Conventional and contemporary music meet when Wu Man and the Shanghai Quartet take to stages in Middlebury and Burlington. Known as one of the world’s leading pipa players, Man was admitted to Beijing’s Central Conservatory of Music at just 13 and became the school’s first recipient of a master’s degree in the lute-like instrument. While the pipa has a 2,000-year history in Chinese music, Man’s playing isn’t bound by tradition. Together with the Shanghai Quartet, she presents “An Evening in New and Ancient China,” a program that showcases traditional Chinese folk songs along with Beethoven’s op. 95 and the score from the film Raise the Red Lantern.
