A notable music hall in Chicago in the state of Illinois launched its two-week-long musical celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year marked by a strictly traditional Chinese concert on Sunday.
The National Chinese Traditional Orchestra performed a set of Chinese folk music, most of which were from popular Chinese composer Ma Jiuyue.
Ma is a music legend in China who participated in a gala show during the 2008 Beijing Olympics as well as China's Third Poem Festival.
Some of the folk songs played during the event included "Dance of the Golden Snake," "Purple Bamboo Melody," "Horse Racing," "Fisherman Song at Eventide," "Elixir of Love" and "Joyful Celebration."
The concert, which was held at the Chicago Symphony Center located along Michigan Avenue in Chicago, reached its most anticipated peak when the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, joined by the National Chinese Traditional Orchestra, performed one of Ma's greatest compositions, "Huxuan Dance."
After this song, over 2,000 audiences who attended the concert cheered and applauded for the musicians for quite awhile.
According to the news bureau China Daily, this Chinese Lunar New Year concert began when Jeff Alexander, the president of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, decided to bring the cultural heritage of China to Chicago through a genuinely traditional concert.
"Different orchestras across North America are beginning to do this, and in Chicago there was no Chinese New Year concert presented by the Symphony Orchestra," he said during an interview with the Xinhua News Agency.
"In one of our planning sessions we decided just to give it a try. Obviously it's going very well with the great attendance today and the great guest orchestra," he added, further explaining that they plan to make this concert an annual event in Chicago.