'Friendship' the theme of concert in Windy City

Chinese music filled the air in Chicago on Sunday, captivating the city and participants from neighboring states.

The historic concert featuring dance and choir mixed with Western music and classical opera filled the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park with excitement and applause.

"Music is a universal language," said Jan Zheng, president of the Dongfang Chinese Performing Arts Dance Group, who also worked on organizing the free concert for 10,000 spectators.

"We have more than 30 performing troupes from Minnesota, Missouri, Indiana, Michigan and Illinois today," said Zheng, along with performers from China and Canada.

The concert, titled Friendship Lasts Forever, involved 1,000 participants on and off stage.

"I'm very excited to be here today," said Hong Lei, Chinese consul general in Chicago. "This concert is a showcase of the artistic level of Chinese and American performers and the importance of friendship between the two countries."

Hong said that "the US-China relationship now is the most important bilateral relationship in the world", and "the concert demonstrates a strong foundation in America's Midwest to further such relationship".

Mark Heckler, president of Valparaiso University (VU) in Indiana, praised the concert as a celebration of culture and friendship with China.

"It is 'friendship lasts forever', as the concert is called," he said.

The Confucius Institute at Valparaiso (CIVU) played a key role in making the concert a reality, Heckler said. He also expressed appreciation for the university's 25-year partnership with China.

The show opened with the powerful Dance of the Golden Snake, the popular Raga Jasmine, and In a Place Far, Far Away, performed by the Meifeng Traditional Chinese Orchestra of CIVU with the Silk Cedar-American Ensemble.

The prelude was followed by the Massed Band, in which the Windiana Concert Band, VU Chamber Concert Band and Meifeng Chinese Music Ensemble were joined by 10 high school bands from different Midwestern states off stage.

Jeffrey Doebler, a conductor who dressed in a traditional black Chinese gown with two embroidered golden dragons, conducted the bands on and off stage by turning to face the bands alternately.

The concert's sound echoed beyond the Pritzker Pavilion to the entire park and was met with enthusiastic applause from a diverse audience.

The Jiangsu Performing Group from China staged a traditional Peking Opera piece called Ode to Pear, showcasing elaborate costumes and singing style.

Doebler returned to the stage to conduct a mix of Chinese and American music, including Festival in Village composed by Zheng Lu and Ma Hongye; The Thunderer, a march by John Philip Sousa; Visions of Xi Hu by Michael Boo; and Cloud Gate by Timothy Loest.

Two Midwestern performing troupes, the Dongfang Chinese Performing Arts Dance Group and the SunnyU Dance Group, brought Chinese dance to life, one showcasing Flower Blossom with dancers dressed in green using umbrellas elegantly as expressive props, and the other, dressed in Tibetan costumes, giving a glimpse of Tibetan dance called The Impression of Tibet.

Alex Mathews, 16, a flute player from Plymouth High School in Indiana, was thrilled to participate in such a high-level performance.

"We don't know each other, yet we are able to perform together with only a few hours of rehearsal," she said.

Roger Luekens, a trumpet player for the Windiana Concert Band, said he toured China with Windiana before and "it was wonderful. Now I'm very excited to have this great experience to play at the Pritzker Pavilion."

Luekens lives in Indiana, about an hour away from Chicago, and had never been to a concert at Pritzker. He said his wife and her sister also drove to the event.

"We are very impressed by all the different music, dancing and costumes," said Twila Bennett, 47, who came from Grand Rapids, Michigan, along with her husband, Dan.

"It's great to get exposed to music we normally wouldn't hear," she said.

Bennett said the couple's son, Zach, is a trombone player in the VU Chamber Concert Band.

Ding Cao conducted The Massed Choir, composed of choral groups from five states. Featured songs included Me and My Homeland, You'll Never Walk Alone from Carousel by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II; Song of the Yangtze River by Wang Shiguang and Ode to Joy by Beethoven.

Gao Ding, a Chinese bass baritone from New York, energetically sang Les Toreadors from Carmen, dressed as a bullfighter.

The concert's high note featured famed Chinese singer Huo Zun, who rendered his signature Pearl-decorated Curtain Rolled Up, among others.

At concert end, they played Auld Lang Syne, with many in the audience singing along.

Top: Members of one of the eight participating bands off stage accompany orchestra ensembles on stage during a concert in Chicago on Sunday. Left: The Jiangsu Performing Group stages the Peking Opera dance Ode to Pear Blossom. Right: The Yeqing Dance Troupe perform a Chinese folk dance. Provided to China Daily