On October 16 and 17, the Baroque vocal theater work "Ode to Nature" was staged at the Sanlitun Red Pavilion
On October 12, the Semi-stage version of the opera "The Journey of the Prodigal Son", which was initiated and co-produced by the Beijing International Music Festival, premiered in China
Condensed orchestras, "hipster" actors, metallic and industrial-style minimalist stages – when these elements are combined, you might guess that this is a lively jazz or musical, in fact this scene comes from the semi-stage version of the opera "The Journey of the Prodigal Son" staged at the Poly Theater on October 12, and it is also the first performance of the masterpiece by the music master Stravinsky in China and even in East Asia. As a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Stravinsky's death, the 24th Beijing International Music Festival with the theme of "Masters and Remembrance" initiated the creation and co-production with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, presenting this artistic classic that can be called a pearl to the audience in the capital with great boldness and a new perspective.
Unforgettable "premiere moments"
Since the first Beijing International Music Festival was successfully held in october of 1998, the development of classical music in China has ushered in an unprecedented period of high speed. The legendary masters and world famous troupes that can only be seen in the record recordings in the past 24 years have flocked to the audience, offering audiences a beautiful moment that has long been preserved in the memory with the people-friendly ticket price.
What is even more rare is that the Beijing International Music Festival has introduced a series of musical masterpieces in China with high-standard artistic status and international positioning, including Brahms's "German Requiem", Mahler's "Eighth Symphony "Thousand People", Schoenberg's "Song of Gu lei", Britten's "War Requiem" and other voluminous epic masterpieces, as well as Pendretsky's "Paradise Lost" and "Seventh Symphony", Thomas Attis's "Shelter", Salonen's "Fever" And so on even in Europe and the United States on the stage of modern and contemporary works that are rare to hear. In addition, the performance of all of Mahler's symphonies in a single music festival, all 32 piano sonatas, 9 symphonies and 10 violin sonatas of Beethoven, and the relay of 9 orchestras to dedicate 14 hours of symphonic marathons can be described as unique, which have played an important role in the popularization and dissemination of classical music art in China.
On October 16 and 17, 2021, in the Red Pavilion in Sanlitun, a famous fashion and lifestyle landmark in Beijing, a musical theater work "Ode to Nature" directed by Zou Shuang, artistic director of the Beijing International Music Festival, met the Beijing audience for the first time. This work is based on the simple and moving "Nine German Arias" by the German music master Handel in the Baroque period and the "Beautiful Silence" by the Belgian composer Wim Hendricks, and the protagonist played by soprano Singer Li Jingjing tells the theatrical core of the environmental theme in the beautiful singing, so that the audience can feel the humanistic feelings of the music master spanning three centuries in the novel stage experience. Like Stravinsky's The Journey of the Prodigal Son, this musical, which is dedicated to excavating and presenting "unpopular masterpieces" rare in the contemporary music stage, represents the Beijing International Music Festival's artistic pursuit of a higher dimension beyond the expansion of literature, that is, to find a new path for dialogue between classic works and contemporary audiences.
From introducing classics to leading ideas
As The first professional classical music festival in China, the biggest impact of the Beijing International Music Festival on the Chinese classical music market is undoubtedly in the field of opera. Opera, which combines drama, literature, music and choreography, is known as the "jewel in the crown of stage art", and the huge cost of production and performance, as well as the objective restrictions of language and culture, also make it difficult for opera art to spread in any country where non-classical music originates. However, the Beijing International Music Festival has staged more than 50 operas in just 20 years, including the Chinese premiere of nearly 30 operas, which has to be said to be a "miracle".
From Wagner's huge works "The Ring of the Nibelungen" and "Parsifal", to Richard Strauss's "Rose Rider" and "Elektra", from "Nabuco" and "Tosca", which represent the glorious Italian opera tradition, to "Sells", "Carmen", "Lady Macbeth of Mtzensk County" that span a long time and space, these unmissable "core documents" in the history of world opera have been magnificently bloomed at a high level through the stage of the Beijing International Music Festival.
