Best New Classical Work

Hello Gold Mountain, an evening-length composition for chamber orchestra by guzheng master Wu Fei, contains multitudes. The piece was inspired by the seldom-recounted story of some 20,000 German Jews who fled the Holocaust and, unable to obtain visas to immigrate elsewhere, found refuge in Shanghai. The Chinese Civil War forced many of these people out again, and many settled in San Francisco, colloquially known as Old Gold Mountain. The piece, a hopeful sign of cooperation across cultural boundaries, premiered in February with the alt-classical ensemble chatterbird and featuring multi-instrumentalist Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz on oud. STEPHEN TRAGESER

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