Tools

New!
Music Festival in Honor of Confucius 
2006 MFHC Download Application & Information
[PDF]

Great Wall Links
Great Wall Winners

Great Wall Gala World Premiere Concert

Great Wall Concert Series

Finalists of Great Wall Composition Competition

Great Wall International Music Composition Competition

Latest News ~ October 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

_______________________________________________

Chinese Fine Arts Society presents the 22^nd Annual Music Festival in Honor of Confucius Winners’ Concert

Sunday, November 19, 2006

3:00 p.m.

at

Chicago Cultural Center

Preston Bradley Hall

78 East Washington Street

Chicago

Oct 2006
New!! 
MFHC winners participate in CSO gala opening night festivities!  

The Program
Please click here to view the program.  

The Performer Bios
Please click here for performer bios. 

Click Here for
News Archive

* Sponsors
Please check out sponsors

Our Mission
The Chinese Fine Arts Society (CFAS) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization incorporated in the State of Illinois in the United States. Founded in 1984, CFAS is dedicated to the education and promotion of the Chinese arts.  In a culturally diverse society such as Chicago, CFAS provides programs and activities that promote the understanding of Chinese culture through music and other fine arts. 

Our mission is summarized in our 3-D principles:

- To Discover Chinese music and its cultural significance

- To Develop interest in performing and studying Chinese music and arts

- To foster success in these artistic endeavors through Determination and Discipline

Origin and Evolution

The concept of CFAS began with a musical program at a professional meeting honoring Chinese educators, held annually on the birthday of the quintessential Chinese educator, Confucius.  A committee was formed to sponsor a music competition for this event, requiring the performance of Chinese music.   Its goal was to reinforce the 3-D principles, aimed at enriching society by gaining cultural understanding through music.  The competition, christened the Music Festival in Honor of Confucius, rapidly gained support from the music education community, and its value was soon recognized by the Department of Cultural Affairs of the City of Chicago.  Non-profit organization incorporation ensued and 501(c)(3) status was granted.  Governmental support allowed CFAS existence by shoestring operation and attracted the support of other agencies and private foundations, include the Illinois Arts Council and the Tribune Foundation.  The continued patronage of our friends and sponsors in the community fuel our further development and growth

Programming and Accomplishments

Music Festival in Honor of Confucius (MFHC)
This most visible program celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2004.  Every fall, hundreds of young musicians perform selected Chinese music, as well as a western piece of their choosing, for a panel of judges.  The top scoring performers in each age category play in our annual Winners Concert at prestigious Preston Bradley Hall in the Chicago Cultural Center.    From a storefront operation at its inception, attracting just a handful of participants, the Music Festival has become a very popular musical event for musicians of all ages in Chicago.   Music teachers welcome it; young musicians look forward to participating in it; the packed audience at the Winners Concerts enjoy and appreciate it.  Alumni of this popular program have gone on to attend music conservatories, and many have developed successful professional music careers

Outreach, Bringing Cultural Arts to the Underserved
CFAS sponsors, and co-sponsors music programs reaching out to underserved communities to advance its mission.  Chamber music, folk chorus and dances, and a variety of activities bring joy and pleasure to inner city schools and senior centers.  Workshops by prominent composer-educators demonstrating classical and ethnic Chinese musical instruments explore the diversity, yet universality of the Chinese musical arts.

Cultural Ambassadors, at home and abroad
CFAS has conducted excursions beyond its home base of Chicago, broadening its reach at home and abroad. Early on, its musicians toured the city of Ann Arbor, Michigan, in concert at the invitation of the Michigan Chinese Cultural Center and the Sam Wu Foundation of the University of Michigan, performing original Chinese music in classical orchestration.

The CFAS Orchestra, comprised of a dedicated cadre of volunteer musicians, toured cities of Taiwan in concert at the invitation of the government of the Republic of China in 1996.  Contemporary original Chinese repertoires dominated the concert programs on tour. Audiences in Taiwan enjoyed the unique musical feat of Chinese repertory performed by an ensemble of young musicians, some of Chinese descent and some of other ethnicities with fair hair and light eyes.  This tour provided a first time opportunity for many ot its young musicians to visit China.  It also helped a fund raising campaign for a local hospital.  Composers whose works were featured were in the audience, and made post-concert visits to the musicians.  CFAS program attracted universal publicity in the local press and professional journals

International Music Composition Competitions
Celebrating the new century and welcoming the new millennium, CFAS sponsored the Yueh Fei International Music Composition Competition, highlighting the exemplary life of a glorious Chinese folk hero.  It invited composers worldwide to write original music with a cultural Chinese theme, extolling universal virtues of courage, loyalty, righteousness and filial piety.  A distinguished panel of composers and educators selected the winners.  Winning works were premiered in two concerts as part of the millennium celebration series sponsored by the City of Chicago.  The concerts were hailed as one of the ten best concerts in 2000 in Chicago by the Chicago Tribune.

Visual Arts as a Cultural Bridge...ancillary to the CFAS Mission
Performing music is the key thrust of CFAS programming in fulfillment of its mission.  The introduction of the visual artsf characteristic of Chinese culture is also a serious endeavor espoused by the CFAS. It has sponsored and conducted ink-brush paintings competitions, which attracted spirited participation of artists of nationwide.   Winning works were exhibited at popular Chicago landmark venues such as the Navy Pier, the Chicago Cultural Center, and at the Chinese Cultural Center in Westmont. Lectures expounding characteristics of visual arts in musical themes relevant to Chinese culture were given at these exhibits.  Digital photography contests and exhibits were added to this expanding program, accompanies by lectures by digital technology experts in the hybrid fields of arts and sciences.

A seminar series is being launched as part of the 20th anniversary programming (2005).  Noted composers, educators and artists will discuss topics as far reaching as Chinese tea ceremony in additional to a broad range of Chinese music subjects.

Contact Information

Telephone

Phone: 312-427-6267 ext 183
Fax: 312-427-6677

Postal address

Sherwood Conservatory Building

1312 South Michigan Ave

          Chicago, IL 60605-9953

          

Electronic mail

General Information: info@chinesefinearts.org
Webmaster: admin@chinesefinearts.org