Go Music Trio highlights water as central theme in Beal Botanical Garden’s music series

The Beal Botanical Garden’s Go Music Trio concert was nestled between the Main Library and the IM Circle, showcasing a part of the garden’s four-part series: air, water, fire and earth.

This year’s event highlighted water to encourage the audience to think about ways they can “activate” water, “clean” water, take care of themselves and connect with nature.

Attendees observed the garden replete with plants and trees. Different pop-ups were featured, such as a poetry reading station, mini umbrella-making, arts-and-crafts bugs, swamp milkweed, rocks and refreshments for the hot weather.

Attendees Karen and Jerry Jennings walked around the garden observing the plants and taking photos. 

“We love free concerts in the garden,” Karen said. “We come to the Carillon concerts in July, and we just try to take advantage of this offer.”

For Jerry, the concert was a “really peaceful hour.”

“The musical productions that come out of this university are wonderful. Whether it’s something massive like this or small in the chapel, it’s something worth going to,” Jerry said. 

The concert opened with an introduction from Soprano Zimo Chen, a member of the Go Music Trio. Four songs were sung in German, Russian, French and Chinese, which she said were “all connected by water, nature and love.”

Chen sang Schumann’s “Die Lotosblume”, which is about a lotus that hides from the sun, then slowly opens its petals in the night when the moon is out.

“If you ever had a crush and spent three hours deciding whether to send a text message, you already understand the song. The lotus is really a person: shy, reserved and secretly in love,” she said.

Then she sang Rachmaninoff’s “Lilacs”, which takes place early in the morning, “where you can feel the singer walks through the fields of blooming lilacs, searching for happiness.”

“I love these two songs because nothing dramatic happens. There are no storms, no heartbreaks, no tragic endings. Very peaceful and just flowers, fresh air and the hope that happiness might be waiting around the next corner. Maybe that’s a beautiful reminder,” Chen said. “Sometimes happiness isn’t something we find. Sometimes it’s just simply a morning walk, a cup of nice tea, sleeping during rainstorms, but not today, which feels especially appropriate for today.”

Pianist Dailin Zeng, a member of the Go Music Trio, played Maurice Ravel’s Ondine as part of Gaspard de la Nuit. The song tells the story of a mythical water spirit who sings to a traveler and invites him into her mysterious underwater world. 

“Ravel really transformed the piano to water itself. Sometimes gentle, sometimes transparent. Sometimes mysterious, sometimes powerful,”  Zeng said.

Sopranist Shuhan Zhang, a member of the Go Music Trio, sang “Green” by Debussy, a song inspired by a poem by Paul Verlaine.

“In this poem, a lover arrives carrying gifts, not expensive gifts, but simple things from nature: fruits, flowers and leaves. It’s a quiet and intimate way of saying, ‘I’m here, and I’m offering you my heart,’ Zhang said. “What I love about Debussy is that he rarely tells a story in a straightforward way. Instead, he creates an atmosphere. The piano doesn’t simply accompany the singer; it breathes with the voice. Almost like light moving through leaves or a gentle breeze passing through a garden.”

Although the song is not about water, she said it has “the same feeling of softness and flow.”

“The music never feels rigid; it moves naturally, almost like a stream changing direction as it finds its own path. As we sit to gather in this beautiful garden, I hope you simply let the music wash over you and enjoy its covers and its calm,” Zhang said.

According to Zeng, the ensemble believes music “is not only a sound, but it’s a way of communicating beyond a language,” adding that the concert is a unique opportunity for people to listen to classical music and to “feel the power of music.”

The setting is special for Zeng because she rarely performs outdoors, surrounded by nature. She said that being outside makes “the music feel more immersive.”

Other songs that were played include Chopin’s “Barcarolle,” which captures the gentle movement of a boat on water; Franz Schubert’s “Trout,” which celebrates the beauty of nature’s energy; and Yuèrén Gē, a famous ancient Chinese literature that tells a story set on a river.