After the remarkable achievements of "introducing classics", the festival has devoted its energy to "leading concepts", and a series of sharp, vivid and contemporary new opera or musical theater works have been launched at a high frequency in the past few years: the new National Drama "Bawang Bieji", which combines national essence art and new world musical styles, is refreshing, the original immersion opera "Orfio" and the immersive environmental opera "Don Juan" pay tribute to the classics with the most cutting-edge stage trends, and the virtual reality (VR) musical experience drama "捌" is only available to one audience at a time" Privately customized "music experience... The exploratory artists have found a platform for display and expression on the stage of the Beijing International Music Festival, and what has changed is only the vision and perspective of presenting art, and what has not changed is the same serious attitude and professionalism as always.
As Yu Long, chairman of the Beijing International Music Festival Art Committee and a famous conductor, said: "If it is just a literary and art performance, then the music festival is not enough to call it a 'festival'." It requires constant innovation and forward-looking art planning to bring you an advanced artistic experience. When we entered Sanlitun, many people did not understand what we were going to do, and now everyone can see that the new stage perspective is being successfully practiced. ”
Commissioned creation and powerful alliance
Whether it is the Salzburg Music Festival, the Proms, or the Edinburgh Arts Festival, the Lincoln Center Festival, an art institution with a strong heritage and international influence should not be satisfied with bringing together the top art lineup, but also form and transmit its own style, temperament, attitude and voice, it is gratifying that the Beijing International Music Festival has had this consciousness from the early days of its establishment, and through high-level joint cooperation and a series of commissioned creations, it has created a precedent for Chinese art institutions to connect with the world.
Nuremberg State Theatre, La Fenice Opera in Venice, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Leipzig Opera in Germany, Easter Festival in Salzburg, Opera Dresden, Tyrol Festival in Austria, Provence-Aix International Festival in France, Boston Opera... These important art institutions in the world art map have established a deep friendship with the Beijing International Music Festival in one cooperation after another, and have left a benchmark artistic presentation. Starting from the premiere of the Beijing International Music Festival's "Cello Concerto" by modernist composer Philip Glass in 2001, Pendlevsky, Peter Rutzechka, Chen Yinshu, George Benjamin and many other international first-line composers have brought excellent works to Chinese audiences through the Beijing International Music Festival.
What is more far-reaching is that in 2002, the "China Concept" was first proposed, and special concerts by Chinese composers such as Ye Xiaogang, Chen Qigang, Guo Wenjing, Tan Dun were staged in turn, whether it was the long-established Chinese pride or the fledgling Chinese rookies, they all unreservedly gave back their most devoted music creations to the audience of the Beijing International Music Festival.
On October 24th, the 24th Beijing International Music Festival will conclude with a concert with the theme of "New Works and Commemorations", and the famous composer and conductor Tan Dun will bring his own works "Fire Sacrifice" and "Pipa and Guzheng Double Concerto" and Stravinsky's "Firebird Suite" and "Fireworks" to start an East-West dialogue, which also ended the "Master and Memorial" of this year's music festival. Among them, the erhu concerto "Fire Festival" is the latest commissioned work of the Beijing International Music Festival.
From Zhou Long's opera "The Legend of the White Snake", which won the Pulitzer Prize in the United States, to Chen Qigang's violin concerto "Sorrow and Joy", which won the favor of violin master Wen Gelov, from Tan Dun's rock ataxia overture "Youth", which opened the audience's eyes, to Zou Ye's vocal music and choral symphony "Dedicated to 2020", which is the hero of the singing era and reflects the theme of anti-epidemic, the voice from China has gone to the world stage from here, which is the Beijing International Music Festival's dedication to its original intention and mission for 24 years.
From the "distribution center" of famous troupes to the "incubator" of artistic masterpieces, from inheriting classics to leading the times, the 24-year-old Beijing International Music Festival is both young and mature, looking forward to dedicating more surprises to the audience and continuing to write the Golden Autumn Chapter belonging to Beijing.
Source: Beijing Youth Daily