蔡金冬 Jindong Cai

Over his 30 years career in the United States, Jindong Cai has established himself as an active and dynamic conductor, scholar of Western classical music in China, and leading advocate of music from across Asia.  He is professor of music and arts at Bard College and the founding director of the US-China Music Institute at Bard Conservatory of Music. He also serves as associate conductor of The Orchestra Now. Before joining Bard, Cai was a professor of performance and director of orchestral studies at Stanford University.  Cai founded the annual China Now Music Festival in New York City and Bard College. In its first three seasons, the festival has presented new works by some of the most important Chinese composers of our time, with major concerts performed by The Orchestra Now at Bard’s Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and Stanford University. Cai is the co-author, with his wife Sheila Melvin, of the books “Rhapsody in Red: How Classical Music Became Chinese” and “Beethoven in China: How the Great Composer Became an Icon in the People’s Republic.”

蔡金冬是目前在美國最活躍的中國指揮家和音樂教育家，2017年起擔任巴德學院音樂藝術教授及所屬美中音樂研究院的首任院長。他同時兼任紐約當代樂團（The Orchestra Now）的常任指揮。在此之前的2004-2017年間，他擔任美國斯坦福大學表演藝術教授和斯坦福交響樂團音樂總監。他所創立並擔任藝術總監的斯坦福泛亞音樂節，是美國最具影響的亞洲音樂表演藝術平臺。2010年，美國加州政府議院授予他十大亞洲精英之一的稱號。蔡還曾兼任中國深圳交響樂團的首席客席指揮並率領其樂團完成了在美國和加拿大的兩次巡演。他從2010年起任蒙古國國家歌劇芭蕾舞劇院的首席客席指揮，在烏蘭巴托指揮歌劇和芭蕾舞劇的演出。蔡曾任北京大學藝術學院的特邀音樂教授，並從2017年開始任北京中央音樂學院特邀教授。他在2018年創立了每年一度的「紐約中國當代音樂節」，以此為平臺在西方展示當代中國的作曲家，演奏家和新作品。

蔡金冬先生與夫人梅文詩（Sheila Melvin）出版了很多有關中國當代音樂發展的研究專著。他們的《紅色狂想曲》，追逐了西方古典音樂在中國四百多年的發展歷史，成為在世界範圍內最為關註的專著，並獲得2005年美國斯歐彥圖書大奬（Saroyan Prize）的入圍奬。他們創作的《Beethoven in China》已於2016年由企鵝出版社在世界範圍發行。他們受上海交響樂團委托所作的《上海交響樂團：音樂溝通世界》也在2019年出版。