A relationship of note

"He discussed with us how to carry on Chinese cultural tradition in our own creative works and how to see the development of the future of new music. My solo piece for pipa (Chinese instrument), The Points, which premiered in 1991 at Columbia University, is among the pieces written directly under Chou's influence," adds composer Chen, wife of Zhou, who also graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music and studied with Chou at Columbia University during the 1980s.

She also worked as administrative assistant at the Center for US-China Arts Exchange for three years, and closely witnessed Chou's hard work and contribution to musical education and arts exchanges between China and the US.

The center's early projects included violinist Isaac Stern's first visit to China and the production of the Oscar-winning documentary From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China, which was made by documentary filmmaker Murray Lerner in 1980.

While in China in 1979－after the country began its policy of reform and opening-up, Stern performed concerts and gave master classes in Beijing, Shanghai and Xi'an, Shaanxi province.

In the documentary, a talented 15-year-old violinist was featured. He is now a world-renowned musician, the founding first violinist of the Shanghai Quartet, and also the resident violin faculty member at Tianjin Juilliard School.

"You can see from the movie that it was just completely packed by musicians from all over China who traveled to Shanghai to witness this concert," says violinist Weigang Li, who met Stern for the first time when he gave a concert in Shanghai in June 1979. "He also gave a master class to nine Chinese violinists. Since I was the youngest, I was scheduled to play at the end.

"I was very nervous, but he never stopped me. He was very humorous, which made me relaxed. I remember, pretty soon after that, many symphony orchestras came to China and around that time Chinese students started to have the opportunity to go abroad to study," recalls Li.

Born into a family of well-known musicians in Shanghai, Li began studying the violin with his parents when he was 5 years old and went on to attend the Shanghai Conservatory Middle School at 14. Three years later, in 1981, he was selected to go to study for one year at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music through the first cultural exchange program between the "sister cities" of Shanghai and San Francisco.

Along with the members of Shanghai Quartet, Li returned to his home country in the fall of 2020, after living in the US and touring worldwide for over three decades, joining the faculty of Tianjin Juilliard School.

Another young boy featured in the documentary is the renowned cellist Wang Jian, who was 10 years old at the time and was studying in the primary school of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.