The "Chinese Complex" of Russian Musicians

□ Belosova Nadezhda, Daniliki Ekaterina

Cultural exchanges between China and Russia have a long history, and Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake", "The Nutcracker", "Sleeping Beauty" and the popular "Kalinka", "Katyusha" and "Cranberry Blossom" have long been integrated into the program list of daily Chinese music performances.

Zuo Zhenguan

The perfect blend of Western instruments and Chinese folk music

Zuo Zhenguan, a Russian-Chinese composer and music theorist, was born in Shanghai in 1945. At the age of 16, he moved to his grandmother's house in Siberia, where he was admitted to the cello class of the Irkutsk Conservatory and then to the composition department of the Moscow Conservatory, where he became a composer after graduation. In 2017, he published the book "Russian Musicians in China", which details the exchange of music between China and Russia since the beginning of the 20th century.

For him, music is a calling and a career for his life. He is adept at blending Western instruments with the sounds of traditional Chinese instruments, such as one of his most famous works, Symphony "Little River Flowing Water" (also known as "The Maiden and the Dragon King"), adapted from a folk song in southwestern China's Yunnan Province.

Yuri Shishkin

Fantastic trip to China

Since 1991, Yuri Shishkin, honorary artist of the Russian Federation, honorary vice-president of the World Federation of Accordionists and solo artist of the Rostov State Chamber Orchestra, has begun to cooperate with China. Yuri Shishkin said, "I had the privilege of coming to China, which was completely influenced by the famous accordionist and music educator Mr. Jiang Jie. Mr. Jiang Jie was the principal of the first accordion school in China, and in the 1990s, he established China's first International Accordion Art Festival, and I became the first Soviet accordion player to visit China. To my utter astonishment, the 3,000-seat auditorium was packed! ”

In 2006, when he performed for the first time at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, the vice president of the Conservatory said in his speech, "When I was 15 years old, my father and I went to Beijing to attend Yuri Shishkin's concert, and now I am 30 years old. The Conservatory of Music decided to invite the musician to be an honorary professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Yuri Shishkin once spoke incessantly about the hospitality of Chinese people. On his first visit to China, Mr. Jiang Jie arranged a series of schedules for him - meeting with the Minister of Culture, visiting factories, six-hour interviews... He once rode through the city in a car bearing the flags of the former Soviet Union and China. In 30 years, he and Jiang Jie have performed nearly 100 concerts in China.

Oksana Yakovleva

As far as the eye can see, it is all music

The "Cossack Round Dance" is a group of the Rostov State Chamber Orchestra. In June 2012, the "Cossack Round Dance" song and dance troupe represented the Rostov Oblast in the "Russian Cultural Festival" within the framework of the "Year of Russian Tourism" in China. Oksana Yakovleva, manager of the Rostov State Chamber Orchestra who led the team to China, shared her trip to Xi'an, "The performance program included dances and Songs in Russian, and we also sang the song "Night outside Moscow" in Chinese. We also brought the Song and Dance Performance on the Don River to the 'Russian Cultural and Music Festival'", in her eyes, "Chinese people are warm and kind, accompanied us to taste local food, visit museums, and the Terracotta Warriors in the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang made us breathtaking".

Yakovleva observes China in meticulous detail with the eyes of a professional musician, "like the Russians, Chinese can always face everything in life with a positive attitude." Chinese morning exercises, square dancing, aerobics, kite flying, in my eyes are flowing music."

Yakovleva was very fond of Chinese tea culture, and in her eyes, "the tea ceremony is a pleasant art." The etiquette of tea tasting has a profound meaning, which can calm the body and mind, heal the wounds, precipitate oneself, and accumulate strength. Moreover, when tasting tea, you must appreciate traditional Chinese classical music, which is even more fascinating than the tea art itself. The surrounding birds chirping, the babbling of streams, the wind blowing the forest trees complement the exquisite tea sets, and the calligraphy and paintings full of ancient Chinese style, which together depict a picture full of poetry and full of life rhythm. ”

Alexander Kölntaev

"City of Music" Harbin

In 2016, at the invitation of relevant parties in Harbin, the "Don River People" Chinese Orchestra came to participate in the "International Accordion Week" music festival. According to the meritorious artist Alexander Kölntaev, "The festival was held in the prestigious Harbin Concert Hall, which can accommodate 2,000 spectators. No microphone is required when playing, and there are special sound catchers and distributors to create special acoustic effects." "In the neighborhood near the venue, I met nearly 50 children with accordions," he said. The children were well trained and walked along to play the Russian pieces "Evening outside Moscow" and "Katyusha". The children handed my colleague an accordion, she started playing, and I sang. The Chinese present are very familiar with these melodies, with the singing and piano sounds, some people sing softly, some people stop to listen... It all happens on the street, so naturally, so incredible... We walked down the street and could hear the Russian songs "Kalinka" and "Cranberry Blossom" coming out of the store..."

(The author is the editor of the Information Policy and Advertising Department of the Rostov State Chamber Orchestra of Russia)

Source: Heilongjiang Daily