At the end of the year, enjoying a New Year's concert on the evening of December 31 has become a "new folk custom" for many Shanghai citizens to leave the old and welcome the new. Under the epidemic, overseas famous troupes and famous conductors could not enter Shanghai, but ideas poured out from Local Theaters, Theaters and Concert Halls in Shanghai. Not limited to the tradition of a conductor and a ballroom orchestra playing round dance music and polka, more diversified performance repertoire and more diverse forms of interpretation are being "unlocked" one by one in the New Year's Concert in Shanghai.
Artists with international influence, including Tan Dun and the Shanghai Quartet, dedicated this year's cross-Chinese New Year's Eve concert to Shanghai. At the Shanghai Grand Theatre, Tan Dun will conduct the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra and join hands with a number of singers to perform the Chinese music version of "Ode to Dunhuang Mercy" created by himself in the world, presenting the most beautiful "Chinese voice" with Haipai folk music; at the Jaguar Shanghai Symphony Concert Hall, the Shanghai Quartet will return to his hometown and join hands with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra to bring a Specially unconducted New Year concert.
The creativity and box office appeal of young local musicians should not be underestimated. At the Shanghai Oriental Art Center, Jin Chengzhi and the Shanghai Rainbow Chamber Choir will accompany fans on New Year's Eve with "Travels in White Horse Village"; at the Cadillac Shanghai Concert Hall, young conductor Jin Yukuang will conduct the neoclassical chamber orchestra, joining hands with pianist Liu Ji and solo guest Jin Shengquan to stage "Blue Rhapsody 2022" with a large range of styles.
Sun Guozhong, a professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, said that with these cross-Chinese New Year's Eve concerts as a microcosm this year, he saw the innovative consciousness of the Shanghai Academy and Theater bursting out in the performance planning, saw the fusion and collision of Eastern and Western music and art on the Shanghai stage, and also saw that local music fans were becoming more and more "culturally confident" - from regretting that overseas famous troupes could not come to Shanghai, to giving enthusiastic praise to local powerful musicians, which together constituted the brighter background of Shanghai's "City of Philharmonic Music".
The Shanghai Symphony Orchestra's top asian standards make the Shanghai Quartet feel at ease to "lead the performance"
Some scholars told reporters that before the outbreak of the epidemic, the New Year's concert was staged in China, or directly invited overseas famous troupes to perform in China, or invited overseas big-name conductors to conduct domestic orchestras, and the repertoire was mainly the works of the Strauss family. This is a tradition learned from the world-famous Vienna New Year's Concert. At the end of this year, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra will still perform "Blue Danube", "The Sound of Spring", "Thunder" and other round dance songs and polkas, but it breaks the convention in the form of performance - the concert deliberately does not have a conductor, and invites the Shanghai Quartet to serve as the "lead" of the four voices.
Specializing in planning such a performance without a conductor, music scholar Sun Guozhong believes that everything is the most "appropriate". The right person - each member of the Shanghai Quartet has his own first-class solo level; the brothers Li Weigang and Li Honggang in the quartet have served as the principal of the guest band and the principal viola of the guest seat respectively, and are also very familiar with the orchestra. Suitable orchestra - Li Weigang said in an interview with reporters that the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra is one of the best orchestras in Asia, and professional musicians have the strength to achieve "automatic playing". Suitable repertoire - polka, round dance music rhythm change is relatively fixed, the style is relaxed and lively, compared to other works are more suitable for no conductor.
It is worth mentioning that the Shanghai Quartet will also serve as a soloist for Concerto works such as Beethoven's "Romantic Second in F Major", playing it himself on the one hand, and "leading" the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra on the other hand. In the industry's view, this is the symphony orchestra's attempt to explore and practice closer communication and cooperation between various voices without a conductor.
