The Paper's reporter Liao Yang
On the morning of December 2, NetEase Cloud Music officially landed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and was listed.
Xu Zhong
A special figure appeared in the celebratory procession, that is, the conductor and pianist Xu Zhong. As the only musician among independent non-executive directors, Xu Zhong appeared at the bell ringing scene on the same day to stand for the listing platform of NetEase Cloud Music.
Ring the bell on the spot
According to the requirements of the CSRC, independent non-executive directors are not involved in the operation of the company, but are required to express independent opinions on the decisions of the board of directors of the company, including major issues.
"Maybe it's my taste for music and my appreciation of art that attracts the other person." Talking about why he was invited to join by Ding Lei, the founder of NetEase Cloud Music, Xu Zhong told the surging news reporter.
Music enthusiast Ding Lei is a fan of Xu Zhong's music and has also listened to Xu Zhong's concerts in Shanghai. After many years of acquaintance, Xu Zhong was most impressed by Ding Lei's obsession with vinyl records and his extremely high requirements for sound quality and details. Open NetEase Cloud Music, you must have an impression of the slowly rotating vinyl record, this design that has surprised countless users, is from Ding Lei.
The common love of music and the consensus on the development of the music industry have pulled the two into the same artistic camp.
Xu Zhong is active in the international music scene as a conductor, having served as Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Bellini Opera House in Italy, and as Chief Conductor of the Opera Di Verona and the Summer Opera Festival of Verona. In 2016, Xu Zhong became the director of the Shanghai Opera House through global recruitment, leading the art aircraft carrier to accelerate the pace of international integration with the world in the international co-production of classic operas and international tours.
Xu Zhong commanded the scene
In recent years, Xu Zhong has participated in the supervision of a number of original operas, and has continuously contributed to China's original operas. At the beginning of this year, Xu Zhong also stepped into the field of drama, and was invited by Huang Changyong, the dean of the Shanghai Theater Academy, to serve as the music director of the original drama "Outpost", not only to ensure that all the music in the play is original, but also to present it with film-level sound effects, including the theme song "The Season of Peach Blossoms" sung by Wan Qian. Next year, the original musical "Homecoming" will also be officially staged a year after Xu Zhong's debut of the theme song "Homecoming".
"Post-90s" and "Post-00s" and other active young user groups accounted for 90% of NetEase Cloud Music, which surprised Xu Zhong very much, and let him see the broad prospects of promoting classical music, "Classical music can also go pop, especially opera, so many good arias, should be popularized and poured into more people's ears." ”
Maintaining an open mind and a keen eye, finding a breakthrough, and letting classical music and high art cross the circle and enter the public's vision is the direction that Xu Zhong has been striving for. Especially in the past two years, his steps have been remarkable.
In April this year, Xu Zhong became the first Chinese international opera president of the Royal Welsh Conservatory of Music and Drama, which will help the artistic exchange of Chinese and British opera cooperation and young opera talents at home and abroad; in June, as an external critic of the BBC Cardiff World Singer Competition, Xu Zhong shared his comments on the finalists through social media, allowing the world to see the artistic appreciation of Chinese musicians; in July, Xu Zhong's public welfare poster for the theme of opera "endorsement" was posted in Times Square, New York. Highlighting Shanghai's soft power as an international cultural metropolis; in September, the Shanghai Opera House staged the opening operas "Country Knight" and "Clown", Xu Zhong invited Lu Yan, who debuted as an international supermodel, and his clothing brand Comte Moi to cooperate across borders, and promoted the linkage between the Shanghai Opera House Symphony Orchestra and Common Moi at the subsequent Shanghai Fashion Week...
Xu Zhong's public welfare poster for the theme of "endorsement" of the opera appeared on Times Square in New York
At the same time, Xu Zhong also planned and promoted two circle-breaking "music marathons".
In April last year, Xu Zhong launched a 12-hour live broadcast of "Warm the World with Music" for the fight against the epidemic, and in just over ten days, he gathered 12 orchestras, 8 opera houses, 25 music institutions and nearly 100 musicians from around the world, including the Paris Philharmonic Hall in France, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in Germany, the La Scala Opera in Italy, the Royal Opera House in the United Kingdom, and the Yale University Conservatory of Music in the United States. Sound spanning nearly 20 time zones around the world, reaches the ears of Chinese audiences through the live broadcast room in Shanghai.
In April this year, the "Shanghai Spring" International Music Festival with Xu Zhong as the artistic director was broadcast live for 7 hours, and through the integration of cloud video and live performances, innovatively realized the "same stage" performances of top overseas art institutions such as the Paris Orchestra of France, the Opera Australia Symphony Orchestra, and the Jerusalem Chamber Orchestra of Israel with the Shanghai Opera House, Shanghai Ballet and Shanghai Chinese Orchestra, and sent this music and dance feast to thousands of households through 17 live broadcast platforms.
Xu Zhong's international circle of friends and the appeal of the international music scene will undoubtedly bring positive and positive impact to NetEase Cloud Music. In terms of promoting original music, incubating and supporting original talents, and disseminating and popularizing classical music among young people, the concept of Xu Zhong and Ding Lei and the development direction of NetEase Cloud Music also have strong resonance.
Finding such a co-produced musician as an independent non-executive director to provide more authoritative and professional advice for NetEase Cloud Music makes people look forward to future cooperation between the two sides.
Editor-in-Charge: Liang Jia Photo Editor: Jin Jie
Proofreader: Ding Xiao