Art After Dark

Enjoy a Docent Tour featuring Highlights of the Collection.

Tours are limited to 25 visitors. Pick up your tour wristband at the Reception Desk one hour before the tour.

Meet in Great Hall

Join Willow Hai — independent curator and writer, and former Senior Vice President, Director, and Chief Curator of the China Institute Gallery in New York — for a conversation with Shawn Yuan, Elizabeth B. McGraw Senior Curator of Asian Art. They will discuss Willow’s distinguished career, curatorial experience, and contributions to the field of Chinese art. During her tenure at China Institute, Willow organized more than 70 acclaimed exhibitions, including her most recent, Flowers on a River: The Art of Chinese Flower and Bird Painting. In this program, she will share her deep knowledge of China’s artistic traditions, focusing on the enduring legacy of flower painting and highlighting select works currently on view in the Niblack Gallery at the Norton.

Space is limited; online registration required.

Cost: Museum Admission/Members FREE

REGISTER

Join our teaching artist for a fun and creative project!

Classroom #2

In Chinese culture, the moon has long been a symbol of beauty, longing, and reunion. Its luminous presence has inspired countless works of poetry, music, and art throughout history, carrying deep sentiments and timeless imagination.

Celebrating the Mid–Autumn Festival at the Norton Museum of Art, two of today’s leading Chinese virtuosos, Dr. Haiqiong Deng and Dr. Yuxin Mei, come together for an engaging evening of music. Featuring the pipa, zheng, and qin—three of China’s most iconic instruments—the program offers a diverse selection of classical pieces that evoke the poetic beauty of moonlight and the enduring spirit of Chinese tradition.

Great Hall

Haiqiong (HIGH-chyoong) Deng is a world-renowned virtuoso on the 21-string zheng (guzheng) and a scholar of the 7-string qin (guqin). As a recipient of the prestigious Florida Folk Heritage Award (2017) and Florida Folklife Master Artist (2013), she has built an international career as a performer, educator, and researcher. She has performed and lectured extensively across North America, Europe, and Asia, showcasing a musical language that crosses genres and styles.

Haiqiong has released over a dozen albums, including her two most recent ones, which earned her the 2024 Global Music Awards. Haiqiong Deng is the featured artist in the chapter on Chinese music in the widely used university textbook World Music: Traditions and Transformations (McGraw-Hill) by Michael B. Bakan. Haiqiong is a visiting assistant professor of musicology and the director of the Chinese Music Ensemble at Florida State University College of Music. She earned a Bachelor of Music in Guzheng Performance from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, a Master of Arts in Arts Administration and Ethnomusicology, and a Ph.D. in Musicology from Florida State University.

Dr. Yuxin Mei is a renowned pipa virtuoso, educator, and the founding director of the University of North Texas Chinese Ensemble. She earned a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from the University of North Texas (UNT). She was awarded the Silver Award at the 2024 Global Music Awards and First Place in Traditional Chinese Instrument Performance at the Zhuhai International Music Festival.  Dr. Mei was the recipient of the Presser Graduate Music Award in 2018 and won the 2016 Vida Chenoweth Student Paper Prize from the Society for Ethnomusicology Southern Plains Chapter. In 2020, she became the first Chinese artist to receive the Texas Folklife Apprenticeship Mentor Award, among other grants.
Dr. Mei received BA and MA degrees in Pipa Performance and Education from the China Conservatory of Music in Beijing and the Xinghai Conservatory of Music in Guangzhou. From 2006 to 2012, she was a faculty member at the Xinghai Conservatory of Music. Previously, she served as the Artistic Director and soloist for the Zhuhai Chinese Music Chamber Orchestra. She has performed in numerous countries, including China, Portugal, Norway, Singapore, France, and Germany. Dr. Mei has also taught masterclasses at the Macau Art School and the Chong Hong Chinese Music Association in Macau. From 2012 to 2016, she was invited to Norway as part of the cultural exchange project "Spoor" hosted by The Cultural Rucksack in Akershus. In 1998, Mei released the album "Spring of Zhu Hai."