Customized for the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra," Tan Dun's "Dunhuang Ode to Mercy" tells the story of China
Following the New Year's Eve concert of "Four Seasons of Music" and the national music epic "Forbidden City", the Shanghai Grand Theatre and the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra have cooperated again on the occasion of this year's resignation and welcome the new year, and the Chinese music version of "Dunhuang Ode to Mercy" will be premiered worldwide in the "Buick Master Series" 2022 New Year Concert. This is a work created by composer Tan Dun for the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra, depicting the prosperity and beauty of Dunhuang for thousands of years with music, and showing the era style of Haipai folk music.
When the internationally renowned Tan Dun, who settled in Shanghai, met the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra, they worked together to explore the depth and breadth of the artistic expression of folk music, which is also the epitome of Shanghai's innovative, diverse and inclusive artistic atmosphere. "In terms of instrumentation and arrangement, Tan Dun's version of "Ode to Dunhuang Mercy" will highlight the superb skills and performance characteristics of our folk music players." Luo Xiaoci, director of the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra, told reporters that Tan Dun is a composer who is very sensitive to timbre and also understands the characteristics of national instruments, and he still maintains the habit of handwriting and creation, and uses his imagination to create more possibilities for the timbre and sound of contemporary national orchestras.
"Dun, Daye; Huang, Shengye." Dunhuang is known as the "Art Museum of the Eastern World", a historical witness to the exchange and integration of Civilizations on the Silk Road, and an important window for the world to understand Chinese culture. In addition to Tan Dun himself as the conductor, the folk music version of "Dunhuang Ode to Mercy" debuted on the Shanghai stage this time, and the baritone Shen Yang, the mezzo-soprano Zhu Huiling, the original ecological soprano Ze Renyangjin, the original ecological Humai bass Hasbagen, the Dunhuang rebound pipa Li Shengnan, etc. will join the performance, through the fusion and collision of different acoustic colors of vocals and folk music, sending out a Chinese voice to the world.
From "rainbow" and "new classical" to "sound into people's hearts", local strength young musicians are on the battlefield
Following their appearance in Shanghai in October this year, Jin Chengzhi and the Shanghai Rainbow Chamber Choir will return to Dongyi at the end of the year to book an unforgettable "rainbow-style" scene for Shanghai music fans with "Travels in White Horse Village". The young conductor Jin Yukuang and the new classical chamber orchestra he conducted will bring a retro and enthusiastic "Music New Year's Eve Party" at the Shanghai Concert Hall, and Liu Ji, a pianist who has cooperated with many British orchestras, and Jin Shengquan, a contestant in the first season of the variety show "Sound into People's Hearts", will also join, showing the good strength and fresh appearance of young musicians in the new era.
From "Blue Danube" to "Rhapsody in Blue", the Shanghai Concert Hall fully respects the inspiration of young people. The first half of the concert traces the traditional New Year's concert format, but it is also a round dance, and the neoclassical chamber orchestra does not go the usual way – they play some of the Strauss family works, adapted by the representative composers of the Second Viennese School. Johann Strauss Jr.'s "Great Lake Round Dance" (Schoenberg's adaptation), "Wine, Women and Songs" (Berger's adaptation), and "Jumbo Round Dance" (Webern's adaptation) are all Chinese premieres, showing the audience the inheritance and innovation of classic works.
The second half of the performance style was more carnival and free. Pianist Liu Ji will join hands with the Neoclassical Chamber Orchestra to perform American composer Gershwin's masterpiece Rhapsody in Blue, which skillfully blends jazz and classical music. Bernstein is one of the representatives of "fusion" in all fields of contemporary art. Singer Kim Sung-kwon will sing a representative singing from Bernstein's musical "West End Story" at the concert hall, as well as Bart Howard's "Take Me to the Moon". No matter how the form changes, what remains unchanged is that people have expectations and watch for the arrival of the new year amid the sound of music. With the vigorous growth of local forces, the future Shanghai New Year Concert stage will sound more wonderful Chinese voices.
The pictures are from various colleges
Author: Jiang Fang
Editor: Tong Weijing