The Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Artistic Director Long Yu, closed the 2019 Shanghai Summer Music Festival (MISA) tonight with pianist Li Jian, violinist Ning Feng and cellist Alyssa Wellerstein for Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major and Dvořák's Cello Concerto in B minor. It is rare to stage three tome concertos in one concert, and the ingenious design warms up for the upcoming world tour.
In the second half of this closing concert, there was an unexpected "thrilling" scene. When Alyssa Wellerstein first began playing, the cello strings suddenly broke, and she quickly returned to the backstage to replace the spare strings on the stage. The audience in the SJM Concert Hall also maintained order and waited for the return of the performers.
A few minutes later, a cellist in a moped red dress returned to the stage, and the moving melody sounded again... The performance continued smoothly and finally brought this year's MISA to a successful conclusion.
In mid-August, Yu Long will lead the top international stages such as the Shanghai Lavinia Music Festival, the Edinburgh Arts Festival, the Lucerne Music Festival and the BBC Proms, and launch the "Shanghai Culture" brand in seven cities such as Washington, D.C., Grafinger and Amsterdam, demonstrating the strength of this 140-year-old group. Three concertos performed last night will also be played again on the world tour by soloists active in the classical music scene – pianist Lu Yixuan, violinist Frank Peter Zimmerman and cellist Wellerstein, thus stimulating the world's attention and listening to Chinese sounds.
This year's MISA staged a total of 23 concerts of "Adding Ingredients for Classical" at the Shanghai Symphony Hall and Shanghai City Music Lawn, of which 18 performances were broadcast live on ten online platforms, with a total of 7.8 million online viewers.
From the opening art installation "Bamboo Forest" to summarize the past "highlight" moments, to the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Chopin Competition champion Zhao Chengzhen, German vocal music star Ute Lampa and other classical music "traffic" attack, to the heavy rain artists' performances and outdoor music fans full of orderly listening, for Shanghai to set up a beautiful musical landscape. As Sun Guozhong, a professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, lamented, the rhythm and brilliance of the music on the MISA stage made Shencheng "show a stronger atmosphere of the times and strong vitality of life".
If MISA shows the tolerance and vitality of Shanghai worthy of the Asian performing arts capital, then the next tour will open a high-level "Chinese and Western music dialogue" in the world's first-class music landmarks. Rachmaninoff's "Symphonic Dance" and Shostakovich's "Fifth Symphony" are staged at different sites in order to show the high-level grasp of Western classical music masterpieces; the appearance of composer Chen Qigang's "Five Elements" will tell the world about the depth and brilliance of Chinese culture. The record "Doorway", which was recorded by Yu Long and released by Deutsche Grammophon, will also meet audiences from all over the world during the tour, showing the musical appearance of this Shanghai orchestra that is no less than that of the world's first-class troupe.
Author: Jiang Fang
Edit: Jiang Fang
Photo: Ye Chenliang; the cover of the "Doorway" album is submitted by Shang