"Can't run a music festival?" In 2020, no matter where you go, Zou Shuang, artistic director of the Beijing International Music Festival, will always be asked such questions. The problem continued this year, and in the context of the ongoing global epidemic, The Chinese classical music industry began another year of "internal circulation". In the case that foreign masters cannot visit, how should the Beijing "International" Music Festival maintain its tonality and vision? It is gratifying and amazing that Chinese musicians have held up a piece of the sky.
Tribute to the Masters
Making East and West Cultures Equal "Dialogue"
"We must commemorate not only those Western, distant masters, but also our own, living masters." This is the view that conductor Yu Long, chairman of the art committee of the Beijing International Music Festival, has always insisted on. In 2021, Western music giants such as Saint-Sang, Mahler and Stravinsky, as well as Chinese composers such as Ding Shande and Chen Qigang, ushered in the whole year of birth or death, and under the theme of "Masters and Commemoration", this year's music festival has given new interpretation space to the "Chinese Concept" that has always been adhered to.
On the evening of October 10th, at the "Journey of the Soul" special concert, four works created by Guo Wenjing in the 21st century covered a variety of genres and comprehensively demonstrated the discussion of modern music and traditional Chinese music; subsequently, the concert of the symphonic works of Saint-Sang and Chen Qigang in "Like a Drama Life", and the concert of "Singing of Life" Mahler and Ding Shande Art Songs were staged one after another.
The common musical language builds a bridge of equal dialogue, and the characteristics of Eastern and Western cultures are highlighted to the extreme in the same stage comparison. For example, in the view of conductor Jing Huan, there is "a positive force" in Saint-Sang's music, Chen Qigang interweaves the thick connotation of Chinese aesthetics in deep melodies, and Mahler and Ding Shande's "dialogue" has attracted more attention for Chinese art songs. Who says art songs are only Schubert? Soprano Huang Ying believes that her interpretation of Ding Shande's "Western Yunnan Poetry Banknote" is a work of "special mood and special taste", as if it were a sparse and light Chinese landscape painting. After many years on the international stage, Huang Ying sincerely sighed, "This is the direction that Chinese art songs should go." ”
When Chinese had already mastered the works of Saint-Saën and Mahler, Yu long believed that it was time to let "the Western understanding of the East enter a higher level." On October 24, another "dialogue" will conclude the festival, with composer Tan Dun conducting the China Philharmonic Orchestra to explore new possibilities of traditional Chinese music in the collision with Stravinsky. "While respecting and inheriting traditions, we must also develop traditions." Guo Wenjing said. In his view, in today's cultural exchange context, understanding the "Chinese concept" must "emancipate the mind.".
After the wave rises
The younger generation breathes new life
Standing on the shoulders of the predecessors, the turbulent "back wave" also ushered in the opportunity to break the cocoon into a butterfly.
On the evening of October 18th, in the Red Pavilion of Sanlitun North District, the melody of Schoenberg's "Sublimation Night" was overflowing, and on the stage, the exquisite skills of the performers formed a wonderful contrast with their youthful faces. The new classical chamber orchestra, which was awarded the "Nestlé Cup-BMF Young Musician Award" at this year's music festival, has only officially debuted this year, and the conductor Jin Yumin and the musicians are the same age as the post-00s generation. In an era when the epidemic has hit classical music hard, they have broken into the industry vision with vigorous vitality.
"The original intention of the establishment of the orchestra is not to waste time in mediocrity, to do something with friends, to challenge difficult works, this is the 'momentum' of young people." Li Bingzhang, another founder of the orchestra and one of the principal violinists, introduced. At the premiere concert, the Neoclassical Chamber Orchestra targeted Stravinsky's Concerto in E major, Dumbarton Oaks, and Copeland's Appalachian Spring, two of the most difficult neoclassical masterpieces. Compared to professional ensembles, neoclassical chamber orchestras are clearly more liberal, and Jinyu mine compares it to a "sports car" that "starts faster and steers faster." They want to bravely try more, to give their own interpretation of the "neoclassical", "while constantly improving the performance technology, but also to introduce works that are not often staged in China to more audiences." In the contemporary 'classical' music industry, we look forward to bringing you some 'new' experiences. ”
The young people's sincere love for music always makes Zou Shuang very moved. In just over an hour of concert, the neoclassical chamber orchestra carefully planned for half a year, and never stopped rehearsing. "There's still a big difference between a hundred times and a row of two hundred." Jinyu Mine shows a stubbornness to keep improving. "This kind of mentality is really not something that can be seen in all orchestras." Zou Shuang said frankly.
