Date: 14:00, Saturday January 20th, 2007
Venue: Multifunctional hall, 4th floor, Shanghai Library

How to get a ticket:
1. Tickets can be asked from January 10th at the general information desk at the first floor.
2. Lecture reservation via mobile phone: send "JZ¡õ070104¡õSubscriber Name" to 816055 (¡õ can be input by using blank or "+") to book this lecture. It is recommended that people who have successfully booked the lecture be on the venue at least half an hour in advance with returned confirmation message.
3. Lecture online reservation: log to the web site of Shanghai Library Lecture at http://www.jiangzuo.org or http://www.library.sh.cn/jiang to book the lecture online. People who have successfully booked the lecture are also recommended be on the venue at least half an hour in advance to register.

THE LECTURERS:
Mr. Burnett Thompson, veteran pianist, composer and educator. He lives near Washington, DC.
In 1981 he founded the Foggy Bottom Chamber Music Society. At the same time, for 17 years, he hosted a well-known Washington, D.C. night club as the house pianist. Guest artists included Chris Vadala, Keter Betts, Louis Bellson, Pete Barenbregge, among countless others, and it was during this time that he developed his voice as a jazz performer and composer.
Over the years he has performed as soloist with several orchestras. Concert collaborations have included recitals with cellist Han-na Chang, Chinese erhu virtuoso Ma Xiaohui, Arturo Sandoval, oboist Rudy Vrbsky, and the Manchester String Quartet. Additionally, he has performed as orchestral pianist with several orchestras, and dabbles at classical guitar, alto saxophone and double bass.
In the late 90's, he began a unique collaboration with Lorin Maazel. Mr. Thompson assisted Mr. Maazel in an educational enterprise, working with school children of all ages in a novel general music program. In 2000, he was commissioned to write an orchestral work for the National Chamber Orchestra, for which he composed his Concerto for Orchestra and Improvised Piano. During the same time period, he hosted performance tours of the Smithsonian's Piano 300 collection.
Mr. Thompson is the director of the New Columbia Swing Orchestra, which performs the Big Band repertoire for Washington Gala's and other functions. He is currently working and appearing with erhu soloist Xiaohui Ma, including concerts in China in 2007.
As a music educator, Mr. Thompson works with all ages of school children and prepares them to deal with any music that they may happen to prefer.

Ms. Ma Xiaohui, graduated from the Shanghai Conservative of Music, Ma is named as China's first-class artist. She has toured around the world to solo in many top music halls and to give lectures. She has made over 40 CDs, more than 20 are solo albums, which brought her such reputation as "an artist who talks with the world through erhu" and "a musician who plays with her heart".
UK-based Oxford Times Critic acclaimed Ma's music a "non-lyric song by a mezzo-soprano¡­the music is flying beyond the cultural differences and national boundaries, featuring Ma's virtuosity that glistens over us like bright sunshine." Her virtuosity is a blending of classical beauty and contemporary originality, and an integration of different schools. The sound from her fiddle is impressive with its extreme warmth and brightness, which shows her unique skills. Nuremberg Daily said "erhu, an ordinary instrument in appearance, gains an incredible strength through the interpretation of Ma Xiaohui."
Her world premieres include "Wailing Waters", "Chat & Allegro", "maiden Lan Hua-Hua", "Genghis Khan", "The Shepherd Girl of Tianshan Mountain", "Hard to Farewell", "Dusk on Desert", "Deep at Night", etc., which vary in styles. She also composed some works, such as "Spirit of Erhu" and "Story of Two Strings", as well as a great number of adaptations of Western and Chinese classics, such as Bartok's "Romanian Folk Dances", Bach's "Inventions II" and Sonatas, Kreisle's "Liebesleid" and the new version of "Call Mother in Nunnery" from Chinese local Yue Opera.

This lecture will be online lived from 13:55 of December 12th through http://www.jiangzuo.org and can be booked online at http://www.jiangzuo.org.  or http://www.library.sh.cn/jiang and via SMS. (Booking code "061204").