Music sounds right Cruise ships to get tourism moving again note with exchanges

Amid the tensions between the United States and China, a leader in music education said musical exchanges between the two peoples could help bridge the gaps in geopolitical issues.

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last October, becoming the only US

CAMBODIA musical institution to offer a degree in China.

“The mission of the Tianjin Juilliard School is to function as a catalyst through which we can use our musical performance or musical educational experiences to bridge the gaps that do exist in geopolitical issues,” said Polisi.

“For example, playing a Beethoven symphony in Tianjin is an experience that can be shared by the audience in pretty much the same way as in Chicago,” he said.

Though people are separated by language and by political ideological issues, there are no barriers as soon as they sit down and play together, he said.

The interactions between Polisi and counterparts in China started in the 1980s when he visited the country on a series of tours and exchanges.

“We were the first American conservatory to do so and performed in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong,” he said.

Polisi visited China again in 2008 and during that tour he nurtured the idea of building a branch campus in East Asia. “After much thought and research, we did settle in Tianjin,” he said.

Since opened last year, the school has graduated the first class of master students. It also has a “robust precollege program” and will offer adult education programs, and a series of other professional programs for Chinese musicians, said Polisi.

Another “fascinating” program is working with composers who are blending both traditional Chinese instruments with Western instruments, according to Polisi. “This is a new art form. Tianjin Juilliard is going to be a center for that type of activity,” he said.

At the Juilliard School in New York, Polisi said there are 80 students from China despite the pandemic’s impact. Before the pandemic, roughly 60 percent of the graduate students were from China, he said, adding that “it’s a fantastic mix”.

The school offers instruction in English, but when it ask the international students to start studying Chinese, the school found that their graduates are being sought after by orchestras and other chamber music programs around East Asia for performing professional ensembles. “So, it’s a very exciting synergy,” said Polisi.

Speaking of the issues between the United States and China, Polisi called on the two countries to “take the first step together”.

“I have seen so often, how musicians bond and understand each other in an abstract way,” he said. “Not only playing together in a string quartet, but going to concerts, having sponsored events by the Chinese government and the American government will constantly be making a case for better understanding of each other.”

He acknowledged that this is only “a small piece of larger efforts” and it needs to be done on many levels with many thousands of people, “but it’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness”.

“We’ve got to keep fighting to interact with each other. If we stop interacting, then we stop understanding each other, and then there could be significant problems,” he said.