In celebration of the upcoming Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, Binghamton University collaborated with the Center for Theater Arts Collaboration to perform the concert “Song of Silk” on Sept. 27.

This blend of various traditional Chinese arts was performed in the University’s Anderson Center’s Chamber Hall. Featuring several artists from the National Academy of Chinese Arts, a few BU students and other guest performers, the hour-and-a-half program saw nearly a full-house performance.

The concert consisted of 11 different performances, split into three acts, all selected by the performers. The performances led the audience on a culturally and historically significant journey, each focusing on a specific aspect of the arts, like vocal and instrumental music and dance.

The opening lion dance act was performed by three members of the University’s Kung Fu Club — Bassie Chin, the president and a senior double-majoring in art history and geography, Katelyn Chan, the secretary and a junior majoring in psychology and Owen Barrett, the treasurer and an undeclared sophomore — who captivated the audience with their memorable performance on stage.

Chin recounted his enjoyment of the lion dance performance.

“It’s fun to be able to show people what lion dance is, it’s such an important part of Chinese culture — at celebratory events, you always have lion dance,” Chin said. “Being Chinese and seeing that growing up, now I get to do it too.”

Chan shared this sentiment of being able to partake in cultural celebrations on campus that reminded them of the ones they grew up watching in New York City.

Other performers also shared this view of cultural pride. Zhongbei (Daisy) Wu, an award-winning guzheng artist and professor of music at Alfred University, said she wanted to share this piece of Chinese culture with the audience.

“Music is kind of a universal language, we understand each other by listening,” Wu said. “Even my instruments, for some of [the audience], it’s their first time seeing, but the music — it’s the same thing. We share the same melodies, the same sort of feeling when you listen to a piece of music, no matter if it’s from the East or West.”

Along with the lion dance and guzheng performances, the musical performances of Margaret Pej Reitz, a faculty member in the department of music at the University and Ithaca College School of Music, and Hong Zhang, an associate faculty member of music and senior instructor of Asian and Asian American studies, enhanced the sense of celebrating a culture from a faraway place.

In the eighth performance of the night, a heartfelt song titled “That’s Me” revolved around a homesick traveler expressing their feelings to the audience. The lyrics effectively tied together the strength of the connection between culture and music, as well as its importance to the performers and this celebration.

Performers Yimin Miao, a maestro of Chinese woodwind instruments and a co-founder of the Ba Ban Chinese Music Society of New York, who played the dizi and drums, and Yi Zhou, a virtuoso of the pipa and qin and the other co-founder of the New York Ba Ban Chinese Music Society who played the pipa and xiaocha, commented on how this performance provided an opportunity to share their culture with an American audience.

“I think the American audience — because we perform everywhere, international — is so open-minded, they accept new things, like the culture, from different countries easily,” Zhou said. “Also, they’re very friendly.”

This emphasis on music as a universal language and a means to evoke a sense of joy and hope was the focal point throughout the concert. Across the 11 performances, audiences glimpsed into the various ways each performer conveyed this feeling.

With dance and lyrical melodies, the voice of traditional Chinese music filled the halls of Anderson Center, providing a memorable event that invited the Binghamton community to this cultural celebration.