After five years of development, the Beijing
Music Festival has become one of the grandest and most
significant annual cultural events in China as well as in the world. Its impact
has been increasing gradually. This year's festival has the following
highlights:
Promotion of Chinese Music
While introducing foreign masterpieces to
Chinese audiences, this year's festival is also to promote Chinese works, and
invite a large number of Chinese musicians who are active on world stage to play
their own works. Besides performances of musicians such as Hu Yongyan, Wan Jian,
Li Yundi, Lu Jia,
Lang Lang, and Hu Wenge, concerts focusing on native feature and feelings will
also be appealing to the audience, including Ye Xiaogang Composition Concert
named Chinese Passion, Chen Qigang Composition Concert named Butterflies
Lingering over Flowers, and a concert named Stir Up the Heart presented
by Zhu Zongqing Ju Percussion Group from Taiwan.
Mahler Symphony No.8 Declares Open the
Festival
Conducted by Yu Long, some 1,000 artists
from home and abroad got together to present the great work of Mahler
Symphony No.8. It was the first time the symphony was performed in China.
Mahler was one of the few outstanding conductor and composer in the late
19th and early 20th century. This piece of symphony is
also known as Symphony 1000, because it needs approximately 1,000 artists from
orchestras and choruses to perform together. With huge as its prominent feature,
the symphony is hard to play in itself, let alone with so many people. It places
a great test on the organizing staff, and also on the conductor who must
coordinate the chorus with the orchestra.
Magnificent Performances Come in a Throng
On October 13, the concert of
20th Century American Musical Highlights, conducted by Hu Yongyan,
was put on the stage, including Bernstein's Three Dances from On the
Town, Corigliano's Pied Piper Fantasy, Bernstein's Symphonic Dances
Westside Story, and Gershwin's Excerpts from Porgy and Bess. It
was performed by the New York Choral Society, which was reputed as Mighty
Chorus by the media, and the Shanghai Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra,
which was once conducted by renowned female conductor Zhang Peiyu and launched a
tour around Europe.
On October 15, Ye Xiaogang Composition
Concert, conducted by Hu Yongyan, was presented to the audience, including
Lake (first world performance), The Last Paradise, written for
violin and orchestra, Twilight in Tibet for tenor, horn and orchestra,
and Great Wall Symphony for piano, voice, Chinese instruments and
orchestra.
On October 16, the concert of Chinese
renowned pianist Lang Lang with New York Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted
by Lorin Maazel, was put on stage. Compositions included Mussorgsky's
Night on the Bare Mountain, Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No.2 in
C minor, and Sibelius' Symphony No. 2 in D major.
Super Ticket
The China Performing Arts Agency (CPAA) was
appointed as the ticket seller for this year's festival. The CPAA has launched a
nationwide ticketing network, a promotion system that boasts functions such as
ticket inquiry, booking and purchase.
(Source: Music
Weekly)
