“KU BI”: This artwork by John Witherspoon Middle School student Yihong (Nina) Li is part of The Princeton Symphony Orchestra’s “PSO BRAVO! Listen Up! Exhibit.” The exhibition is made up of students’ response in visual art and writing to composer Jing Jing Luo’s “Tsao Shu.” The exhibit is on display until April 17 at the Arts Council of Princeton’s Paul Robeson Center, 102 Witherspoon Street.

The Princeton Symphony Orchestra’s PSO BRAVO! Listen Up! Exhibition featuring student artwork and writing created in response to Tsao Shu, an orchestral work by Music Alive: New Partnerships Composer-in-Residence Jing Jing Luo, is on display at the Arts Council of Princeton’s (ACP) Paul Robeson Center. The students’ visual and literary works will be on display until Sunday, April 17 at the Arts Council of Princeton’s Paul Robeson Center, 102 Witherspoon Street, during regular gallery hours. The exhibit is free and open to the public. 

A native of Beijing, Jing Jing Luo is a prolific composer and performer whose musical language connects East and West, transcending traditional boundaries. Also a visual artist of calligraphy and ink brush painting, recent compositions have merged her artistic pursuits in a fascinating blend of music and art. The residency of Jing Jing Luo was made possible by Music Alive: New Partnerships, a residency program of New Music USA and the League of American Orchestras.

Ms. Luo inspired students by telling stories about her own creative process during a workshop led by ACP instructor and artist Susan Hoenig, in advance of the live performance of Ms. Luo’s Tsao Shu at the PSO’s January Classical
Series concert at Richardson Auditorium. Tsao shu is an abstract form of Chinese calligraphy, also known as grass style or running script. Students sat in on Music Director Rossen Milanov’s pre-concert talk with Ms. Luo and joined them both onstage for a photo shoot after the concert. Over the course of several weeks, the students gave form to their own creative ideas in writing and visual art.

PSO Executive Director Marc Uys is impressed by this season’s artistic results. “It’s wonderful to see and read the varied forms of creative expression produced by these students, particularly this year with Ms. Luo’s suggestion that seemingly disparate artistic forms could be merged.”

Thirty students from nine area middle schools make up this season’s Listen Up! artists and writers: The Hun School — Bella Gomez and Lily L’Oiseau; Stuart Country Day School — Labeena Hanif, Eshe Lovely, Keya Patel, Emily Shapcott, Gabriella Shapcott, and Maya Sikora; John Witherspoon Middle School — Nandita Ammanamanchi, Ethan Blaser, Nina (Yihong) Li, Tracy (ChuiYuan) Meng, Meghna Pithani, and Betsy Williams; Montgomery Lower Middle School — Erin Ford, Lauren Pryor, and Mikayla Salib; Timberlane Middle School — Aima Bhatti, Grace Hoedemaker, and Alanda Zong; Princeton Charter School — Tyler Fu; Cambridge School — Amy Brumlik; Montgomery Upper Middle School — Piper Epstein, Catherine Li, Fiona Pan, Grace Yan, Emily Zhou, and Laura Zhou; St. Paul School — Matthew Cooper and Anna Mae Stout.

Now in its ninth year, Listen Up! is an art response program which encourages creativity through active listening.

All PSO BRAVO! programs are free to participating students and schools thanks to the support of generous sponsors who believe in the importance of the arts in education. To learn more about Listen Up! or other PSO BRAVO! education programs or to offer support, call the symphony office at (609) 497-0020.