NZ-China link through music
Visit of Chinese national orchestra opens the way for Kiwi musicians to perform in China.
Establishment of more high-level cultural exchanges between New Zealand and China is behind the recent visit of the China National Symphony Orchestra.
The orchestra (CNSO), in New Zealand for the first time, performed at the China-New Zealand Arts Festival in Wellington in October. It also played in Auckland while in the country.
Organiser and artistic director Freya Wang says the visit not only aimed at making a connection with the New Zealand arts and cultural communities and general public, but was an event to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China and to mark a new era of collaboration between the two countries.
She says China is undergoing huge growth in the creative and artistic markets. People there are hungry for cultural events and access to high-level international artists and she believed the visit would pave the way for more New Zealand musicians to perform in China.
“I believe this is important. New Zealand is a hothouse for nurturing creativity; there are a lot of wonderful musicians here and one of our aims is to invite New Zealand artists to come to China.
“We also hope the event will help to give and build a positive image for New Zealand music and arts and that these disciplines can be vibrant career options,” Wang says.
The CNSO was joined on stage by a number of New Zealand performers including pianist Jian Liu from the New Zealand School of Music, violinist Amanda Hall and the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra’s concertmaster Martin Riseley.
Liu says the Wellington concert was a rare opportunity to witness a highclass musical collaboration: “With this visit we hope to build stronger links between our two countries and to unlock opportunities for artists to showcase their works in each other’s country.”
Diana Marsh, executive director of the SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music says the visit also encouraged cultural diversity and introduced New Zealanders to music they may not have sampled before.
Wang says the programme was a combination of Chinese and western classical favourites with a fresh and interesting combination of chamber and orchestral ensembles.
The CNSO, founded in 1950 as the Central Philharmonic, is administered by China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism and features a vast western classical repertoire along with Chinese music.
In recent years it has presented the Charm of Chinese Music and Classics Appreciation concert series, both of which were widely acclaimed in China and internationally. It has also collaborated with many leading world artists including Herbert von Karajan, Eugene Ormandy, Seiji Ozawa and Michel Plasson as well as well-known instrumentalists such as David Oistrakh, Yundi Li and Yehudi Menuhin.
It has toured extensively to countries and regions in Europe, Asia and North America.
The Wellington concert was an invitation-only event and was held on October 23. On October 24 a meetand-greet with the directors, managers and musicians from a number of organisations such as the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra took place at the New Zealand Portrait Gallery in Wellington.
The CNSO was in Auckland on October 28 for an invitation-only event at the Auckland Town Hall Concert Chamber while it also visited Niue and the Cook Islands.