New Violin Concerto for Stern Competition
The Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition has commissioned Zhou Tian for a violin concerto as the featured work at the prestigious competition in 2022 (originally scheduled for 2020).
Considered one of the premier music competitions in the world with a US$100,000 top prize, the Isaac Stern Violin Competition boasts a jury that includes conductor David Stern, violinists Vera Tsu Weiling, Maxim Vengerov, Glenn Dicterow, Ning Feng, Philip Setzer, Hagai Shaham, Joel Smirnoff, Kyoko Takezawa and Weigang Li; cellist Jian Wang; artist managers Martin Campbell-White and Emmanuel Hondré.
The new concerto, subtitled “Night Tour,” will be performed by all contestants during the final round, with Michael Stern conducting the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.
Best Documentary at the 2021 French Riviera Film Festival
“A Woman’s New World” was awarded Best Documentary at the French Riviera Film Festival in August 2021.
Directed by award-winning filmmaker Christina Rose with an original score by Zhou Tian, the documentary tells the story of New Zealand and Norway-based conductor Tianyi Lu, who won First Prize at the Sir Georg Solti International Conductors’ Competition. It is part of “EMPOWERED: WOMEN SHAPING THE FUTURE,” a 6-episode series about young women making a major impact serving in leadership positions in underrepresented industries.
More (Mirrorwater Entertainment)
Residency at the Tianjin Juilliard School
The Tianjin Juilliard School is an educational institution offering a graduate program for a Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School. It is the first performing arts institution in China to offer a U.S.-accredited Master of Music degree.
New York Philharmonic Premieres Gift
New York Philharmonic conducted by Long Yu gave the US premiere of Zhou’s “Gift” at the orchestra’s annual Lunar New Year Concert and Gala on January 28, 2020, at David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City.
In his review, Jon Sobel of Blogcritics writes:
“The [New York] Philharmonic presented the U.S. premiere of a spectacular new piece by Chinese-American composer Zhou Tian…If it hadnʼt been positioned as a curtain-raiser, Zhouʼs Gift would have been a show-stopper. The orchestra came out with all guns firing in this cinematically exciting piece that punched (to torture a metaphor) well above its eight-minute weight.
A fanfare introduction explodes into jazz-age fireworks, giving way to a short lyrical legato section crowned by a golden French horn melody. Dissonant cross-currents among the strings and winds lead back to a thoughtful echo of the opening fanfare, climaxing with toccata-like thrills.
The piece sustains a concise, beautifully ordered narrative, yet is full of surprises. Long Yuʼs tightly focused direction matched Zhouʼs mastery of the colors of the orchestra, turning the performance into a triumph of musical universality as well as fine writing.”
New documentary gets national distribution
The Work of Art, a PBS documentary chronicling the making of Transcend at the Reno Philharmonic, receives national distribution by American Public Television. The film will be available to PBS member stations around the country beginning February 23, 2021.
The documentary received a Silver Telly Award for Best Documentary – Individual in 2020. It is available to stream here.
Transcend was commissioned by a consortium of 13 American orchestras commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad’s completion. The piece was premiered by the Reno Philharmonic conducted by Laura Jackson, the Utah Symphony conducted by Thierry Fischer, and the Omaha Symphony conducted by Thomas Wilkins in the spring of 2019.
Jaap Van Zweden and the Shanghai Symphony
The Shanghai Symphony conducted by Jaap Van Zweden performed Zhou’s “The Palace of Nine Perfections” in a program of Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations (Jin Zhao, soloist) and Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring on December 21, 2019, at Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Hall.
Artist-in-Residence with the shanghai symphony
Zhou Tian appointed Artist-in-Residence with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra for the 2019-20 season. He is the second composer to hold the title in the orchestra’s 140-year history. Zhou will work closely with Music Director Long Yu and renowned guest artists on eight of his orchestral works:
- 9/27 (season opener): Gift (World Premiere), Cello Concerto “Flowing Sleeves”. Jian Wang, cello; Long Yu, conductor
- 11/23: Trace (Ion Marin)
- 12/8: Joy (Guoyong Zhang)
- 12/21: The Palace of Nine Perfections (Jaap Van Zweden)
- 1/8: Concerto for Orchestra (Long Yu)
- 2/28: Broken Ink (Domingo Hindoyan)
- 3/22: Violin Concerto (David Stern and Olga Sroubkova)
Considered one of the top orchestras in Asia, the Shanghai Symphony and music director Long Yu perform around the world, and hold an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon. Past Artists-in-Residence of the SSO include Lang Lang, Thomas Bauer, and Louis Lortie.
