Source Title: Witnessing China’s Development with Music to Pay Tribute to the 25th Anniversary of Beijing International Music Festival
From 1998 to the present, it has been based in Beijing for 25 years and integrated with the world. On the international stage, the appeal and influence of the Beijing International Music Festival has become increasingly prominent. A few days ago, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Beijing International Music Festival, a special event organized by the Asia Society was held at the New York headquarters. Music critic Ken Smith served as the host, Jamie Bernstein, daughter of composer Bernstein, and Chinese composers Zhou Long, Du Yun, and Zhou Tian had a conversation. Beijing International Music Festival Artistic Director Zou Shuang spoke online. Participate in video.
As a freelance writer, Ken Smith has been in contact with music institutions all over the world for many years, and the Beijing International Music Festival is one of his closest institutions in Asia. In October 2001, Ken Smith came to the Beijing International Music Festival for the first time. In just one weekend, he witnessed the Chinese premiere of the opera Nabucco at the National Theater in Warsaw, Poland, and Penderecki conducted Ma. Le’s Second Symphony and the China Philharmonic Orchestra’s Philip Glass’ Cello Concerto made the world premiere, and the following weekend, Oscar-winning Tan Dun returned to China for the first time. “Such high-frequency, high-quality programming is extremely rare even in a world-class concert hall, and it is very shocking.” Ken Smith said. 25 years may be just a moment in the long history, “but for the history of music in China and the United States, it is of great significance.”
Jamie Bernstein lamented the deep cultivation and cultivation of the Chinese classical music market by the Beijing International Music Festival. In 2000, she participated in the Beijing International Music Festival for the first time as a commentary for the “Concert in Commemoration of the 10th Anniversary of the Death of Leonard Bernstein”. “In addition to the language barrier, the percussion group was also very difficult, and it took me and the musicians a lot of extra effort to solve the problem,” says Jamie Bernstein. In 2018, when she came to Beijing again to collaborate with the China Philharmonic Orchestra in the symphonic live version of the film “West Side Story”, “I found that both Chinese orchestras and audiences, their understanding of father’s music has grown rapidly. There is no language barrier in my communication with the conductor and the orchestra, and the professionalism of the orchestra is also commendable. Over the past ten years, the progress of Beijing’s cultural atmosphere is obvious to all.”
Composer Zhou Long is also pleased with the rapid development of Chinese classical music. “In the 1980s, when I first arrived in the United States, I was very confused because the knowledge I was exposed to was completely different from what I had learned.” Zhou Long said. Zhou Wenzhong, his common teacher with composers such as Tan Dun and Sheng Zongliang, is also deeply troubled by the differences between Chinese and Western cultures and identity. In the 1990s, Zhou Wenzhong once said that his generation of composers has no audience, whether in China or the United States Neither can get a real resonance, but with the rapid rise of China and the all-round development of society, Zhou Long’s works with a distinctive Chinese cultural brand are not only recognized in the West, but also understood and appreciated by Chinese audiences. His representative opera “The Legend of the White Snake” was jointly commissioned by the Beijing International Music Festival and the Boston Opera House. Peking Opera elements were added to the work, and the falsetto tenor was ingeniously arranged, and he sang the male role in Peking Opera in all English. Eventually won the Pulitzer Prize for Music.
The opera “The Legend of the White Snake” is the beginning of the connection between the young composer Du Yun and the Beijing International Music Festival. “My earliest impression of the Beijing International Music Festival was the “Legend of the White Snake” I watched when I was in school,” said Du Yun. Later, her opera “Angel’s Bone” also won the Pulitzer Prize for Music. “Angel’s Bone” is not a traditional classical work and a Chinese story, but it shines on the stage of the 2019 Beijing International Music Festival, “Over the years, the Beijing International Music Festival has built a bridge of trust with the audience, the audience I believe in the selection and standard of the music festival, so I am curious enough about “Angel’s Bone”. I am very grateful to the Beijing International Music Festival for its tolerance and encouragement to young musicians.”
25 years have passed in a hurry, people will grow old, but the spirit of youth can last forever. In 2018, the post-80s Zou Shuang succeeded Yu Long, the founder of the Beijing International Music Festival, and became the second artistic director. In the past few years, Zou Shuang’s “new and cutting-edge unit” has introduced a large number of immersive operas and other novel music experiences. “During the formal contact with Mr. Yu Long, I was moved by his long-term planning and vision for the music festival. He particularly values and pays attention to how to inject a young perspective and fresh energy into the music festival.” Zou Shuang said. When she was working abroad, she has been paying attention to the development of modern performance forms in international cities such as London, New York, and Berlin. “The audience is not bound by ‘classical’. I hope that through the platform of the Beijing International Music Festival, China can be transformed into a It has become a creative workshop for a new generation of artists around the world, which not only brings new artistic concepts to domestic audiences, but also expands audiences for classical music.” In the context of the era when the epidemic is deeply shaping the performing arts industry, “In the future, the music festival will continue to Rooted in technology, connecting the world with an innovative musical language.”