Musicians rehearsing for tonight's New Year's concert.
By admin on 2014-12-29

For many music-lovers in China, attending a live classical Chinese music concert is an indispensable part of their New Year and Spring Festival celebrations. Every year orchestras and ensembles across the country present a selection of classic and traditional pieces, with this year's upcoming shows moving into a more contemporary genre.

Tonight Rejoicing Dragon and Phoenix: 2010 Global Chinese Grand Spring Festival Concert will take to the stage of the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in Beijing. The event will also be broadcast tomorrow evening, Lunar New Year's Eve, to viewers in 150 countries on the Phoenix TV network.

Presented by China National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of world-acclaimed conductor Chen Zuohuang, the concert will feature a rich pallet of traditional Chinese music, while integrating global musical concepts, including the Year of Chopin, world peace and environmental concerns.

"As China is playing an increasingly visible role on the world stage, the celebration of Chinese New Year is gaining growing attention the world over," Chen Zuohuang told the Global Times. "Therefore it is important to feature a broader musical perspective in this year's New Year's concert by introducing works of Western classical music and modern arrangements to the traditional Chinese music repertoire."

The concert will start with Wild Dance of the Golden Snake, one of the most celebrated pieces of Chinese music during this time of year. The musical score has been rearranged for the pipe organ, a symphony orchestra and Chinese percussion instruments, making full use of the fact that NCPA boasts the largest pipe organ in the world, according to Chen.

Another highlight on the program will be Ceremony and the Music (Li Yue) that featured during the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The work will by performed by zither artist Chang Jing accompanied by a live chorus and symphony orchestra.

Fans of Chinese music will be treated to Festival Overture, Snow Mountain rearranged for suona, bamboo flute and orchestra. The classic erhu concerto The Spring Festival's Eve is also part of the concert.

Four Sea Interludes by Benjamin Britten and Beethoven's Chorus Choral Fantasy performed by Chinese piano prodigy Chen Sa will also be a treat to fans of classical music.

"The reason why we collaborated with China National Symphony Orchestra is that it provides a wider range of choices for music than an orchestra of traditional Chinese music," Chen explained. "What's comforting to know is that after several decades of experimentation, the fusion of Chinese music and Western orchestral music is finally bearing fruit and there are more successful adaptations that are proving to be popular among Chinese and foreign audiences."

"I think this musical innovation is worth encouraging, as long as the creation does not stray away from the value and essence of traditional Chinese music and culture," Chen added.

Scheduled for February 21- 23, also at NCPA, Chinese National Orchestra will present Special Moonlight – Chinese National Orchestra Multimedia Concert.

"This concert is a new musical presentation attempted by Chinese National Orchestra," head of the orchestra, Xi Qiang, told the Global Times. "We will compare traditional Chinese musical pieces and Western works featuring the same themes but completely different styles, we want to present concert goers with a fresh musical experience," he said.

The concert will open with Spring Festival Overture by Chinese composer Li Huanzhi, followed by Carmen Overture by Bizet. Both inspired by natural scenery, Moonlight of Spring River will be paralleled with Italian folk song My Sun.

While both featuring animal themes, the audience will be treated to The Swan, created for the pipa and orchestra by Chinese composer Liu Dehai and Saint Saens' piece of the same name. The Ant composed for the erhu and orchestra will be followed by Flight of the Bumble-Bee featuring the marimba, pipa and orchestra.

"As China is integrating into the international society, politically and economically, cultural exchanges and communications are also on the agenda," Xi explained.

"Traditional Chinese music is also evolving in an effort to keep abreast with the developments of our time."

"In recent years, Chinese National Orchestra has been dedicated to the creation of new productions for traditional Chinese music while adapting Western scores into Chinese formats. Some of these attempts are proving to be successful, as we won great applause on our annual Europe concert tour," Xi added.

"We just finished our performance in the Golden Hall of Musikvereingeb?ude in Vienna with the similar format of the concert Special Moonlight," Qi said. "It was warmly received by the European audience and they expressed their appreciation of the juxtapositions and fusing of music from the East and West.

"I think the key to successful adaptation and renovation of Chinese music is to stick to the melodic musicality of the East," Qi added.

For traditional Chinese music lovers in Shanghai, The Fiery Red Chinese New Year, a classical Chinese music concert dedicated to the World Expo, will be presented by Shanghai Chinese Orchestra at Shanghai Oriental Art Center, on February 17.