The MTSU Symphony Orchestra will blend its talents with one of the world’s foremost masters of a unique instrument in a Saturday, Feb. 29, concert designed to delight the senses.

Artist and educator Jun Tian, professor at the School of Arts of the North University of China and a visiting artist at MTSU, poses with his pipa, a four-string, pear-shaped lute with its origins in ancient Persia and China, in this publicity photo. (photo submitted)

“Reflections: Clouds and Blossoms,” a concerto by award-winning contemporary composer Danhong Wang, will feature Jun Tian on pipa, a four-string, pear-shaped lute, at 8 p.m. Feb. 29 in Hinton Hall inside MTSU’s Wright Music Building at 1439 Faulkinberry Drive.

The concert is free and open to the public.

Tian, who has been a visiting scholar at MTSU’s Center for Chinese Music and Culture for the past nine months, is an associate professor and master instructor at the School of Arts of the North University of China.

In 2012, Tian founded the Hanquan Chamber Orchestra, which is based on local ethnic folk music in the Shanxi province. In 2013, the Hanquan Chamber Orchestra won both the gold award in the first National Chamber Music Competition of Hong Kong and the excellence award in the folk music group at the ninth China Music Golden Bell Awards.

His instrument, the pipa, came from ancient Persia to China via the Silk Road, a network of trade routes that connected the East and West beginning with China’s Han Dynasty in the second century B.C.

A poem by Li Bai, one of the greatest poets in Chinese history, inspired Wang’s concerto, “Reflections: Clouds and Blossoms.”

The MTSU Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Carol Nies, is the School of Music’s premiere orchestral ensemble.

It’s open by audition to all MTSU students, regardless of major, and selects its repertoire from masterpieces of the standard orchestra literature and outstanding contemporary compositions.

For more information about this performance, contact Mei Han, director of the Center for Chinese Music and Culture, at 615-898-5718 or mei.han@mtsu.edu or Nies at 615-898-5318 or carol.nies@mtsu.edu.

— Gina Logue (gina.logue@mtsu.edu)

The MTSU Symphony Orchestra, conducted by professor Carol Nies at center, performs in Hinton Hall inside the university’s Wright Music Building in this 2017 file photo. The student group will perform with visiting scholar Jun Tian in a free public concert in Hinton Hall Saturday, Feb. 29. (MTSU file photo)