Every weekday at noon, the South Hall of the Shanghai Concert Hall always floats out beautiful notes. In the European-style elegant space, some people sit in groups of three or five around the small round table, some people bury their bodies in the back sofa, and some people sit in the side seat and watch, a song is performed, and the applause sounds... This is a performance scene of "Musical Afternoon Tea" that has lasted for ten years.
On January 7, 2012, a new public welfare brand "Music Afternoon Tea" was unveiled at the Shanghai Concert Hall, and the audience could enjoy a one-hour salon-style concert with a low-cost ticket, feeling a poetic dialogue between the heart and music. Today, this cup of "tea" has been brewed for ten years, and the aroma of tea has also drifted for ten years.
On January 7, 2022, "Music Afternoon Tea" ushered in the 10th anniversary, and the young artists who appeared on this platform - violin Zhang Yang, cello Luo Weixi, piano Wang Chen, guitar Liu Xianji, accordion Zhou Quan, and viola Liu Nian/Shi Yucheng/Wu Jingyu/Yuan Shike, jointly formed the "Music Afternoon Tea" 10th Anniversary Festival Orchestra, and the audience celebrated the birthday of "Music Afternoon Tea". The birthday celebration concert is based on Piazzolla's new tango music, and a "Happy Birthday Song" pushes the birthday celebration scene to a climax.
Support newcomers, local music newcomers from here
Low threshold, high quality, "music afternoon tea" since its birth has established a people-friendly positioning, in order to let the audience believe that low threshold can also hear good music, Shanghai Concert Hall has taken a lot of effort to excavate and launch a lot of "potential stock" newcomers.
Zhang Yang, a young violinist who performed live at the birthday celebration, was one of them. In 2012, as a senior at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, he debuted on stage for "Music Afternoon Tea", and has become a regular guest for the next 10 years, not only solo, but also composing trio and quartets with friends, and performing a lot of chamber music. Even, when preparing for music competitions at home and abroad, such as the Danish Carl Nelson International Violin Competition, "Musical Afternoon Tea" has become a warm-up stage for him.
"It was very helpful for the game, I was more confident that there were some problems that had to be exposed on stage, so we had to have stage practice." Zhang Yang, who is now a young teacher at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, is grateful for the "music afternoon tea" between the lines.
Chen Yibai, a young cellist studying at the Basel Conservatory in Switzerland, is a rising star in the classical music scene. When he was a child, he was a small audience member of the Shanghai Concert Hall, and after he became acquainted with the "Musical Afternoon Tea", he had more intersection with the Shanghai Concert Hall.
In his view, the characteristics of "music afternoon tea" are small and beautiful, the musicians and the audience are almost zero distance, and the beauty of the performance lies precisely in that immersive feeling, "ordinary audiences can contact classical music in this square world, which plays an important role in the popularization and promotion of classical music." For young musicians, it is also an indispensable bridge for growth. ”
Guo Zizhao, a young tenor in Italy, is deeply aware of this, and an important turning point in his musical career occurred in the "music afternoon tea".
In 2012, Guo Zizhao, who was still a junior at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, participated in the first vocal performance of "Music Afternoon Tea". In May of the same year, at the "Future Musicians" concert, Guo Zizhao presented two solos, allowing the Shanghai Concert Hall to see the potential of this "future star", so that guo Zizhao appeared on stage for the third time five months later - he completed the transformation of a new musician with a solo concert.
"After singing 15 works, the artistic standard is extremely demanding and the challenge is huge, and there are 980 people in the audience." This number is firmly imprinted in Guo Zizhao's heart, he did not expect that a student's solo concert can attract so many audiences to buy tickets, walk out of the ivory tower, and take the stage as the protagonist on the professional stage, which not only brings him a professional breakthrough, but also affects his thinking about his career.
Two-way mutual training, one hour at noon nourishes the hearts of the citizens
At the birthday celebration site, not only 9 young artists accompanied by "Musical Afternoon Tea", but also many specially invited audiences came to the scene.
