Approachable classical music, vibrant swinging jazz piano, the most creative Chinese style... From 9 to 29 July, the National Centre for the Performing Arts' annual Stroll Classics concert series will once again meet audiences. With the theme of "Endless Fun", this year's Walking Classic presents 13 well-planned concerts to the audience in 21 days, taking the audience to feel the infinite possibilities and multiple pleasures of music in the most relaxed way, and giving a summer music gift package to all music lovers in the hot summer.
2023 NCPA Stroll Classic Concert Program.
Since its launch in 2009, the NCPA "Walk in the Classics" concert series has become a familiar theme festival for Beijing audiences, where classical music takes off its austere garb and artists are ingenious enough to give music unlimited freedom, allowing audiences to enjoy the joy of music to the fullest.
The press conference scene of the 2023 NCPA Stroll Classic Concert is attended from left to right by conductor Zhang Yi, deputy director of the NCPA Performance Department Wang Luwei, guqin player Chen Leiji and Ruan Ham player Feng Mantian. (Niu Xiaobei/Photo)
At this year's opening concert, Daniel Odensmer, principal clarinet conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic, will join the Berliner Philharmoniker cellist Stephen Kuntz and pianist Christopher Traxler as a clarinet trio to bring the audience to the flowering world of this niche chamber ensemble. From Beethoven of the Viennese classical music school to Bruch of the Romantic period, from the 20th-century expressionist Schoenberg to the rarely staged Zemlinsky, artists not only select familiar classical masterpieces, but also unexcavated beads. It is worth mentioning that last year, the three artists just completed the world's first recording of the Schoenberg clarinet trio, and their new works will be shared with the audience at the concert. "In all these works, the tonal diversity of the clarinet and the interplay between the three instruments are explored in completely different ways." Stephen Kuntz said.
On July 16, violinist Huang Mengla joined the Stroll Classic for the first time, he will take "love" as the theme, and successively present four chapters of the tenderness of love, the joy of love, the separation of love, and the rebirth of love, among which there are many Paganini's soft lyricism "Soft as Song", Elgar's well-known "Greetings of Love", Tan Dun's "Desert of Sorrow", and "Liang Zhu" flowing in the genes of the Chinese people, each capital is full of romantic love.
National Centre for the Performing Arts strolls through classic concerts, past performances.
Japanese jazz titan Kunihiko Kanno will once again meet audiences in Beijing, and on July 22-23, fans will once again have the privilege of hearing the special jazz keyboard he has spent more than 30 years building. In Beijing, the 89-year-old pianist and his friends will present two improvisational performances to the audience, and the artist will randomly select songs from a 28-track program according to the atmosphere of the scene, each performance will become unique.
"Thousands of years ago, Chinese literati music existed at the level of scholars, played in temples or among personal friends, but now I want to try to experience the spirit of classical Chinese aesthetics with the audience in the Concert Hall of the National Centre for the Performing Arts, which can accommodate more than 1,000 people, with the help of 360-degree panoramic sound technology." On July 26th, the famous Nguyen Ham player Feng Mantian will bring the most complete lineup of Ruan instruments to immerse himself in the artistic conception of Chinese classical music. In the "Four Seasons Group Poems" in the first half of the concert, Ruan will be fused with bass, piano, insect sounds, panoramic sounds, etc., to interpret the cycle of the four seasons. The second half of the concert is an uninterrupted and untitled improvised Nguyen music. Only ancient paintings and music are accompanied, and the luthier looms through the curtain. During the more than 40-minute improvisation, Feng Mantian would express the Chinese philosophy of "the unity of heaven and man" with Ruan Xian, Fret Da Ruan, Zhong Ruan, Soprano Ruan, Lao Nguyen, and Da Ruan.
Nguyen Ham player Feng Mantian improvised at a press conference. (Niu Xiaobei/Photo)
The love of the soulmate sung in "Mountains and Flowing Water Meets Soulmates" will be sung at the concert on July 27. At that time, guitarist Yang Xuefei and guqin player Chen Leiji cooperated on stage for the first time, which was the first cross-border integration of guitar and guqin in China. At the concert, the audience will not only be able to enjoy Chen Leiji's new works for this format, but the two artists will also play a song "Legend" through their respective instruments, using music to open a dialogue and tell their "mountains and rivers".
It is worth mentioning that in this year's walking classics, a theme concert showing rich natural elements and highlighting the symbiosis of nature is specially planned. On July 14th, the Italian Musicians Ensemble will perform the third "Four Seasons" by Verdi, Piazzola and Vival for the audience, experiencing the spring and autumn in different periods in the extraordinary "four seasons" change. At the same time, Bandounius player Fabio Fría from Italy will join him. On July 19, the Symphony Orchestra of the National Ballet of China will be conducted by conductor Zhang Yi and will present the Respiri five-movement suite "Bird" and the Stravinsky ballet "Firebird", telling ancient legends in a modern and aural way. On July 11th, under the direction of Xia Xiaotang, the Beijing Symphony Orchestra will bring all Russian works and appreciate Russian folk customs.
National Centre for the Performing Arts strolls through classic concerts, past performances.
The NCPA Orchestra will bring four wonderful performances to the audience under the leadership of conductors Tan Dun and Hong Yiquan. From the 20th to the 21st, the orchestra will join hands with soprano Lei Jia, string musicians and pianists to present classic repertoire of Saint-Saëns and Debussy, as well as Tan Dun's "Nine-Colored Deer" and "Wolf Totem" and other works. From the 28th to the 29th, the orchestra will join hands with pianist Zhang Haochen and violinist Zhu Kaiyuan to bring Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 1, Paganini's Violin Concerto No. 1, and the second half of the concert "Fantastic Symphony", telling Berlioz's magical and romantic love monologue.
Author: Peng Dan, a reporter of this newspaper in Beijing
Image: National Centre for the Performing Arts
Editor: Jiang Shengxin