Beats and Bars: Lunar New Year

Join us at the Chau Chak Wing Museum for a special Beats and Bars performance by the Chinese Music Ensemble to mark the Lunar New Year.

Purchase a drink from our pop-up bar, view our current exhibitions including 'Chinese Toggles', and listen to music from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music's own Chinese Music Ensemble.

Beats and Bars is a lovely way to end the working day and a perfect opportunity to spend time with friends while exploring all the Chau Chak Wing Museum has to offer.

The Sydney Conservatorium of Music's Chinese Music Ensemble (CME) was formed in 2016 to provide new avenues in music performance and to promote intercultural awareness and the development of cultural competence. Students learn traditional Chinese instruments and perform on them in an ensemble. The CME has had an observable impact on the perceptions, lives and intercultural awareness of a wide range of tertiary student learners, as well as their teachers.

Performing more than 20 concerts of both traditional Chinese works alongside contemporary pieces and newly commissioned music such as 'Silkaria' by Weixin (Wendy) Guan in 2016; 'Qibao' by Rory Knott in 2018; and 'Five Periods of a Day' by Guo Jifang.

More than 500 students have graduated from this unit of study to date. The Ensemble has taken the lead on producing performance workshops and community engagement work outside of the campus, such as performance workshops at the Arts Unit of NSW music camp, and a range of schools and community-based music festivals.

Through the Chinese Music Ensemble, the Conservatorium is emerging as one of the most vibrant centres for the study of Chinese traditional instruments in the English-speaking world.