Beijing Music Festival: Treat for Fans of Classical Music
Beijing festival, which opens on Oct 8, always features world-class musicians and concerts. Chen Jie reports.
October is the main season for classical music fans in the capital as the Beijing Music Festival always features world-class musicians and concerts. This year, the annual festival has a unique program to mark its 20th anniversary.
Yu Long, the artistic director of BMF will conduct the China Philharmonic Orchestra, of which he is also the music director, to open the festival on Oct 8.
The orchestra will perform with violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann and his violinist son Serge Zimmermann.
Then, in the next 22 days, the festival will feature 29 performances including three operas and children's concerts, lectures, masters-classes and opening rehearsals.
The highlights include Wagner's opera Die Walkure, all of Beethoven's symphonies by Deutsche Kammer Philharmonie Bremen, an orchestral marathon by nine of China's symphony orchestras and concerts dedicated to Chinese composers and works.
The BMF has presented 48 operas since it began in 1998. And 26 of them have made their debuts in China.
Wagner seems to be the favorite, though German composers' operas are not as popular as Italian ones like La Traviata, Aida or Turandot.
The BMF has staged Wagner's Tannhauser, Tristan and Isolde, The Master-Singers of Nuremberg and Parsifal.
In 2005, it took 15 hours over four nights for The Ring Cycle premiere in China.
This year, BMF has co-produced Die Walkure with the Salzburg Easter Festival.
In 1967, the first Salzburg Easter Festival presented Richard Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung, also known as Ring Cycle, conducted by Herbert von Karajan (1908-89).
This year, to mark the 50th anniversary of the festival, the Bulgarian director, Vera Nemirova, has produced Die Walkure, one section of the cycle, based on the original version of Karajan.
Treat for fans of classical music
"This revival not only brings back the historical Karajan creation, but poses questions as how the play is to be reinterpreted for our time," says Yu.
The Beijing production will feature an international cast and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Jaap Van Zweden.
Meanwhile, to mark the 190th anniversary of Beethoven's death, the BMF has invited The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bermen to perform all nine of Beethoven's symphonies.
"Beethoven is no stranger to Chinese audiences. And when talking about classical music, most people focus on Beethoven, Mozart or Tchaikovsky.
"And Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony are very popular.
"But it's very rare, actually, it's the first time to have all 9 of Beethoven's symphonies in a few days in Beijing," says Tu Song, BMF's Music Festival program director.
The other "large" program is an "Orchestral Marathon" - nine of China's orchestras, each conducted by their music director, performing in turn, for 10 hours from 10 am to 10 pm with a 2-hour break, on Oct 14.
Then, at the end of the day, selected musicians from each orchestra will form "The Beijing Music Festival Orchestra" to play Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture under the baton of Yu.
Speaking about the program, Li Nan, the deputy director of the China Philharmonic Orchestra, who has worked with Yu since the beginning of the BMF and the CPO, says: "It's an idea came to my mind some 20 years ago when we were just starting the festival.
"I bet that classical music is the genre that has developed the fastest in China in last two decades," says Li, adding: "In 1995, it took a China orchestra two months to rehearse Shostakovich's Symphony No 7. But now a Mahler piece only takes two to three hours.
"China has some 70 orchestras. And many have regular seasons, well-prepared programs and tour around the world.
"So, it is time to do such a 'festival orchestra' to let leading musicians sit together."
Though some of the world's leading musicians believe that China is the future of classical music, Yu and Li both say that what China's classical music scene needs is more music works.
Yu says: "We have few choices of Chinese works when we tour abroad, except for the violin concerto Butterfly Lovers or the folk song Jasmine. We need contemporary works."
To ensure this, since the first BMF in 1998, the duo have staged a program every year devoted to original works by Chinese composers.
As a result, Tan Dun, Guo Wenjing, Zhou Long, Ye Xiaogang, Chen Qigang and other Chinese composers who have enjoyed fame in the Western world, have all presented their works at BMF.
On Oct 16, the Beijing Symphony Orchestra will perform a concert featuring an all-Chinese program comprising Guo Wenjing's Lotus, Zhang Qianyi's Yunnan Capriccio Orchestral Suite and Zhou Long's Beijing Rhyme - Symphonic Suite for Orchestra.
And at the closing concert on Oct 29, the China Philharmonic Orchestra will perform the world premiere of Chen Qigang's La Joie de la souffrance for Violin and Orchestra. Maxim Vengerov will play the violin for the piece which was commissioned by the Beijing Music Festival.
"A Chinese work played by a China orchestra featuring an international soloist. It's a nice way to have the Chinese voice heard by the world," says Yu.
