On February 21, 1972, US President Richard Nixon's special plane landed in Beijing and began the "ice-breaking journey" that attracted worldwide attention. The visit led to the signing of the Sino-US Joint Communiqué, which in turn opened up the most important bilateral relationship in the world today. Over the years, China and the United States have carried out all-round cooperation in the political, economic, social, cultural and other fields, among which the exchange and cooperation of music has played an irreplaceable role in the people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.
"Tianjin Juilliard School, as the first U.S.-China cooperative educational program in the field of performing arts, is a beneficiary of this most important global relationship." He Wei, artistic director and academic dean of Tianjin Juilliard College, said.
On February 21, Tianjin Juilliard School held the "Fifty Years of Sino-US Music Exchange Seminar" to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the publication of the Sino-US Joint Communiqué.
On the same day, Joseph M. Thompson, Honorary Dean and Chief China Affairs Officer of the Juilliard School in New York, said that he would like to see the president of the Juilliard School in New York. W. Polisi, Xu Changjun, Dean of Tianjin Juilliard College, Bu Yiming, Executive Director and CEO, He Weiwei, Artistic Director and Academic Dean, and Resident Teacher Li Weigang reviewed the historical moments of Sino-US music exchanges with teachers and students of the College, and looked forward to the future pace of Sino-US music exchanges. Former Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra violinist Herbert Wright, composer Zhou Long, composer Chen Yi, cellist Wang Jian, etc., also participated in the seminar through online or video recording.
The scene of the 50-year sino-US music exchange seminar
Bu Yiming spoke to Polich about the Julia Orchestra's two visits to China
The Philadelphia Orchestra blew the ice-breaking horn
The year after Nixon's historic visit to China, through the introduction of the leaders of the two countries, the Philadelphia Orchestra became the first American orchestra to visit China after the founding of New China.
Violinist Herbert Wright, who toured China with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1973, still remembers flying from Philadelphia on a Pan Am Boeing 707 to Shanghai via Honolulu and Tokyo, arriving in Beijing after a short stop in Shanghai.
"The performance was very successful, and the Chinese friends and audience were very enthusiastic. Through the performance, the orchestra transmits the emotions contained in the music to the Chinese audience, and the audience also receives the emotions we convey. Wright laughs and says that when he played, he felt a heart-to-heart connection with the audience.
Since the Philadelphia Orchestra's visit to China, the musical exchanges and interactions between China and the United States have become more frequent.
In 1978, Zhou Wenzhong, a Composer, Educator and Cultural Envoy of Chinese Descent, founded the "U.S.-China Art Exchange Center." Zhou Long and Chen Yi were still students at the time, and in the 1980s, they went to the United States to study under the funding of the "U.S.-China Art Exchange Center."
Zhou Long and Chen Yi were the first composers to be admitted to the Central Conservatory of Music after the reform and opening up, and systematically studied traditional Chinese music in the composition department, "In the 1970s, Professor John Jones visited China, which made us have a strong interest in Western music in the 20th century. At that time, I created works such as "QinGe" and "Guangling San", and the school also invited other American composers to visit China, and we had a good discussion, which is why I applied to Columbia University to seek further study. Zhou Long recalled.
During his studies with Zhou Wenzhong at Columbia University, Chen Yi remembers that Zhou Wenzhong often gathered Chinese composition doctoral students and other scholars to discuss how to integrate traditional Chinese culture into creation, and to explore the development direction of Sino-US music and cultural exchanges. Since then, Chen Yi has composed the pipa solo "Point" for a modern music festival at Columbia University.
Since 1998, from Columbia University to the Central Conservatory of Music and the Tianjin Conservatory of Music, the "husband and wife" composers have repeatedly promoted the exchange of music and culture between China and the United States, "We hope to integrate all aspects of culture together to improve mutual understanding between different cultures." Chen Yi said.
In 1979, the famous American violinist Isaac Stern visited China, and the Hollywood team that accompanied him to China filmed the documentary "From Mao Zedong to Mozart", which won the Oscar. Li Weigang, then 15, and Wang Jian, 10, appeared in the documentary.
