There was a celebration at the Century Club in New York City last night for Chou Wen-chung in honor of his 90th birthday. After the Brentano Quartet offered two brief, beautifully played samples of his work, Wen-chung spoke, sounding and looking remarkably well.

Here’s the guest of honor with the Brentano members, who are holding Chinese clay figures presented to them by Wen-chung as a thank-you gift for their advocacy of his work:

I was there because Wen-chung was one of my teachers at Columbia in the 1980s, and a number of my fellow students also attended. Here’s a line-up:

Starting on the left, that’s Anne LeBaron, Rick Baitz, Gary Philo, Bright Sheng, Eric Chasalow, Paul Kozel, myself, and Mark Gustavson.

Here are Eric and Paul again, this time with clarinet master Allen Blustine:

Among Wen-chung’s Columbia faculty colleagues who were present, Mario Davidovsky was there, seen here on the right, chatting with Roger Reynolds on the left:

You should visit Wen-chung’s website to find out more about this remarkable pioneer of East-West musical interaction. An earlier post in connection with a visit by Wen-chung to Philadelphia here.