Look & Listen: Asian Art and Music, Bell Yung, Qin, with Keith Wilson

Enjoy this rare chance to explore the Chinese musical instrument called the qin (pronounced “chin”), which for centuries has been most often played in solitude or with a like-minded friend or two. Our guides will be qin expert Bell Yung, who will perform on an instrument from 1640, and Keith Wilson, curator of ancient Chinese art, who collaborated on a new publication examining the museum’s seven qin instruments spanning over one thousand years of history.

Together, they will explore Taoist influences on the music for the qin, which seeks inspiration from the forces of nature and the inner spiritual world of the individual. The program will also showcase Chinese paintings that relate to qin-playing and provide an inside look at the oldest qin instrument in the museum’s collection, as well as and insights into recent discoveries about its fabrication in the year 1009.

Bell Yung is Affiliate Professor of Music at the University of Washington and the author of Celestial Arts of Antiquity: Music of the Seven-String Zither of China, among other books. This event is presented in conjunction with the publication of Dragon’s Roar: Chinese Literati Musical Instruments in the Freer and Sackler Collections by Yang Yuanzheng of the Department of Music at the University of Hong Kong. Keith Wilson is curator of ancient Chinese art at the Freer and Sackler Galleries.