At that time, Wang Jian was studying cello at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, often playing for visitors on behalf of the school. "I was very happy and content to hear Mr. Stern call out Bravo to me." Young Wang Jianshang did not understand the significance of this trip to China, and realized many years later that it was an important turning point in the development of classical music in China.
"Classical music education in China at that time was mainly imitating Western artists and then asking students not to make mistakes, but Mr. Stern's teaching emphasized musical performance. He believes that music is just a medium, and what we really have to do is to explore, to show, to deepen, to feel the emotions that each of us has. If the performers can show what they have heard in their respective souls, the audience will surely have an echo. ”
"He showed us that music is not an exercise, not a rigid form of expression, and that music has real meaning only if it truly expresses its feelings." Wang Jian believes that Stern's visit to China sowed a seed, that is, from then on, the performers began to go abroad, embrace the world, and become a member of the international music stage.
Luo Benni, a graduate student of Tianjin Juilliard College, asked questions on the spot
Tianjin Juilliard School plays a new role
50 years ago, the Philadelphia Orchestra used music as a medium to promote friendship between the chinese and American peoples, and 50 years later, music is still a bridge of mutual understanding between the peoples of China and the United States. As a model of Sino-US educational cooperation, Tianjin Juilliard School has played an important role in the new era.
In 1987, then-President of the Juilliard School in New York, Joseph M. W. Pollich led the Julia Orchestra to China, which became the first American student orchestra to tour China. In 2008, invited by the "Olympic Cultural Festival" in Beijing, Polich once again led the Julia Orchestra to tour China as a "cultural messenger".
"I have seen the development of China, and I can feel that classical music must have a broad and long-term development space in China." Pollich remembers that in 2008, the audience at the Chinese concert was completely different from the early years, with some five- and six-year-old children in the audience, but they focused on music and did not make noise.
Over the years, he has been deeply involved in the moments of Sino-US music exchanges, and Polich sighed, "From 1987 to 2008, and now, China has undergone tremendous changes. In particular, in 2008, the National Centre for the Performing Arts of China had just opened, and theaters across China mushroomed. I had a strong idea that the Juilliard School must become a participant in the development of Classical Chinese music. ”
More than a decade ago, Pollich put forward the vision of "one school, two campuses", and since then, he has traveled back and forth between China and the United States countless times to promote the construction and development of Tianjin Juilliard School with partners of the two countries.
In 2021, Tianjin Juilliard's new campus in Tianjin Binhai New Area was officially inaugurated, which is also the first time that Juilliard College has set up a branch campus overseas in more than 100 years since its establishment. Tianjin Is committed to the teaching of "Ensemble Art" and has tailored three specialties to China's needs – Orchestral Performance, Chamber Music Performance, and Piano Art Direction.
Inspired by the Tianjin Juilliard School, Li Weigang, the first violinist of the Shanghai Quartet, who has lived in the United States for more than 30 years, chose to return to China and settle in Tianjin - as a resident teacher of Tianjin Juilliard College, he helped China's chamber music education.
"There are many reasons why the Shanghai Quartet came back to China and joined the Juilliard School, but there will always be a new way and a platform to continue to pass on what we have learned in the United States over the past 35 years to the next generation of musicians, especially Asian and Chinese musicians, because I was one of them and I know how to avoid some detours." Li Weigang said frankly, "There are many very good chamber music teachers in China's conservatories, and there are also ensemble courses, but I think that chamber music has not received enough attention, and I hope that we at Tianjin Juilliard School can serve as a model to promote the development of chamber music in China." ”
"As artists and educators, we want to foster dialogue through music and the arts, bring two great countries closer together, and provide our students with a wealth of knowledge to generate more thinking to build cultural bridges and draw a blueprint for 'music without borders.'" Tianjin Juilliard School Artistic Director He Wei looking forward to the future said.
Pollich has always believed that music has a special power to bring together social groups and traditions around the world, "I think the founding of the Tianjin Juilliard School shows the joint efforts of both China and the United States, which is the result of the fusion of China's musical and cultural thickness with the resources and traditions of the Juilliard School." We've seen a lot of these exchanges over the past three years. Polich is convinced that the Tianjin Juilliard School will be a hub of exchange, "which will promote the convergence of new ideas and be able to try to bring together two very important cultures to create a new future together." ”