wild, open-throated singing of rural hill people with sharp melodic contours and rhythmic vitality. The second, Huqin, evokes the sound of the bowed string family, of which the erhu is the best-known, with slinky slides and sinuous phrasing that bend the violin toward an entirely different dialect. The final movement, Dance, is a kinetic tour de force, full of off-kilter rhythms and frenzied bowing that suggest a soloist dancing barefoot in gravel – and loving every second of it.

Like much of Chen Yi’s music, Fiddle Suite is a balancing act between worlds: East and West, past and present, folk and formal. It’s not about blending cultures so much as letting them speak loudly in their own voices – and sometimes letting them argue a little. The result is fiery, surprising, and unmistakably Chen Yi.  
 
 
Chen Yi: Energetic Duo (2015)

This piece for two violins is short, wild, and – true to its title – energetic. Chen Yi’s writing fuses Chinese folk gestures with Western counterpoint and rhythm, creating a fiery musical conversation between two equal voices. Themes dart, twist, and collide in tight rhythmic figures and rapid string crossings. But there’s also a distinct playfulness here – a sense that the music is winking at you as it sprints past. The two violins sometimes echo each other like distant calls across a canyon, sometimes tangle like dancers mid-spin. It’s a miniature packed with personality, and for Ann and me, it’s always a thrill to perform.
On a personal note, I’ll be performing this work with my dear wife, Ann.  
 
 
Zhou Long: Song of the Ch’in (1995)

This meditative solo for cello channels the spirit of the ancient Chinese qin – an unfretted zither revered by scholars, monks, and poets for over two millennia. Zhou Long uses the cello to mimic the qin’s distinctive vocabulary: sliding pitches, airy harmonics, and delicate finger strokes that suggest more than they state. But this isn’t historical reconstruction. It’s a poetic interpretation, shaped by Zhou Long’s cross-cultural sensibility. The music unfolds with reverent calm, as if listening to the echo of something older than time itself. The result is spare, intimate, and deeply moving – a whispered conversation with history.  
 
 
Zhou Long: Tales from the Cave (2007)

This evocative quartet is inspired by the Dunhuang Caves, a sprawling network of Buddhist cave temples along the Silk Road in western China. Known for their vivid murals and ancient manuscripts, the caves offer a window into centuries of cultural exchange and spiritual practice. Zhou Long translates this world into music, using extended string techniques to conjure the texture of sand, stone, wind, and echo. You might hear hints of ritual chants, ceremonial bells, or the haunting resonance of an ancient space long since abandoned by people but not by memory. The quartet becomes a sonic fresco – layered, mysterious, and steeped in time. Like the murals of Dunhuang, Zhou’s music doesn’t merely depict – it invites you to step into a world that’s both historical and timeless.  
 
 
We’re so grateful to share this music – and these stories – with you. After the Revolution is more than a concert; it’s a celebration of resilience, creativity, and cross-cultural connection. Thank you for joining us on this journey, and for helping us honor two extraordinary artists who have given so much to the world – and to us personally.

Thank you, Chen Yi and Zhou Long, for the gift of perspective.

Ron Blessinger
Violinist and concert curator
Oregon Symphony and 45^th Parallel Universe