Arts Tour Minnesota

A total of two performances and seven lectures were presented in Moorhead and Collegeville presenting Chinese music from the ancient past to modern times. Students and professors in these communities all provided rave reviews of the residencies, as did the members of the group Butterfly, the group I performed with. The performers included myself on Chinese pipa, Nirmala Rajasekar on Indian veena and coals, and Michelle Kinney on cello. I presented all seven lectures myself in a variety of classroom settings all open to the public - World Music, Women's Cultural Studies, Orchestra, Chinese Folklore and Literature, and Chinese language classes. All events occurred at Concordia University and College of Benedict College/Saint John's University. 2: Three professional musicians, myself (Gao Hong), Nirmala Rajasekar, and Michelle Kinney, performed as the group Butterfly in two locations we had never performed as a group in - Moorhead and Collegeville. Audience members, including artists, students, professors, as well as the group members, all provided positive feedback regarding the results. Both communities contacted me previously and expressed interest in having me visit their communities with a group of my choice. Each school provided part of the performance fee, the performance and lecture venues, and publicity for all events which were all open to the public.