On the evening of January 2, in the theater of the Beijing Exhibition Center, Chinese music master Fang Jinlong stood up and sang, and the tune of "A Laugh in the Sea" was dashing and heroic, pushing the atmosphere of the whole audience to a climax - since 1996, except for the new year due to the epidemic, the Beijing New Year Concert has always been able to send the audience a new year's musical greeting in the theater in time.
Chinese music master Fang Jinlong appeared at the 26th Beijing New Year Concert in 2022
The Beijing New Year Concert, which has been held for 26 consecutive years, is currently the longest, most influential, most well-known and most internationally influential New Year concert brand in China, and has become an iconic music event and cultural business card in Beijing. It is like a microcosm, witnessing the "New Year's Concert", an imported art event, taking root in Beijing. Including this concert, around New Year's Day 2022, there are many concerts in Beijing that have been staged in the landmark theater: on the evening of December 31, 2021, in the National Centre for the Performing Arts, from 19:30, two concerts will be played in relay until the New Year's bell rings on time with musical notes. After entering the New Year, three New Year's concerts continue to play at the National Centre for the Performing Arts; the Beijing Symphony Orchestra takes the stage for two consecutive days in the Zhongshan Park Music Hall, located on the north side of Chang'an Avenue, across the street from the National Centre for the Performing Arts; in the Poly Theater, the China Philharmonic Orchestra holds hands with the National Ballet of China for the first time at the New Year's Concert, and the combination of music and ballet brings a richer artistic experience...
For the first time, the China Philharmonic Orchestra and the National Ballet of China jointly presented the New Year Concert
Famous artists, famous troupes and famous songs have always been the main theme of New Year's concerts. Among these performances, The National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra and Music Director Lu Jia, the National Ballet Symphony Orchestra and China Ballet Music Director Zhang Yi, the Beijing Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Director Li Biao, the China Philharmonic Orchestra and the permanent conductor Huang Yi are all influential groups in today's music scene. In addition, the famous pipa master Zhao Cong, the violin master Huang Bin, the flute saint Zhang Weiliang, the cello master Namula, the famous singer Wang Hongwei, the Chinese music master Fang Jinlong and so on appeared to help, making this year's New Year's concert quite a sense of a hundred flowers blooming and competing for glory.
In terms of famous songs, in addition to the traditional classic works that frequently appear in Western New Year concerts such as "Blue Danube" and "Radesky March", this year, at many New Year's concerts in Beijing, Chinese melodies occupy a considerable proportion, among which works such as "Ode to the Red Flag" and the song group "Singing Beijing" inherit the red gene and echo the footsteps of the times in the centenary of the founding of the Party; "Blooming", "Little Cow Herding", "Golden Snake Wild Dance", "Study Self-Sigh", "Wuxia Suite" and other works fully excavated the pipa, The expressiveness of ethnic instruments such as flutes and traditional forms of music and art such as pingdan deeply explores the collision and integration of Chinese music and Western music. Under the background that the epidemic continues to hinder international cultural exchanges and foreign famous troupes cannot visit China, Chinese musicians are using their own practical actions to give more profound Chinese imprints to the New Year concert.
National Centre for the Performing Arts Bells Concert
In addition, in terms of form of expression, this year's New Year's concert also has a lot of bold innovations. For example, at the China Philharmonic Orchestra's New Year's Concert, nearly 30 balleters danced to make the music more "ornamental" in addition to the beautiful sound; the 26th Beijing New Year Concert turned the slightly boring intermission session of the usual day into Fang Jinlong's music talk show. In just ten minutes, Fang Jinlong played while speaking, successively introducing to the audience a variety of instruments such as bone flute, reed, nose flute, shakuhachi, and using a pipa to show the distinctive musical styles of China, India, Japan, Spain and other countries.
In today's era of ritualism, more and more audiences are choosing a New Year's concert as a New Year's Eve. On some level, New Year's concerts can be a window into the popularity of classical music, which requires musicians to come up with a good performance of sufficient weight. Whenever the cheers brought by the music linger above the theater for a long time, and when the footsteps of the New Year gradually approach with the notes, the music is more deeply integrated into the blood of the city of Beijing.
Source Beijing Daily Client | Reporter Gao Qian
Edited by Jin Liwei
Process Editor Liu Weili