◎ Xu Zhiqiang/ Roundtable observer
The Suzhou Symphony Orchestra is five years old. In the past five years, Sujiao has grown from an unknown new troupe to a high-level group that can be ranked among the top five in the country praised by Professor Qian Shijin, an adviser to the China Musical Theatre Association, and has gained popularity at home and abroad. Su Jiao's current performances are often full of audiences, and tickets are sold out as soon as the online tickets are issued. The "Soviet phenomenon" is eye-catching.
It is worth summarizing and praising that the course that Sujiao has traveled from planning and preparation to exploration in the past five years has all reflected the new concepts, new pursuits and new expansions of Suzhou culture in the new era; all of which have demonstrated the creative transformation of Suzhou's excellent traditional culture in the context of cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries; all of which have demonstrated Suzhou's ambition, ideas and strategies for building the "Jiangnan culture" brand, as well as the hard work of Sujiao people to enrich the brand connotation of Suzhou's "Jiangnan culture".
Sujiao is a new carrier and symbol for Suzhou culture to seek dialogue and exchange with world culture at a higher level. In the past, the content construction of Suzhou's contemporary culture and art mainly revolved around the protection and inheritance of many famous traditional cultural brands in the city.
Su Jiaotong firmly followed the road of internationalization and regiment building.
In 2007, the establishment of the ballet brought a breakthrough to the cultural construction of Suzhou. The Suzhou Symphony Orchestra, which was established in 2016, is another new attempt by Suzhou culture to seek dialogue and exchange with world culture at a higher level. Su Jiao took the road of global recruitment, the leader of mr. Chen Guangxian through the Paris Symphony Orchestra friends contacted the Paris Conservatory of Music, and then contacted the Yale University Conservatory of Music, at the same time recruited musicians at home and abroad, and finally formed an international new group composed of high-level musicians from 20 countries and regions in the world - more than 60% of the musicians are foreign, the average age is only 30 years old. The road of international dialogue and exchange between the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union has also started well.
In the five-year course of Sujiao, there has always been a theme: with the help of symphony, a Western art form and carrier, in the interactive blending of Chinese and Western cultures, the characteristics and efforts of Chinese culture, the image of Suzhou and Suzhou to build the "Jiangnan culture" brand are displayed, and the development of Suzhou Jiangnan culture is promoted from a new angle and with new content in the spirit of take-ism.
Less than a year after its establishment, in August 2017, the orchestra was invited to France and Germany for its first European tour, and performed with the world-famous Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra at the Berlin Music Festival and the same theater. In 2018, he made his first Asian tour to four countries and regions, including Singapore. In the Spring Festival of 2019, he was invited to the United Nations Headquarters in New York to hold the Chinese New Year Concert, which was the first time at the United Nations Headquarters.
Mr. Ma Zhaoxu, then Chinese Representative to the United Nations and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, commented: "Although the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra is young, it can be said to be a window for Suzhou's reform and opening up. It is a 'little United Nations' composed of musicians from 20 countries and regions, bringing wonderful performances including Chinese classics and Western classical music, which fully reflects the tolerance and self-confidence of Chinese culture. ”
The Soviet Union shines on the United Nations.
By 2019, Sujiao has performed nearly 20 performances in many countries and regions in Europe, America and Asia. When they played a series of works such as "Spring Festival Overture" and "Suzhou Overture", they were undoubtedly speaking to the world with the beauty of Chinese culture and Suzhou Jiangnan culture. At the same time, Su Jiao also invited foreign first-class conductors, performers and singers Robert Abbado, Daniel Oren, Christian, Eisenbach, Anne Sophie Mutte and so on to cooperate in performances and exchanges.
In 2018 and this year, Sujiao also hosted two Suzhou Jinji Lake Composition Competition and Jinji Lake Piano Competition for the world. The first composition competition had works from 39 countries and regions participating, which wrote a new chapter in the dialogue and integration of Chinese and Western music cultures. The Jinji Lake Concert Hall, the station and performance venue of Sujiao, is acoustically designed by Mr. Yasuhisa Toyoda, the most prestigious acoustic design master in the world today, and has become a new important cultural landmark in Suzhou.
The two-way interaction of going out and inviting in allows Suzhou to show the world the internationality, diversity, inclusiveness of Chinese culture and the charm of Suzhou city through symphony. Su Jiao also showed the "exquisite" interpretation to the world, and made a wonderful spread of Jiangnan culture. With the Suzhou Jiaotong, the collision of Suzhou Jiangnan art culture and world culture has a new channel, direction and content.