Ms. Cao is a retired teacher who has participated in "Musical Lunch Tea" 27 times since 2012. She not only likes the elegant architectural style and decoration style of shanghai concert hall, but also enjoys the salon atmosphere of "music afternoon tea", "'music afternoon tea' enriches my retirement life and enhances my level of appreciation, I like it!" ”
Mr. Lu first came into contact with "Music Afternoon Tea" in 2014, just as he changed jobs, the pressure was very high, and a grounded concert cured him. In recent years, as long as there is time, Mr. Lu will come every three to five minutes, and gradually grow from a "music little white" to a small connoisseur, "'Music afternoon tea' has cured an ordinary office worker, accompanied me out of the most difficult period of work, and let me feel the temperature in this reinforced concrete city." ”
Kobayashi, who played violin from elementary school, came to the "Music Lunch Tea" scene for the first time in December 2021 and was touched by the atmosphere. As a graduate student at Fudan University, he also determined the direction of his graduation thesis, hoping to use "music afternoon tea" as a case to study how artistic talents can participate in the cultural construction of the city, so that more citizens have more opportunities to feel the charm of music.
Soloists, soloists, classical music, folk music... In the past ten years, the performance of "Music Afternoon Tea" has been varied, in addition to the regular launch of special plans, there will be celebrations every hundred and every anniversary, and even a summer theme week and winter vacation lecture series, which not only sets the stage for young artists, but also forms a development model of two-way mutual training between the audience and artists.
In the field of classical music, the non-applause between movements is a conventional etiquette for watching performances. In Chen Yibai's memories of watching performances at the Shanghai Concert Hall, although the atmosphere is very strong, many people do not understand the etiquette of watching performances, and in recent years, he has obviously felt that the audience's performance is getting better and better.
"In the past, everyone loved to listen, but now they not only love to listen, but also listen, and a tacit understanding has slowly been reached between the audience and the musicians." In Chen Yibai's view, behind the tacit understanding is the overall improvement of the musical literacy of Shanghai audiences, and the transformation of which is inseparable from the silent cultivation of "music afternoon tea", "The concert is not only a performance on stage, the audience under the stage is also an important part, and the benign interaction between the two can promote a successful concert." The small space of 'Music Afternoon Tea' has cultivated more and more knowledgeable audiences and music fans for the large stage of the Shanghai Concert Hall. ”
From Shanghai to Milan, Guo Zizhao has boarded many concert halls, large and small, but the Shanghai Concert Hall always has its own place in his heart, and "Music Afternoon Tea" is more like an old friend, "You don't need to sit in front of you here, it is very relaxed and comfortable, and the audience will communicate with you like an old friend." The concert not only has familiar classics, but also for some new works, the audience is equally tolerant. ”
Shanghai Concert Hall Visual China Infographic
Two roads to walk, please come in and go out
In the past ten years, the "music afternoon tea" that is regarded as the "music living room" by Shanghai citizens has performed a total of 1927 times, with more than 6,300 young artists on stage, about 12,000 songs, and 200,080 audiences.
In the autumn of 2021, the "Music Afternoon Tea" was upgraded to a new one in the 1900th issue, and the "Online Version of Music Afternoon Tea" (Audio Edition) was launched - constantly selecting weekly highlights of the performances, making collections, sharing with the audience online, and at the same time, occasionally launching audio live broadcasts, the audience can also have afternoon tea without leaving home.
Fang Liang, general manager of shanghai concert hall, observed that the response of the "online version" was very good, "because it is only one hour at noon, many long-distance audiences cannot come every day, unfortunately, the 'online version' solves this distressing problem." ”
Standing at the new starting point of the tenth anniversary, "Music Afternoon Tea" started again and upgraded again - in order to let the afternoon tea cover more people and let the tea fragrance drift farther, this year, "Music Afternoon Tea" also has a plan to go out, and the public welfare ticket price of 30 yuan remains unchanged.
"In the past, there were also movements to enter buildings and send them to the suburbs, but they were all single-frequency short projects, and in the next year, we will walk into the five new cities of Shanghai and bring this cup of tea to those citizens who are far away from the Shanghai Concert Hall." Just like the 'Music House Rush', we will take the initiative to make a menu according to everyone's needs, and take the initiative to send musicians and musical works to everyone. ”
"Please come in and go out, 'Musical Afternoon Tea' must walk on two legs together." Fang Liang said, "Of course, we must also do what we can. For example, we will give away two more performances on the basis of three performances at the shanghai concert hall, maintaining the frequency of five performances a week. There is afternoon tea every day, but we will break the limitations of geographical location, no longer stick to, no longer limited to the Shanghai Concert Hall, but performed every day in the city. ”