Transcend
Transcend, Zhou’s new work commissioned by a consortium of 13 American orchestras commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad’s completion, received its premiere by the Reno Philharmonic conducted by Laura Jackson, the Utah Symphony conducted by Thierry Fischer, and the Omaha Symphony conducted by Thomas Wilkins.
Consortium premieres continued in 2019/20, by the Boise Philharmonic (Eric Garcia), Sacramento Philharmonic (Christopher Rountree), Arapahoe Philharmonic (Devin Hughes), Cheyenne Symphony (William Intriligator), Stanford Symphony (Paul Phillips), Central Wisconsin Symphony (Andres Moran), Idaho State-Civic Symphony (Julie Sorensen), and Chicago Youth Symphony (Allen Tinkham).
Transcend has received numerous positive reviews around the country, especially for its innovative use of the Morse Code in the finale “D-O-N-E”. The Wall Street Journal writes “Works like…Mr. Zhou’s orchestral piece accomplish two important things: They remind us of how we got from there to here, and they refine that history by paying belated tribute to contributors who might otherwise be forgotten.”
The Work of Art
The Work of Art, a PBS documentary chronicling the making of Transcend at the Reno Philharmonic, received a Silver Telly Award for Best Documentary – Individual in 2020.
Flowing sleeves
Acclaimed cellist Jian Wang performs Zhou’s Cello Concerto “Flowing Sleeves” with the Singapore Symphony (Jessica Cottis), China Philharmonic (season opener; Long Yu), Shanghai Symphony (season opener; Long Yu), and Guangzhou Symphony (season opener; Huan Jing). 2020 performances include the Hong Kong Philharmonic (17-18 April – postponed), and Kansas City Symphony (Michael Stern; US premiere, 29-31 May – postponed).
“The musical language was rich, opulent, luxurious, infinitely varied and, at times, profoundly beautiful…This was a lovely performance of what deserves to become a classic of the cello concerto repertory.”
—Marc Rochester, The Straits Times (Singapore)
trade winds
The San Francisco based GRAMMY® award-winning ensemble Chanticleer performs the newly commissioned “Trade Winds” in more than 50 concerts across Europe and the US.
“Trade Winds is a song cycle about traveling. It was set to three poems from three poets of three different continents: “Trade Winds” by John Masefield (English, 1878-1967), “Fortuitousness” by Zhimo Xu (Chinese, 1897-1931), and “Strange how we can walk” by Seth Michelson (American, born 1978). The piece finds common ground in the poems, and forms an overarching concept of travel and finding new love. I see it as a cycle of warmth and chicness – a little frequent travelerʼs musical reflection.” (Zhou Tian)
Chanticleer premiered the 10-minute work on 19 August 2019 at Stiftskirche Oberkaufungen in Kaufungen, Germany.
mahler chamber orchestra
Mahler Chamber Orchestra will perform “Rhyme” and “Reading an Anthology of Chinese Poems of the Sung Dynasty, I Pause To Admire the Length and Clarity of Their Titles” at Beijing Music Festival on 25 October 2019.
Artist of the Year
Zhou Tian named “Artist of the Year” by the Beijing Music Festival (2019). Considered a prestigious honor, this award is given annually by the festival. Past recipients include Krzysztof Penderecki, Isaac Stern, Mischa Maisky, Philip Glass, Lang Lang, Yo-Yo Ma, Long Yu, Qigang Chen, and Rudolf Buchbinder.
“rise” at spokane
Spokane Symphony conducted by Music Director candidate James Lowe gave West coast premiere of Rise, co-commissioned by the orchestra in honor of the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. Program also includes Liszt Piano Concert No. 2 (Haochen Zhang) and Brahms Symphony No. 4. February 16-17, 2019.
The Spokesman-Review writes “In attempting to capture the bittersweet emotions contained in letters and diary entries from the battlefields of World War I, Zhou exhibits both impressive command of writing for orchestra and a distinctive voice. He is able to convey complex and elusive emotions to his listeners, regardless of their level of musical sophistication. The opportunity the Spokane Symphony has given us to sample contemporary concert music shows us that we live in a new Golden Age of musical composition, and fully as worthy of our attention as the great works of the past.”
Sybarite5 premieres joy
Sybarite5 premieres Joy (string quintet version), commissioned for the award-winning ensemble by Cranbrook Music Guild, at Christ Church Cranbrook, Bloomfield Hills, MI, on February 10, 2019.