Ten singers have made the cut for the final round of the NTD Television 9th International Chinese Vocal Competition, taking place at Merkin Hall of Kaufman Music Center in New York City on Sept. 21. The final round will also be streamed live on Epoch TV and NTD TV, sister media to The Epoch Times.
The competition is part of a series of cultural events hosted by NTD to promote truth, beauty, and goodness, and advance its mission of reviving traditional culture. NTD stands for New Tang Dynasty, a reference to the cultural golden age of China. The NTD competition is meant to promote traditional bel canto vocal arts, and is unique in that it requires all singers to perform a song in the Chinese language.
To this end, the judges of the competition are all experts in bel canto who have performed Chinese language songs in that style extensively. Min Jiang, soprano, is the head judge of the competition and has served on the panel since the competition began in 2007. She also performed with Shen Yun Performing Arts since its inception in 2006.
New York-based Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company and has been a pioneer in the performing arts world and in reviving the bel canto style as well. Haolan Geng, soprano, who gained international attention when she won first prize in the NTD vocal competition in 2009, is a judge in the competition this year. Tenor Gu Yun, another artist with Shen Yun serving on the panel, studied voice under Shen Yun Artistic Directo.