A performance of classical Chinese music in the beautiful Elizabeth Street Garden.

Think!Chinatown returns to Elizabeth Street Garden for a special Chinatown Arts Festival program. A trio from the Chinese Music Ensemble of New York, featuring the yangqin, erhu, and pipa will perform a program of classical Chinese instrumental music. 

This program is presented in partnership with the Elizabeth Street Garden.

Chinese Music Ensemble of New York founded in 1961, has grown from a few music lovers to becoming the oldest and largest Chinese orchestra in the United States and the Americas. Its present membership of almost fifty musicians plays practically every type of Chinese musical instrument. Recognized as the only full-scale non-youth Chinese orchestra in the Americas, the Ensemble maintains its standard of excellence through a program of musical exchange with professional musicians from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. 

Tianyu Zhang has been learning the yangqin since the age of three and has won numerous gold medals in national solo competitions. He is currently a member of the New York City Chinese Orchestra and the Columbia University Chinese Orchestra.

Yubo Zhang is a young American-based pipa virtuoso, artistic director of CCTV's "Big Windmill" program, a United Nations Peace Concert ambassador, and a gold medalist at the Dunhuang Pipa Competition.

Tianzi Zheng is currently an erhu player with the New York City Chinese Orchestra and the Columbia University Chinese Orchestra.

Think!Chinatown is a place-based intergenerational non-profit in Manhattan’s Chinatown, working at the intersection of storytelling, arts, and neighborhood engagement. T!C is the team behind neighborhood cultural programs like Chinatown Arts Festival, Chinatown Night Market, Chinatown Block Parties, Chinatown Storytelling Festival, and more. Find more at www.thinkchinatown.org