The ancient Chinese mid-autumn festival occurs every year on 15 August in the lunar calendar. Wellington Chinese Culture Day showcases traditional Chinese art and culture related to the mid-autumn festival – including music, dance, tea making, and the moon cake tradition.
A highlight will be the Celebration Concert, which commemorates the 60th National Day of China.
Programme
10.30am–2.30pm
- Pictures and multimedia display
- Artists’ demonstration of Chinese painting and calligraphy
Wellington Foyer, Level 2
11am–12 noon
- Chinese traditional dress fashion show
- Moon Festival stories
- Chinese traditional music with guzheng (zither-like instrument), erhu (Chinese violin), and bamboo flute
Wellington Foyer, Level 2
12 noon–12.30pm
- Chinese traditional lion dance
- Folk drum dance
- Chinese kung fu performance
- Chinese traditional dragon dance
Te Papa Plaza, outside the main entrance
1.15pm–2.15pm
- Moon cake and tea tasting.
The Marae, Level 4
1.15pm–2.30pm
- Chinese Culture Day show with performances from Chinese communities.
The Marae, Level 4
3pm–5.30pm
- Celebration concert featuring internationally renowned musicians.
Soundings Theatre, Level 2
Performers include:
Gao Ping Pianist and composer
Chengdu-born New Zealander Gao Ping is one of the few composers well-known outside their native China. His works have been performed by musicians around the world, as well as by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and String Quartet.
His album Gao Ping: Chamber Music was named one of the top ten classical CDs of 2006 by the New Zealand Listener. He has been a lecturer in composition at the School of Music at Canterbury University in Christchurch since 2004.
Wang Zheng-Ting
Mouth organist and composer
Wang Zheng Ting is a composer and master performer of the sheng (Chinese mouth organ). He graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and performed with several acclaimed Chinese orchestras before migrating to Australia in the late 1980s.
He is the founding member and director of the Australian Chinese Music Ensemble, and has performed with senior musicians and symphony orchestras in Australia and the United States.
Rieko Suzuki
Violinist
Rieko Suzuki is a graduate of the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo. She was appointed co-concertmaster of the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 23, before continuing her studies with Joseph Gingold at Indiana University.
Since then she has maintained a career performing with orchestras and chamber ensembles, and as a soloist. In 2004 she toured New Zealand with Yuji Takahashi, and since 2005 she has been performing in a duo with Gao Ping.
Shen Nalin
Composer
Shen Nalin was born in Sichuan Province, China, in 1983. He studied composition at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music and worked as a broadcaster before moving to New Zealand. He worked at Auckland AM 1476 and AM 990 Chinese Radio for five years before enrolling at the School of Music at Victoria University of Wellington, where he studied with Jack Body.
Shen Nalin has composed chamber and orchestral music for piano, strings, orchestra and voices, and compositions using Chinese instruments.
Xu Jing Wen Choreographer
Xu Jing Wen studied ballet at the Beijing Dance Academy before moving to New Zealand in 2005. Now she is studying choreography at the New Zealand School of Dance. ‘In a Space’, her choreographed work for a solo dancer, was performed at Te Papa earlier this year.
Qi Huan
Dancer – Royal New Zealand Ballet
Qi Huan reached the finals of the New York International Ballet Competition in 2000, while a student at the Beijing Dance Academy.
Since arriving in New Zealand in 2005, Qi has performed a number of lead roles including in Dracula and Romeo and Juliet, and as the Prince in Cinderellla.
Xingxing Wang
Soprano
Wang Xingxing comes from Chongqing, China. She moved to New Zealand in 2003 to study, and completed her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance at the New Zealand School of Music in 2007.
Xingxing appeared in the lead role in the Napier Operatic Society's production of Miss Saigon in 2009. She was invited to sing the New Zealand National Anthem in Parliament in both 2007 and 2008, and she has been a member of the Chapman Tripp Opera Chorus for the New Zealand Opera since 2007.
Ling (Sonia) Green
Piano teacher
Sonia Green moved to New Zealand in 2001 to continue her studies in music. In 2004 she completed her Masters in piano performance at Victoria University. Since graduating, she has toured with the Vector Wellington Orchestra and recorded a CD with the NZSO.
Wei Wen Sheng
Artist
Wei Wen Sheng graduated from the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts as a professional painter, and now is a member of the Sichuan Chinese Artists Association. He is committed to oil painting and to Chinese painting, and has created his own unique style. His works have won numerous awards at home and abroad.