Beijing music festival held an upgraded version of the ＂China Concept＂

　　Yu Long, chairman and famous conductor of beijing music festival Arts Council, and cellist Yo Yo Ma and sheng player Wu Tong.

　　The 21st beijing music festival with the theme of "Enjoying Chinese and Western Music, New Voices of the Times" was held as scheduled in the golden autumn. A new Chinese drama Farewell My Concubine, which has unique cultural elements in China, opened this music festival, and the subsequent companion "The Orphan of Zhao" made the audience feel refreshed. This year, people found that, unlike the past, which focused on displaying western classic works and focusing on international famous masters, this year’s beijing music festival not only promoted the "China concept" to an unprecedented level, but also injected richer connotations into this artistic concept through bold exploration.

　　For the first time, the "companion piece" of the new Chinese drama was launched.

　　The theme of China runs through this music festival.

　　At the closing concert in beijing music festival in 2017, composer Chen Qigang’s new violin concerto "Sorrow and Joy" became famous, and the "China Concept" was the perfect ending of the 20-year music festival. A year later, at the opening ceremony of the 21st beijing music festival, Farewell My Concubine, which contains the charm of China’s classic culture, made the "China Concept" shine again on the stage of the music festival.

　　Beijing music festival, whose mission is to spread and popularize classical music and elegant art on the stage in China, has never forgotten its responsibility and mission as an art institution in China for many years, that is, to introduce the world’s fine music art to the audience, but also to let the world know the achievements of China’s music development. From last year’s closing concert, which ended with the works of Chen Qigang, a representative contemporary composer in China, to this year’s opening of the new national drama by Chen Shi-Zheng, an outstanding overseas Chinese artist, beijing music festival realized the cross-year relay of the "China concept".

　　Moreover, only one day after Farewell My Concubine, another musical theater, Orphan of Zhao, made a dazzling appearance. In this musical theater work sung by foreign artists in English, China’s story and China’s elements were highlighted in an extremely novel and modern way. This comprehensive form, without asking about China and the West, can be called beijing music festival’s extremely bold attempt in the field of "China concept". With the emergence of these two works, the repertoire of the music festival, which used to be occupied by western classical operas, has become a stage for the full bloom of the "China concept" this year.

　　Similarly, this year’s beijing music festival held a concert of China’s works with the theme of "Embracing the New Era", and made sincere contributions to the 40th anniversary of the reform and opening up, including the works of the older generation of China composers such as Chen Peixun and Bao Yuankai, and a symphony suite "Embracing the New Era" arranged to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the reform and opening up, including In the Field of Hope, Pearl of the Orient, I Love You China and so on.

　　At the closing concert of this year’s music festival, the "China concept" once again became the highlight. Following the invitation of Vengerov, a world-famous violinist, to present Chen Qigang’s new work "Sorrow and Joy", Ma Youyou, a world-renowned Chinese cellist, was invited to perform "Wandering for Pipa, Cello and Orchestra" by composer Zhao Lin, a new work commissioned by New York Philharmonic, Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra and beijing music festival, which was based on China’s classical masterpiece "Wandering" by Zhuangzi, and was full of China traditional cultural elements.

　　It can be said that in this beijing music festival, the "China Concept" runs through and blooms everywhere, and has been promoted to an unprecedented level. Besides the unprecedented increase in the proportion of performances, China’s concept has a different embodiment from previous music festivals in terms of connotation, value, form and extension.

　　Hai na Bai chuan explores new artistic concepts

　　Create an upgraded version of "China Concept 2.0"

　　Since the concept of China was first put forward in 2002, it has become the most important core value of beijing music festival. From the beginning, Chinese composers Ye Xiaogang and Chen Qigang, who are well-known at home and abroad, held special concerts on the stage of the music festival, to the beginning of domestic opera performances, Guo Wenjing’s operas "Diary of a Madman", "Banquet", "Poet Li Bai" and "Gambling for Life", which were highly praised in Europe, returned to the China stage, and then to Zhou Long’s "Legend of the White Snake" and "Nine Songs" and "Ping Pong" in recent years.

　　With the extraordinary years that beijing music festival has gone through for 20 years, the "China concept" is also facing the task of upgrading and bringing forth new ideas. It is against this background that the theme of this year’s Music Festival is "Music Meeting the New Voices of Chinese and Western Times", which is the first time in the history of the Music Festival to take China elements and China background as the themes, so that China elements can be integrated into the world music map under the background of globalization with an innovative attitude, and further exploration can be sought under the concept of "China concept".

　　Different from the whole Kunqu Opera Peony Pavilion and Peach Blossom Fan, which were released in early music festivals, Farewell My Concubine, a new Chinese drama, fuses Peking Opera with the modern art stage, giving China culture wings to soar over the times, while its companion, Orphan of Zhao, adorns the ancient and vivid story of China with international cutting-edge artistic elements, which can be described as spanning ancient and modern times, both at home and abroad, and is inclusive. The two works not only break away from the traditional artistic vocabulary, but also contain profound artistic conception and spirit of traditional culture.

　　Many years ago, both works were successful when they were performed overseas, and they were regarded as models of combining China charm with western aesthetics, which had already surpassed the original appearance and category of China’s concept. If we say that beijing music festival used to interpret the concept of China only by China’s works, today he has stood in the perspective of globalization and reshaped the artistic value of the "China concept".

　　Coincidentally, in addition to the works themselves, in recent years, under the guidance of "China concept", beijing music festival has paid more and more attention to outstanding Chinese artists, and has surpassed the traditional music art field.

　　Chen Shi-Zheng, the director artist who shines on the stage of this year’s music festival, is the most typical example. His high-profile appearances of Farewell My Concubine and Orphan of Zhao conveyed beijing music festival’s hope that more works of "China Concept" will be returned to the nest and Chinese artists will go home. It is also based on this that the Music Festival regards outstanding China artists around the world as a valuable asset. On the night of the performance of Orphan of Zhao, this year’s annual artist award was awarded to director Chen Shi-Zheng, which is also an affirmation of the brand-new upgrade and new start of the "China concept".

　　Don’t forget the initial mission

　　Create a new situation in art

　　Today, beijing music festival has become an important window for the capital cultural stage to spread elegant art and promote cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries. Today’s development achievements are inseparable from the background of the deepening of reform and opening up and the further growth of the country’s soft power. At the same time, in the past two decades, beijing music festival has grown with the increasing influence of China in the world, and has also put forward new requirements for its own development.

　　Nowadays, the world is changing rapidly. Our country, as always, upholds the concept of multilateral development and the value of globalization. It is the special mission of the upgraded "China Concept Version 2.0" to create the value of China, tell the story of China and convey the voice of China in the context of globalization.

　　Whether it’s the new Chinese drama Farewell My Concubine, the companion piece of the musical theater Orphan of Zhao, or the theme concert of "Silk Road Trip" jointly created by Chinese artists at home and abroad, it shows that beijing music festival is standing in a new historical stage and trying to spread the vision of China value, China story and China voice together with artists, creators and art institutions from all over the world, and build a 21st century through the theme of "China concept". This is a positive practice of "strengthening cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries, taking me as the main factor, taking everything into consideration, promoting the construction of international communication ability, telling the story of China well, showing a true, three-dimensional and comprehensive China, and improving the country’s cultural soft power".

　　Now, beijing music festival, which has gone through 20 years of development, stands in front of new historical opportunities, will never forget its initial mission, constantly open up a new situation, and forge ahead courageously on the broad artistic road of "China Concept" to create new achievements.