Overview

Here is an overview of our programs, which are entirely unique in Chicago’s arts and cultural landscape.

Our annual Music Festival in Honor of Confucius (MFHC), allows hundreds of young musicians of every ethnic and cultural background to participate in this festival by performing selected Chinese music from a required repertoire as well as a western piece of their choosing for a panel of judges.  The top scoring performers in each age category play in our annual Winners’ Concert at prestigious Preston Bradley Hall in the Chicago Cultural Center. 

For our annual All Chinese Music Concert, held every year in May as part of Asian Heritage Month, also at Preston Bradley Hall, we actively seek out exceptional music and musicians that showcase Chinese composers, instruments, themes and/or performers to deliver this eclectic and inspirational event each spring. This concert also features professional performances of “advanced category” selections from the required repertoire of the MFHC, giving festival participants an opportunity to hear a professional interpretation of this music in preparation for the competition.

In May, 2010 we launched our for third International Music Composition Competition. For these competitions, which we sponsor twice a decade, we solicit new music compositions inspired by a specified Chinese cultural theme, from composers worldwide. The winning compositions are premiered in a Chicago-area venue, performed by top-notch professional musicians. For our Yueh Fei International Music Composition Competition of 2000 and the 2006 Great Wall International Music Composition Competition, performances of winning compositions featured a host of Illinois-based music professionals of international repute and attracted critical acclaim.  Compositions from the competition are incorporated into the required repertoire of the Music Festival in Honor of Confucius.

The young musicians participating in the Music Festival and music created for the International Music Composition Competitions become a key component of the talent and programming that we draw upon to deliver Community Engagement programs to the underserved communities in Illinois. These activities are uplifting to the audience and performers alike, and help to teach the young performers the importance of giving back to the community.

Through these intertwined relationships, the above programs expand and enhance the canon of Chinese classical music, inspiring both young musicians and professionals to explore and expand their experience past traditional classical music, simultaneously enriching their awareness of China’s cultural heritage.

We are excited to continue our relatively new tradition of presenting Community Engagement programs to Chicagoans and tourists in the very visible and busy locations such as Navy Pier and Millennium Park.  Through these events, we are also growing and building our Dance Program, partnering with local dancers and dance companies. In July 2009 , we premiered QiXi:  A Chinese Love Story in Millennium Park, collaborating with seven Chicago-area arts organizations.  This traveling event, which covers most of the park, features Lion Dancers, Beijing Opera Singers, traditional Chinese dancers, martial artists, Chinese and western instruments, and tells the tragic tale of  Zhinu (the celestial weaver princess) and Niulang (the lowly cowherd), whose star-crossed love caused the creation of the Milky Way.  We will reprise QiXi in Millennium Park in August, 2010.

CFAS has recently renewed its commitment to presenting and promoting Chinese visual arts. Recently, we hosted our first ceramics exhibition, accompanied by lectures by the artists and a musical program.  We have also presented photography, Chinese brush painting, contemporary Chinese painters as part of of this program.

Please see our Calendar of Events for more information.