Listening to Songs of the Phoenix
The Wondrous Artistic Legacy of East Asia
Lois Shapiro, Artistic Director

Wellesley College inaugurates its East Asian Studies Program with a festival celebrating the Artistic Legacy of East Asia, April 2-11, 2005. Presented in collaboration with the Triple Helix Piano Trio, Artists-in-Residence at the college, the festival is generously supported by the Kathryn Wasserman Davis '28 Fund for World Cultures and Leadership.

This fascinating series of 11 events—encompassing ancient forms and instruments as well as a world premiere, along with live performances, exhibitions, and explorations of the role of particular Asian societies in the making of art—culminates with the April 10 concert of Triple Helix in Houghton Memorial Chapel. The festival will bring together a rare assemblage of esteemed artists from Korea, Japan, and China to illuminate the richness of some of the cultural treasures which may seem inaccessible to Westerners due to differences in language and aesthetic sensibilities.

Chinese writings claim that in 2697 BCE the emperor Huang Ti sent a scholar, Ling Lun, to the western mountain area to cut bamboo pipes that could emit sounds matching the call of the phoenix bird, making possible the creation of music properly pitched for harmony between his reign and the universe.

All events are open to the public free of charge. Call 781/283-2028 or email for further information.

Saturday, April 2 - Saturday, April 16
Still Present Pasts - Korean Americans and the “Forgotten War”
Opening Ceremony: Saturday, April 2, 6pm
Performance of spoken word artists and discussion with project director
A multimedia exhibit that places video, installation, and performance art by Korean and Korean American artists in conversation with voices of Korean American War survivors as expressed through written text and audio recordings and video recordings
Funding from Committee on Lectures and Cultures Events, Mayling Soong Committee, and Office of Advisor to Students of Asian Descent
Jewett Auditorium

Tuesday, April 5, 11:10am - 12:20pm
Music 216, Musics of China, Japan, & Korea, Elise Yun, Open Class
Lecture-Demonstration: Korean composer Chan Hae Lee and a Pansori singer Seoung Hee Park
Jewett 106

Wednesday, April 6, 12:30 - 1:45pm
Lecture-Recital: Music from the Inside Out
West Looks East: The Passionate Patience of Pacific Rim Cultures
Triple Helix Piano Trio
Lois Shapiro, piano, Bayla Keyes, violin, Rhonda Rider, cello
In collaboration with guest lecturer, Heping Liu, Art Department
Jewett Auditorium

Wednesday, April 6, 6:30 - 7:30pm
Lecture: Human Rights and Democracy in China, From Artistic to Political Freedom
Professor Merle Goldman, Professor Emerita of Chinese History, Boston University, writer
Pendleton West 212

Thursday, April 7, 4:30 - 6:30pm
Colloquium: Women Shaping their Lives in the Arts
Panel discussion with Chinese composer Chen Yi; pipa player Min Xiao-Fen; Korean composer Chan Hae Lee; Cantonese Opera performer Pui Yan Li; modern Japanese music and ethnomusicologist Jennifer Milioto Matsue; filmmaker Artemis Willis, who recently produced a film on a former geisha living in New York
After a brief individual presentation on the nature of her work, panelists will discuss the impact of gender and social factors on their development as artists.
Davis Contemporary Gallery, Davis Museum and Cultural Center

Thursday, April 7, 7:30pm
Lecture: “Tradition and Creation—Chen Yi and Her Music”
Chinese composer Chen Yi
Jewett Auditorium

Friday, April 8, 11:10am - 12:20pm
Mus216 Open Class
Lecture-Demonstration: Chinese composer Chen Yi and pipa player Min Xiao-Fen
Jewett 106

Friday, April 8, 11:10am - 12:20pm
JPN130 Open Class
Ethnomusicologist Jennifer Matsue, Cantonese Opera performer Pui Yan Li, filmmaker Artemis Willis
A conversation with three Wellesley alums on their experiences with Japanese and Chinese traditional music
Pendleton West 212

Friday April 8th 5 - 7pm
Art from China, Japan and Korea
An opening reception celebrating this new gallery installation of the Davis Museum’s high-quality collections of East Asian art; works on view include fine Japanese woodblock prints and a huge, recently acquired, 18th-century silk scroll of Guanyin.
Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Mary Tebbetts Wolfe ’54 Program Endowment, the Kathryn Wasserman Davis ’28 Fund for World Cultures and Leadership, Mayling Soong Fund and the Davis Museum and Cultural Center
Davis Museum and Cultural Center

Sunday, April 10, 7:00pm
A Sense of Place: Music Shaped By Its Culture
Music From the Pacific Rim
Triple Helix Piano Trio
Lois Shapiro, piano, Bayla Keyes, violin, Rhonda Rider, cello
Works from China, Japan, Australia, and Korea—featuring a world premiere by Chan Hae Lee for voice/percussion and piano trio, based on a 400-year-old story-telling musical form, the pansori, and an original dance choreographed and performed to Toru Takemitsu’s “Between Tides” for Piano Trio by Kita school Noh actor Akira Matsui.
Houghton Memorial Chapel

Monday, April 11, 12:30 - 2:00pm
Noh Workshop
Master Actor of the Kita Noh School Akira Matsui will conduct a workshop on the basic movements of classical noh dance.
Everyone is welcome to participate.
Alumnae Hall Ballroom

Programs are subject to change.