Painting with Music: Bell Yung, qin

Learn about music from China's Ming Dynasty and hear it performed by Bell Yung. Hosted by the Freer Sackler Museums of Asian Art.

Learn about music from China’s Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and hear it performed by one of the world’s leading authorities on the ancient seven-stringed zither called qin (pronounced “chin”). Bell Yung plays a Ming-era instrument similar to the one on display in Painting with Words. He focuses on pieces popular during the Ming that evoke plum blossoms, wild geese, flowing waters, and river mists—themes reflected in the exhibition—and discusses the qin’s unusual tradition of being played for an audience of one: the performer.

Yung is emeritus professor of music at the University of Pittsburgh and the author of Celestial Arts of Antiquity: Music of the Seven-String Zither of China (1996), among other books. He last appeared at the FreerǀSackler in conjunction with the exhibition Virtue and Entertainment: Music in Chinese Art, and his music can be heard in one of our podcasts.

Performances:

May 13, 1pm
May 14, 12pm, 3pm
May 15, 1pm