On March 21, 2024 at 7:30 pm, the Department of Music at Columbia University co-presents a concert celebrating longtime Columbia music professor and alumnus, Chou Wen-chung (1923–2019). The performance is at Miller Theatre, and tickets are $20 ($10 for students and seniors), available at Miller Theatre box office and website.
Chou Wen-chung had an enormous influence on concert music in America and was responsible for bringing over the next generation of musicians from China, including Tan Dun, Pulitzer Prize winner Zhou Long, Chen Yi and Bright Sheng. The contemporary music ensemble Continuum led by Joel Sachs performs. Sachs is also an alumnus (PhD 1968) and former faculty (1969-1975) at Columbia. The evening includes a short discussion with Chou’s sons and others who worked with Prof. Chou. The concert is co-presented by Spiralis Music Trust and the Department of Music at Columbia University.
Professor Chou joined the Columbia University faculty in 1964 and taught an increasingly international student body until his retirement in 1991. He revitalized Columbia University’s Electronic Music Center, and created the university’s first doctoral program in composition in 1965. In 1969 he taught Columbia’s first course on “Chinese Music” and later developed the course “Asian Humanities in Music.” In 1978 he established the Center for United States-China Arts Exchange at Columbia, and In 1984 he was named the University’s first Fritz Reiner Professor of Musical Composition.
