Opera singer Hao Jiang Tian was one of the notable immigrants pictured this year in the Carnegie Corporation’s annual July 4 full-page ad in the New York Times, “Immigrants: The Pride of America.” The Carnegie Corporation, a philanthropy founded by Scottish immigrant Andrew Carnegie in 1911, has among its goals “helping immigrants become integrated into the civic fabric of our nation because enlightened citizenship is the everlasting strength of our democracy.” This summer, Tian is Artistic Director and Master Teacher at the Hanyu Academy of Vocal Arts in Beijing, leading an international faculty of opera performers. The Academy is a joint program of China’s Hanban or Office of Chinese Language Council International and the Asian Performing Arts Council of New York, whose president is Tian’s wife, Martha Liao. “I Sing Beijing 2011” is designed for rising young vocal artists from the U.S., Canada and China for the study of both Western and Chinese opera, cultural interchange and Chinese cultural immersion, as well as Mandarin language classes for English speaking students. The language program treats “Mandarin as a lyric language” as well as a medium of communication.
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