Autumn has always been an exciting time for music and arts fans in China. This October, big international names in music and the arts have converged on China for the annual Beijing International Music Festival and Shanghai International Arts Festival.
The Beijing International Music Festival kicked of at the Poly Theater to the strains of the "Festive Overture". The ninth festival of its kind in a row, it continues to focus on world-famous classical music.
Russian classical music is the highlight of this year's festival, befitting the Year of Russia in China. The opening concert was also dedicated to Dmitri Shostakovich, to mark the hundredth anniversary of his birth.
One of his best operas, The Lady Macbeth, was also performed in China for the first time during the festival. It was a rare musical treat for opera lovers with the score performed by the world-renowned Russian Mariinsky Orchestra under the helm of Valery Gergiev at the led.
Classical music lovers have also been heard their favorite pieces from other Russian musicians such as Mikhail Glinka's opera "Ruslan and Ludmilla--Overture" and Tchaikovsky's “The Nutcracker”.
Russian music apart, a number of special concerts were held to commemorate the 250th birthday of Austrian composer Mozart and the Year of Italy in China.
Since it was first conceived in 1998, the Beijing International Music Festival has become an important arts event on the world calendar.
More than 1,000 musicians from around the world attended this year's event, including big names like Italian conductor Riccardo Muti, cellist Mischa Maisky and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. The BBC Symphony Orchestra also traveled to China for the first time.
Ann McKay, Chief producer of BBC symphony orchestra, described their program for Beijing after one performance.
"The programs we are playing here are quite unusual. And it seems the audiences love it. For this program tonight, we're playing some of the music that we play in the last night of the Proms. The last night of the proms is the biggest festival that happens for two months every year in London. We are playing two of the pieces that we normally play on that night. Actually what's really nice is hearing them without audience singing them in a silly fashion. You can hear them in their own right. If know the words, it might mean something. If you don't know the words, it just means some great music. I think for Chinese audience you get a chance to hear an orchestra from Britain which you don't hear very often. Every country has a slightly different style of playing classical music. All orchestras sound a little different. So if you listen carefully, you'll hear things are slightly different from what other orchestras are doing. You'll hear different repertoires, as we have a Czech conductor."
Contemporary musical works from China have also been a highlight of the festival. The French violin master Augustin Dumay was invited to perform Butterfly Lovers, a classic Chinese piece. The famous Germany Modern Chamber Orchestra also performed the works of Chinese composers such as Tan Dun and Ye Xiaogang.
This gave the audience a chance to hear the latest developments in Chinese music and get an insight into how western musicians interpret them.
This soundtrack is an excerpt from an Orchestra Peking Opera Concert at the festival. But instead of a traditional music band, an orchestra accompanied the singer.
Deng Min, the actress who took the leading role in Peking Opera Shajia Bang says the orchestra lent greater expressiveness to traditional Peking opera music.
"This is a good experiment in introducing modern elements to traditional art. The goal is to cater to the varied taste of today's audience. Such experiments received a great response during our troupe's previous national tours."
One of the audience members praised the innovative performance.
"All of our previous Peking Operas were performed in the traditional style with traditional bands. Now this performance with an orchestra has provided me with a fresh experience. Very interesting. It seems to me the stage performance has been greatly expanded. The music sounds more grand and powerful to me."
Deputy Minister of Culture Meng Xiaosi says the Beijing International Music Festival has evolved over the years and is now considered an influential international cultural event by the world.
"This Music Festival works as a window from which the Chinese people can enjoy the works of the world's best musicians. It also showcases the beautiful Chinese music and art. In addition, the festival also reveals the most charming side of Beijing."
If "classic" is the word to describe the festival in Beijing, then "diversified and chic" are the words for what's going on in Shanghai.
The 8th Shanghai International Art Festival features the most popular and avant-garde vocal and stage performances. They cover everything from symphony orchestras, dance and opera, to acrobatics, magic and drama. Side events include an international piano competition, a magic festival, Asian music festival, and an arts and crafts fair.
The soundtrack you're hearing comes from a popular home-grown dance drama, called A Palm of Acid Chinese Dates. It tells of the love and hatred between a pair of lovers living in China's last feudal days.
The drama condenses the local Shanxi folk culture by craftily intertwining a number of traditional dances. The graceful fan dance, Yange dance and lantern dance are performed along with the camel troupe dance.
The festival also has a lot of programs showcasing genuine ethnic culture, like dances from Xinjiang and music from Mongolia.
Of course, the festival also gathered a number of world famous troupes and stars, like American soprano Jassie Norman and international dance star Nilas Martins.
Chen Shenglai, President of the Shanghai International Art Festival Center says the Shanghai International Art Festival is attracting more and more top performers as its influence grows.
"This festival concentrates a lot of hot overseas performances. They have already withstood the market test and received good box office results. Their participation in the festival makes it very attractive and we have had large audiences at our performances."
Meanwhile, the art exhibitions, international performance trading fairs and academic seminars at the festival have also attracted art agencies from more than 30 countries and regions.
Dark Brlek, President of the European Art Festival Association.
"First of all, I'm very pleased China is paying so much attention to culture. And the festival is very well organized. It also provides me with a great opportunity to share my opinions with colleagues from China. It's first time for me to China. First of all, I come to see how it works in China. Second I also met a lot of colleagues in China. They presented me a lot of projects. We already invited some groups to Lubeyana. For example, this September we invited an opera troupe from Chengdu to Lubyana. This has been going on for some time now. "
The Beijing music festival and the Shanghai art festival really provide music fans with a diverse range of arts and music.
But seeing is believing, as the saying goes.
You can still catch some of the shows if you'd like to check the action out for yourself, as both events last until next month.
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