'Friendship' the theme of concert in Windy City

The Jiangsu Performing Group stages the Peking Opera dance Ode to Pear Blossom. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

The Jiangsu Performing Group from China staged a traditional Peking Opera piece called Ode to Pear, showcasing elaborate costumes and singing style.

Doebler returned to the stage to conduct a mix of Chinese and American music, including Festival in Village composed by Zheng Lu and Ma Hongye; The Thunderer, a march by John Philip Sousa; Visions of Xi Hu by Michael Boo; and Cloud Gate by Timothy Loest.

Two Midwestern performing troupes, the Dongfang Chinese Performing Arts Dance Group and the SunnyU Dance Group, brought Chinese dance to life, one showcasing Flower Blossom with dancers dressed in green using umbrellas elegantly as expressive props, and the other, dressed in Tibetan costumes, giving a glimpse of Tibetan dance called The Impression of Tibet.

Alex Mathews, 16, a flute player from Plymouth High School in Indiana, was thrilled to participate in such a high-level performance.

"We don't know each other, yet we are able to perform together with only a few hours of rehearsal," she said.

Roger Luekens, a trumpet player for the Windiana Concert Band, said he toured China with Windiana before and "it was wonderful. Now I'm very excited to have this great experience to play at the Pritzker Pavilion."

Luekens lives in Indiana, about an hour away from Chicago, and had never been to a concert at Pritzker. He said his wife and her sister also drove to the event.

"We are very impressed by all the different music, dancing and costumes," said Twila Bennett, 47, who came from Grand Rapids, Michigan, along with her husband, Dan.

"It's great to get exposed to music we normally wouldn't hear," she said.

Bennett said the couple's son, Zach, is a trombone player in the VU Chamber Concert Band.

Ding Cao conducted The Massed Choir, composed of choral groups from five states. Featured songs included Me and My Homeland, You'll Never Walk Alone from Carousel by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II; Song of the Yangtze River by Wang Shiguang and Ode to Joy by Beethoven.

Gao Ding, a Chinese bass baritone from New York, energetically sang Les Toreadors from Carmen, dressed as a bullfighter.

The concert's high note featured famed Chinese singer Huo Zun, who rendered his signature Pearl-decorated Curtain Rolled Up, among others.

At concert end, they played Auld Lang Syne, with many in the audience singing along.