"The Beijing International Music Festival has always been committed to building a display platform for the new forces." Yu Long said, "Back then, we took the tinder from the hands of older musicians such as Li Delun, and now the tinder is to be passed on to younger faces." Zou Shuang also sighed that the afterlife was terrible. She sometimes recalls that on the stage of last year's music festival, 10 young violinists joined forces to play Beethoven's full violin sonata, and at the darkest moment when global classical music stagnated, Chinese musicians presented a "feat" to pay tribute to the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth.
The younger generation has proved with their own practical actions that they can already take over the heavy responsibility of "picking the beams". Zou Shuang felt that the arrival of the neoclassical chamber orchestra was like a signal, "We have been waiting for such an orchestra." "The whole new era of Chinese musicians has already opened the curtain.
International docking
Insist on showing a pioneering vision
"5G, streaming and other technologies have allowed me to see concerts in all corners of the world, especially after the epidemic began." Jinyu Mine said. The neo-classical chamber orchestra, which is highly in line with the world's forefront, is a microcosm of the Beijing International Music Festival, which has never forgotten its own positioning and mission.
On October 16 and 17, the Red Pavilion in the north district of Sanlitun, located in the bustling hinterland, was transformed into a "garbage dump" filled with black garbage bags by the Baroque musical theater "Ode to Nature". The Nine German Arias composed by Handel in the Baroque period are contrasted in parallel with the modern instrumental works composed by the Belgian composer Hendrix, and the extreme contrast between harmony and noise, nature and technology, leads the audience to reflect on modern civilization.
Zou Shuang directed "Ode to Nature", according to her, the creation of this work began at the end of 2019, when "nature" and "environmental protection" were hot topics around the world. After the outbreak of the epidemic, the music festival still did not give up international cooperation: Zou Shuang completed the world premiere of "Ode to Nature" at the Clara Music Festival in Belgium through video connection; stage designer Dan Porter modeled in Australia, and the Chinese team completed the landing 1-to-1; the key prop "Cabbage" was made in Belgium, each leaf was numbered, and it also experienced a quarantine when it was sent to China...
Soprano Singer Li Jingjing witnessed the ultimate challenge that this year's music festival poses to Chinese musicians. A few days before completing her one-man show Ode to Nature, "Without Any Chance to Rest or Hide", she had just participated in Stravinsky's opera The Journey of the Prodigal Son. Seventy years after the world premiere, the work finally came to Beijing with the help of the platform of the music festival. "If it weren't for director Zou Shuang's repeated insistence, I don't think I would have ranked such a work." Starting October 2, 10 hours of high-intensity rehearsals a day made conductor Zhang Jiemin's voice hoarse. Mezzo-soprano singer Han Yinpei and bass singer Zhang Wenwei even thought at one point that they simply could not gnaw the hard bone of "The Journey of the Prodigal Son" in a week. The English lyrics, complex harmonies, and highly layered musical layers made everyone suffer a lot.
"In all of East Asia, 'The Journey of the Prodigal Son' has not been staged." Zou Shuang said. However, in Europe and the United States, this work has been performed very frequently in recent years. "We hope that the Beijing International Music Festival will continue to play a pioneering role." Zou Shuanghe and the music festival have always insisted on pulling Chinese audiences into the world track to see what is happening on the international stage, and this grand wish is being practiced and realized by the efforts of generations of Chinese musicians.
Source: Beijing Evening News Reporter Gao Qian
Process Editor: u008
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