Feature: Young Chinese musicians perform, forge friendships during World Orchestra Week in NY

Members of the Beijing Youth Orchestra interact with the audience at Carnegie Hall in New York, the United States, Aug. 4, 2024. (Photo by Chris Lee/Xinhua)

Over 100 musicians from Beijing Youth Orchestra not only showcased their mastery of both Chinese and Western pieces, but also engaged with peers from the United States, Afghanistan and African countries in interactive workshops.

by Xinhua writer Liu Yanan

NEW YORK, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- Young musicians from China staged a performance at Carnegie Hall on Sunday, the undisputed highlight of their week-long visit to the Big Apple during World Orchestra Week (WOW!).

Over 100 musicians from Beijing Youth Orchestra not only showcased their mastery of both Chinese and Western pieces, but also engaged with peers from the United States, Afghanistan and African countries in interactive workshops.

During their stay, the young Chinese musicians were also scheduled to have joint rehearsals with members of other six orchestras participating in WOW! and jointly perform with members of the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America under the auspices of the Chinese Consulate General in New York.

Lyu Jia conducts the Beijing Youth Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in New York, the United States, Aug. 4, 2024. (Photo by Chris Lee/Xinhua)

 

"WISH FOR OUR WORLD"

Chinese musicians and their peers developed and shared their wishes for the world in guided workshops on Friday and Saturday, which helped them get to know each other better and formed a special bond between them.

The young musicians attended peer exchange workshops at the Iris Cantor Theater of New York University.

They were divided into several groups and were encouraged to write down their wishes on ribbons, tie them together, and share their wishes with each other on Friday.

"My wish is that music as a tool and a form of power could help promote world peace and development," said Liu Fenghe, a cellist who will be a freshman this autumn.

Sydney Richardson, a horn player from Texas, the United States, said her wish was that people would laugh a little bit more and relax more during tense times.

Richardson told Xinhua that making wish ribbons and tying them together was powerful and impressive.

"Just seeing all these different people coming together and then tying each of our wishes together really just puts it in perspective," said Richardson. "It's amazing ... I've personally never really met someone from a different country."

The most impressive moment was when people talked about their favorite music pieces, as music is the only thing everyone present could completely understand, said Liu. He added that music made communication more natural and easygoing between them.

Carnegie Hall also collected some wishes and projected them onto the interior walls of the music hall where the young musicians performed in a bid to expand the "Wish for Our World" theme to the audience.

Kurt Falzon's wish for the world was that "everyone feels healthy, connected and loved." His wish was one of those projected on the wall. Falzon is a Maltese violinist from the European Union Youth Orchestra.

Lyu Jia conducts the Beijing Youth Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in New York, the United States, Aug. 4, 2024. Young musicians from China staged a performance at Carnegie Hall on Sunday, the undisputed highlight of their week-long visit to the Big Apple during World Orchestra Week (WOW!). (Photo by Chris Lee/Xinhua)

 

YOUNG ORCHESTRA WOWS AUDIENCE

The Beijing Youth Orchestra, a new ensemble jointly curated by China's National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) and the Beijing Municipal Education Commission this June, wowed the audience on Sunday as it presented both traditional Chinese and classic Western masterpieces at Stern Auditorium, which can hold over 2,500 people.

Young musicians from Beijing played selections from Chinese Sights and Sounds by Bao Yuankai and Pipa Concerto No.2 by Zhao Jiping featuring Chinese traditional instruments like the pipa, bamboo flute and others.

In the second half of the performance, the audience was treated to Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5, and the musicians garnered rounds of applause.

The performance marked the first public appearance on the world stage by the Beijing Youth Orchestra, said Lyu Jia, the conductor of the orchestra.

Lyu said it's a remarkable start, taking into account the phenomenal response from the audience, such an important music hall and a very big audience comprised of people from many countries.

The orchestra would continue to carry out international exchanges and planned to give performances throughout China, other areas in Asia as well as Europe, Lyu said.

The audience was very passionate and it was a moving and unique experience to perform at an orchestra in another country, said Jin Zhicheng, a horn player from Beijing.

Andrew DeWeese, a violinist and an alumnus of the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America, said he saw so much energy and passion from the musicians.

DeWeese added he was impressed by the novelty of the pipa concerto and the mixture of both Eastern and Western music.

Music is just so emotional that it's one of the best ways to do people-to-people exchanges, DeWeese said.

Lyu added that though some members of the Beijing Youth Orchestra may not become career musicians, the experience of performing music together with others could inspire emotions, kindle the imagination and create a feeling of beauty in life.

The young musicians are the future of music and "everybody you heard tonight is going to be absolutely central in the development of music," said Clive Gillinson, executive and artistic director of Carnegie Hall.

Gillinson noted that probably only half of the young musicians would become career musicians while the other half would pursue different professions.

"I think it is really good for the connection between countries in the future," said Gillinson.

Gillinson hoped that WOW! would become a movement that spreads around the world.

It's so important to have art in any form and to use that as a means of communication, said Clara Chura, a Czech citizen who studies at a U.S. university. "If you reduce all communication to, kind of, very pragmatic discussions and just transactional relationships ... that would be a very sad world." Enditem

(Xinhua writer Xing Yue in New York also contributed to this story.)