MUSICAL REUNION
Every year, overseas musicians return to China to perform as the Global Chinese Orchestra with musicians based here. Chen Nan reports.
When the Global Chinese Orchestra performed at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing on Sept 27, audiences enjoyed a varied program. It included Scheherazade by Russian composer Nikolai RimskyKorsakov, the fourth movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No 9 in D Minor and Racing Horses, an original Chinese piece for the erhu (twostringed fiddle) by Chinese composer Huang Haihuai.
For the musicians of the Global Chinese Orchestra, which also performed at the Wei Lai Theater of the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation on Sept 28 and Tsinghua University on Sept 29, the concerts were an opportunity to play together, with many coming home from overseas to perform.
Half of the musicians of the Global Chinese Orchestra are overseas Chinese. They are members of Western symphony orchestras and live abroad. The other half have studied and worked abroad for years, but they’ve returned to China and are members of Chinese orchestras.
“Every September, the overseas musicians return to their home country to perform as the Global Chinese Orchestra with the musicians based here. It’s more like a reunion party,” says conductor Lyu Jia, who is the president and artistic director of the orchestra. “We choose repertories that combine original Chinese works with Western classical pieces.”
Initiated by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, the Global Chinese Orchestra has performed every year in China since its founding in September 2015.
Lyu says that the annual concerts have each had different themes. For example, last year, which marked the 400th anniversary of the death of the English playwright William Shakespeare and Chinese Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) playwright Tang Xianzu, the orchestra played such works as Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet and Wan Fu, an aria from the original Chinese opera, The Peony Pavilion, composed by Chinese musician Ye Xiaogang with the libretto by Tang. This year, the theme is the Silk Road.
For Lyu, the idea of gathering overseas Chinese musicians in an orchestra was a longtime wish.
The 53-year-old conductor from Shanghai studied conducting at the University of Arts in Berlin in 1988 after graduating from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. He won the Golden Prize and Favorite Conductor Award in the international conducting competition, Antonio Pedrotti, in Trento, Italy, in 1988.
In 1991, he was appointed as the chief conductor of the Italian opera house, Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi, making him not only the opera house’s first chief conductor from Asia, but also its youngest. Lyu worked and lived abroad for years, conducting 2,000 concerts and operas in Europe and the United States, before he returned to China and served as the chief conductor of the National Center for the Performing Arts Orchestra in 2011.
“During the past three decades, more Chinese musicians have studied at music schools
Every September, the overseas musicians return to their home country to perform ... It’s more like a reunion party.” Lyu Jia, conductor
abroad and played in Western orchestras. They’ve been recognized by Western audiences,” says Lyu.
He also notes that classical music is a universal language that connects China with the rest of the world. He hopes that the orchestra can tour overseas besides giving its annual performances in China.
Ma Junyi, the concertmaster and orchestra director of the Opera Australia Orchestra, has been playing with the Global Chinese Orchestra since its inception. This year, he is the principal violinist.
“It’s like playing in an NBA All-Star Game. It’s fun, and we enjoy playing together,” says Ma, who was born in Shanghai and moved to Australia in 1990.
Lin Wei, the daughter of the late renowned violinist and music educator Lin Yaoji, joined in the Global Chinese Orchestra in 2016. The Guangzhou native started learning violin with her father at age 7. She plays with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, which she joined in 1988.
“The musicians have absorbed different cultures, and they turn their chemistry into expressive music. The opportunity of performing together is rare,” says Lin. “We are proud.”