Boston Festival Orchestra co-founder and conductor Alyssa Wang is having a memorable summer. In her fourth season at the helm, Wang and the BFO continue to bring exactly what its promised: imagination, story-telling, and community-building. Born in the early days of the pandemic, the BFO has grown to continue its free out-of-the-box concerts, collaborations, and educational programs with groups like the New England Conservatory. Just in July, its Summer 2024 Stage orchestral concerts have featured Rossini’s Overture to “Semiramide,” and Igor Stravinsky’s “The Firebird Suite.” The BFO’S July 20th collaboration with the New England Conservatory’s Summer Orchestra Institute, featuring Gustav Holst’s The Planets, proved that the stirring power of the BFO’s music and mission recognized no atmospheric barriers.
Sampan spoke with Alyssa Wang just this past May as she was preparing for the BFO’s July 28 Grand Finale performance “A Celebration of Chinese Arts and Culture.” Ms. Wang took time this week to reflect on the sold-out performance and plans for the coming season.
Sampan: Congratulations on the Summer Stage season. How do you see your role with the BFO right now? What did it mean to you personally to helm “A Celebration of Chinese Arts and Culture”?
Wang: Thank you! This concert was truly a culmination of many years of hard work and big dreams. Four years ago, when Nicholas Brown (BFO’s executive director and co-founder) and I put together our first season in front of a limited-capacity pandemic audience, we believed in this vision of a musical community without barriers. It’s been an extraordinary journey to get to this point, and finally seeing a sold-out Jordan Hall filled with an incredibly diverse audience is something I will never forget. While we both have performance roles within the orchestra, myself as conductor and Nick as principal clarinet, we also carry enormous organizational responsibilities. The main goal is, of course, to be the best musicians we can be; however, we also have to make sure we’re raising enough money throughout the year, spreading the word so people know about us, and handling all of the administrative tasks involved with running a nonprofit, to just name a few things. It’s been a huge learning curve for us, but I think our passion and dedication towards our mission is part of what makes BFO special.
Sampan: The last time you spoke with Sampan you mentioned the importance of the solo piano piece “Er Huang,” written by living Chinese composer Qigang Chen and performed by Chinese virtuoso pianist Ruoting Li. Qigang Chen was a teenager in Beijing during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s. Is that experience reflected in this piece? If so, how does that resonate with you and your generation of Chinese Americans?
Wang: Qigang Chen was only 13 years old and studying at the Central Conservatory of Beijing when the Cultural Revolution turned his life upside down. Western music education was dismantled during this time, so he was forced to leave his music studies for many years while his family was separated. It was only when the Cultural Revolution ended and the Conservatory opened back up that he was able to properly study composition. It’s significant that Chen’s music often used Beijing opera melodies, because traditional Beijing opera was banned during the Cultural Revolution. While Chen wanted to write in a Western style, for the modern orchestra, he also wanted to pay homage to his own Chinese culture. And so we have compositions like “Er Huang” that combine traditional Chinese melodies with a Western style that can be performed with a modern orchestra. It’s a beautiful blend of the past and the present. I think you can hear his love for his culture in the concerto, and because it’s presented in a Western style, audiences in Boston for example can more easily connect with it. In a way, it’s like a musical portrait of my own family’s story. I am a descendant of immigrants pushed out of China due to the Cultural Revolution, too. Hearing music like “Er Huang” is honestly really comforting for me because it’s like a piece of my family heritage presented in a way that I can truly relate to.
Sampan: We know Chinese folk music that incorporates elements of pentatonic scales and the guqin. Chen’s style has been described as presenting “…a total assimilation of Chinese thinking with European musical concepts.” What does that mean? Does this piece, for you, represent a bridge between East and West musical sensibilities?
Wang: It definitely acts as a bridge of sorts between Eastern and Western musical styles. And he does so in such a respectful and honorable way. Sometimes when we hear Eastern music presented in classical music, it’s through the lens of someone who isn’t from that culture, and it can sometimes come across as mockery–or corny, at best. (Not to say that there isn’t value in composers being inspired by other cultures!) But with Chen’s music, he has such a genuine way of wrapping the two sounds worlds together. He presents the melodies in the orchestra with expert craftsmanship. It’s clear he has a deep knowledge of the capabilities of the instruments in the orchestra. So he’s composing music with a genuine understanding of both the Western orchestra and Chinese traditions, that’s what makes it so authentic.
Sampan: As you also noted in your previous interview with Sampan, the July 28th performance was going to be the “…trifecta of a Chinese conductor, a Chinese composer, and a Chinese performer.” How was the dream of that trifecta matched by the reality?
Wang: It was an incredible experience on stage being a part of such a powerful representation of Chinese artists. I don’t often get the chance to celebrate the Chinese part of my culture through classical music, so this concert was really a special occasion to use my classical training to lift up such an integral part of myself and of Boston. And it was also really fun to introduce “Er Huang” to the orchestra, since this was their first encounter with the piece. I felt really proud to be Chinese-American, and I loved sharing the stage with all of my friends celebrating this part of our community. Looking out into the audience, I also saw so many Chinese people. It really felt like a true celebration of each other, and I felt like I already knew everyone in the audience!
Sampan: You’ve noted your unabashed pride in your deep roots in Boston, and Chinatown in particular. Do you see yourself as a role model speaking to many future Chinese Americans who want to represent their culture before a broader stage? Are you always in communication with the past while aiming towards the future?
Wang: I tell myself that the best way I can be a role model is to be the representation I want to see. That goes for my work as an artist and also simply as a human being. Using my platform to highlight Chinese voices is always going to be part of my personal mission as a musician, and I hope that by elevating those voices, I can play a small part in lifting up the future generation of Chinese Americans.
Sampan: Congratulations again on a successful season, especially your “pay what you can” ticket model. These are tenuous times for many people and exposure to great culture like what you presented on July 28, which included a thrilling performance of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherezade, is as essential as food and shelter. What are your plans for the 2025 season?
Wang: Ah, no spoilers yet about next season…but I can say that we’re celebrating our big year 5! That’s a huge milestone for us. Many orchestras in Boston are celebrating their 50th season or their 150th season, but at one point, they were just five years old, too. So we’re very grateful to be at this stage and to have seen the growth that we have in such a short amount of time. I think it shows that people are hungry for accessible, approachable, and imaginative classical music experiences. The only hint I’ll give is that the number 5 is a very significant number in classical music… Stay tuned for more….
