Fangfei in May, the music of the capital. On April 29, the reporter learned at the press conference of the 2024 May Music Festival of the National Centre for the Performing Arts that from May 1 to 25, 24 high-quality concerts will be performed at the National Centre for the Performing Arts and the Beijing Arts Center.
Since 2009, the NCPA May Music Festival has been planned and launched for 14 years, and has become a key theme art festival and performance card of the NCPA. With the theme of "Music for the Future", this year's May Music Festival brings together outstanding artists and well-known troupes from around the world, and 24 concerts cover the National Centre for the Performing Arts and Beijing Arts Center for the first time.
The May Festival will also "walk out" of the concert hall. The artists will go into hospitals, schools, municipalities and villages in public welfare activities, so that chamber music can truly flow in the city, create a strong elegant artistic atmosphere, and strive to promote the "breaking circle" of classical music culture. Wang Luqui, Deputy Director of the Performance Department of the National Centre for the Performing Arts, revealed, "This year's May Music Festival has planned more than 10 'going out' sessions, from Xiong'an New Area to scenic spots, from cities to suburbs, focusing on the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, hoping to let thousands of friends be nourished by music, see the beauty of art and enjoy the beauty of life." ”
As the opening ceremony brand of the May Music Festival, the specially curated concert "Bowstring Feast", which began in 2018, will return in 2024. On the basis of the previous violin, the "Bowstring Feast" has added wind music, harp and other musical instruments, striving to present a more diverse and wonderful combination. Lu Siqing, Artistic Director of the May Music Festival, introduced: "This year, my "Meijie Trio" concert with Qin Liwei and Sun Yingdi will work with Huang Mengla, Su Zhen, Chen Xi, Luo Chaowen and other string masters and rookies, and six musicians of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra to introduce flutes, harps and other musical instruments on the basis of string music, from Baroque to modern times, from Europe to South America and China, to show the rich beauty of bowstring art in various aspects, and fully demonstrate the international exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and foreign artists in the continuous dialogue between Chinese and foreign music classics. ”
Ms. Sophie Gareth, Director of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, said that she was honored to be the first international orchestra to be the opening concert of the May Music Festival of the National Centre for the Performing Arts, and hoped to use music to build a bridge of communication and convey the beautiful emotions of mankind through art.
Violinist Huang Mengla, who has participated in the "Bowstring Feast" for four consecutive years, said, "In recent years, the attendance rate of the opening performance of the May Music Festival has been extremely high, from the repertoire planning to the composition of the artists, let us see the importance that the Grand Theatre attaches to the music festival and the high pursuit of art. The development momentum and artistic standard of the festival also made me realize that the young generation of musicians in the future must closely follow suit, and only on high-quality platforms can musicians stand higher and go further. ”
In the opening concert, violinist Chen Xi will perform Mendelssohn's String Octet with seven Chinese and foreign artists. Each artist has their own style and has a 'voice', but in ensemble collaboration, we respect each other, seek common ground while reserving differences, and work together to find the essence of the work that moves the audience. ”
In addition to the opening concert of the "Bowstring Feast", the Italian Musicians Ensemble, the Copenhagen Old Orchestra, the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Philharmonic Orchestra, the Meijie Trio, Pingshas Zuckerman, Shen Fanxiu, the National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra and other famous domestic and foreign artists will lead the audience to dialogue with the classics, and dedicate works by Baroque composers such as Vivaldi, Scarlatti, and Bach. The works of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven will also be performed in a special concert, detailing the classical spirit of the composers. In this year's closing concert, Ning Feng, NCPA's artist-in-residence, will perform two works of Mozart with the orchestra. In this performance, he will 'pull himself to self-refer', which can be said to be an in-depth spiritual exchange between the orchestra and Ning Feng. Tang Ning, head of the program operation group of the National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra, said.
In addition, works by Mendelssohn, Dvořák, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Williams and other romantic and modern composers will also be performed in rotation at the May Festival. A number of domestic troupes will showcase their talents, among which the Beijing Chinese Orchestra will perform a fusion of traditional and modern, popular and classic folk music works, interpreting the "most beautiful national style".
Jazz has always been the standard for "Midnight Rose". This year, the famous musician Li Quan will meet the audience for an early summer night and swing romantic. At the concert, music fans will not only be able to go back to the 30s and 40s of the last century, experience jazz and pop hits, but also listen to contemporary pop music produced by Li Quan. It is worth looking forward to the fact that all the tracks have been carefully designed and arranged by Li Quan and other artists, combining the beauty of the original work with the dazzling beauty of jazz.
Straddling classical, jazz and pop, the "Fifth Element" Saxophone Quintet will continue to bring a new experience of classical music to the audience of Beijing Arts Center with their witty performances and exquisite arrangements.