The delicacy of Jiangnan culture is vividly interpreted by Su Jiao.
Sujiao is also an effort and symbol of Suzhou culture to seek new breakthroughs and enhance its own connotation. The establishment of SuJiao is a brand new attempt and effort of Suzhou's cultural construction in the new era. With such a professional symphony orchestra, Suzhou has broken through the limitations of traditional old brands such as Kunqu opera, pingtan, calligraphy and painting, Su embroidery, garden construction and other traditional brands in the style and content of artistic exchanges, provided new aesthetic appreciation content for the public, and also provided new directions and possibilities for the innovative development and promotion of traditional and contemporary culture and art in Suzhou. From time to time, Chinese and foreign celebrities are invited to cooperate in performances, which also enhances the charm value of Suzhou symphony and culture.
In the past five years, Sujiao has fulfilled its original mission in promoting the exchange and integration of traditional Suzhou culture and Western symphony art, serving the public, popularizing elegant art, and becoming a cultural ambassador and artistic leader in Suzhou. More than 320 art popularization activities have been held, and more than 100,000 people have participated in the scene. About 200 performances were performed in Suzhou, and the total number of viewers of online concerts and art education popularization activities exceeded 80 million, enriching the cultural life of the citizens and spreading elegant art.
Celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China, Sujiao held the "My Motherland and Me - Symphony Concert of a Thousand People". This year, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC was celebrated, and the symphony "Sha Jiabang" and the original symphonic chorus work "Century of Waves" were staged, both of which were very influential. Su Jiao is also committed to three-dimensional, classified and public welfare classical music popularization activities, with special attention to the popularization of young people and the popularization of the Internet. Today, listening to symphonic concerts in Sujiao has become a new fashion for the citizens of Sujiao.
The magnificent "My Motherland and Me - Symphony Concert of a Thousand People".
More importantly, Sujiao pays attention to music creation, accumulation and style cultivation with the theme of Suzhou Jiangnan culture. In the past five years, the performance style of Sujiao has matched the cultural personality of Suzhou city to "exquisite", and some traditional music with Chinese characteristics and Jiangnan charm has been rehearsed every year, and a special session of "National Style" has been held. This year, the Huaxia Music Festival was held. At the same time, the Jinji Lake Composition Competition and the Piano Competition were hosted for two sessions each for the world, requiring the embodiment of Suzhou elements.
The 2nd Jinji Lake Composition Competition in 2021, with the theme of "Jiangnan Culture", integrates Jiangnan-style musical and cultural elements such as Pingtan, Kunqu opera, folk songs, etc., reflecting the cultural landscape of Jiangnan region. In the future, this competition will also require the absorption of the unique rhythm and melody tunes of other ethnic cultures with Jiangnan culture and tone, and the creation of musical works with Chinese characteristics, and the orchestra will tour the world with its excellent works in the future.
In the past five years, Sujiao has formed its own three-dimensional framework of brand building in four dimensions - performance, originality, exchange and popularization, and the cultural theme that runs through is to develop, disseminate and carry forward suzhou's Jiangnan culture in the cultural exchange display and integration of Chinese and Western symphony. Because of Sujiao, symphonic works with the cultural characteristics and connotations of Suzhou Jiangnan are constantly emerging and accumulating. Sujiao has become a new force in Suzhou's "Jiangnan Culture" brand building.
The music master Chen Xieyang who wielded freely.
Sujiao is also a new point of convergence and growth point for Suzhou to plan the cultural interaction and exchange between Suzhou and Shanghai and Jiangnan. The three top pillars in the Sujiao framework, Chen Guangxian, the former head of the Shanghai Jiaotong Regiment and the current head of the Sujiao Regiment, the music director Chen Xieyang, who is known as the "first stick in China", and the pianist Xu Zhong, who is currently the chief conductor, are all big names in the Chinese music industry from Shanghai. Sujiao has grown rapidly in recent years, showing a high standard in management, operation and art, all of which are inseparable from their dedication and great contributions.
In his usual performances, Su Jiao also often uses the professional strength of Shanghai. For example, last year, the 250th anniversary of the birth of Saint Beethoven, the SuJiao Memorial Music, performed a full set of Beethoven's symphonies and concertos. When the final performance of "Symphony No. 9 in D Minor" was performed, the Shanghai Opera House Choir was invited to perform the effect of the concert, which made people not know the taste of meat in March.
Sujiao has become a pioneer, symbol and successful demonstration case of mutual reference and mutual integration and development of Suzhou-Shanghai Jiangnan culture.
Editor: Gu Shanwen
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