End of NACO’s ‘wonderful adventure’
Peter Robb sees a Shanghai performance draw the curtain on China tour,
SHANGHAI SHANGHAI In this most western of China’s major cities, there is a massive shopping centre called Cloud Nine which is packed full of wellheeled shoppers who can buy any possible item any night of the week until 10 p.m. These people enjoy the privileges of a first-world economy.
On a dark side street nearby, a family of five squats near the street and eats their dinner from a hot wok seated on a Bunsen burner. The family likely does not have a hukou, the municipal passport held by official residents that entitles the bearer to the services available in Shanghai. Here on a Shanghai sidewalk is the contradiction of China in 2013 — great wealth for many and privation for many more. The great China experiment is truly something to observe.
For the National Arts Centre Orchestra, its first tour of mainland China has been an eye-opening trip that started in Hong Kong with a brilliant combined concert with that city’s Sinfonietta, through Guangzhou, to Chongqing, the largest city in the world, Fuling, Tianjin, Beijing and finally here for a final concert in this city’s Concert Hall which was built in 1930 and recently moved brick by brick to its current location to make way for a freeway. The Shanghai concert coincided with the beginning of the city’s international arts festival and with the arrival of Gov. Gen. David Johnston who is on a major state visit to China.
Johnston addressed a pre-concert reception for Canadian and Chinese dignitaries and then he attended the concert.
At the end of the Shanghai concert, NACO Maestro Pinchas Zukerman thanked the audience and the people of China:
“This is our final concert and we have had a wonderful adventure. The musicians have loved working here, performing and teaching. We loved the dumplings and the concert halls. We hope very much to return soon.”
On the mainland, in several cities, the orchestra played in new or nearly new halls, evidence of the cultural boom that is accompanying the economic boom.
The highlight was the performance in Beijing’s majestic National Centre for the Performing Arts, the culture palace that rivals the world’s great halls. The power of the sound in that place and the reception of the audience made for a special evening.
For the NAC, the relationship with the NCPA will continue for the next two years. Next year, the NCPA’s orchestra will tour Canada with the help of the NAC. And discussions are underway for an internship program that will bring young Chinese students in music and arts administration to the NAC and other major Canadian arts organizations. China is in particular need of trained administrators to help run new halls in literally dozens of cities in this teeming country of 1.4 billion people.
There is also a plan afoot to commission a new piece of music by a Canadian or Chinese composer that will be played by both orchestras.
There has been a strong business link in this tour. For the principal sponsor Aimia, the largest loyalty program manager on the planet, it is an opportunity to get its name out in the world’s largest consumer market.
Aimia employs more than 4,000 people in more than 20 countries. It owns and operates Aeroplan in Canada, Nectar, the United Kingdom’s largest coalition loyalty program and Nectar Italia. Aimia also has shares in Air Miles Middle East, Mexico’s Club Premier and Brazil’s Prismah Fidelidade.
‘For me, everything about the trip was about learning the music.’
MARJOLAINE FOURNIER Double bass player, NACO
Rupert Duchesne, Aimia’s CEO, just attended the launch of a reward program in China called, not surprisingly, China Rewards. The groundbreaking idea, in which Aimia is a participant, will allow any Chinese consumer who carries a China Union Pay card (the equivalent of a Canadian credit card) to gather up air miles or other points by using any card. The system registers the person’s phone number. It is an example of how China is leapfrogging the west in terms of consumer services.
The NACO tour of China probably wouldn’t have happened without Aimia, but for the company there are benefits too. It gains profile, something that it wants, in a country where thousands of businesses are seeking it. The NACO trip also fits Aimia’s criteria for philanthropy, Duchesne says. It involves the arts, education (the NACO participated in about 80 education activities over the 15-day tour) and it involves international development.
And then there is the musical connection.
Marjolaine Fournier plays the double bass for the NACO.
MJ, as she is known, took up a personal mission on this trip to China. She decided she needed to find a way to understand the country she was about to visit and a tourist guide wasn’t going to cut it.
She decided to learn how to play a tradition Chinese instrument. She chose the erhu, which is essentially a two-stringed violin that is played with a bow. Instead of being raised to the shoulder it is seated in the lap and the bow moves across the strings as one might play a miniature cello.
These beautiful, delicate instruments are marvellous to look at and when they are played you really hear the magic of China.
“I was freaked out because the country is so big and it was a mysterious country to me at least. I just couldn’t handle the thought of going so far.... “I thought, I’ll study the music. I picked the erhu because it was small and because it had the melody. If I want to learn the songs and the music I’ve got to learn the melody. For me everything about the trip was about learning the music. Now I just want to come back and play the erhu.”
Picking up the Chinese instrument has opened up some surprising doors for Fournier including meeting a 78-year-old erhu maker who has given her a gift of one of his instruments. “My little project has been so rewarding for me.”
The power of the erhu took her to the Great Wall near Beijing where she busked in one of the towers. Some Chinese people heard a song they recognized and started singing.
The power of music, indeed, on one of the seven wonders of the world