China News Service, Xiamen, March 6th: Zheng Xiaoying, China's first female conductor: still on stage
China News Agency reporter Yang Fushan
This year is 93 years old, but Zheng Xiaoying, China's first female conductor, is still busy with the music she has loved since childhood, and still wields the baton lightly on the stage.
The "Zheng Xiaoying Opera Art Center's 2022 Season Premiere" art sharing session was held on the 5th.
Photo courtesy of Xiamen Minnan Grand Theater
On March 5th, Zheng Xiaoying met face-to-face with all music lovers in Xiamen and had a spiritual dialogue about music, love and sharing.
Three days later, she will take the stage again, raising the baton that she loved most in her life, and playing the strongest voice of "Zheng Xiaoying Opera Art Center's 2022 Season Premiere" to pay tribute to the "March 8th" International Working Women's Day.
The Zheng Xiaoying Opera Art Center will premiere in 2022. It will be the "Clanging Roses - Special Symphony Concert for Women's Day on March 8th" jointly presented by Zheng Xiaoying and the Xiamen Song and Dance Theater Symphony Orchestra.
At that time, Zheng Xiaoying will lead his disciple Gao Song to co-lead the baton and conductor, and specially invited violinist Dang Huali, soprano singer Song Qian, flutist Sun Siyi and harpist Chen Yuying to participate in the performance and perform the "her" force of the symphony together.
"I don't agree to call 'March 8th' a 'Beautiful Women's Day'. Women are not decorations or decorations, but the masters of this society." Zheng Xiaoying said at the sharing meeting, "I hope we don't forget" International Working Women's Day' is such a solemn and contemporary name."
In 1955, in a command training class proposed by Soviet experts, Zheng Xiaoying was the only woman among the 25 students in the command class.
In 1962, she conducted the Italian opera "Tosca" at the Moscow State Musical Theater, becoming the first Chinese conductor to appear on the podium of a foreign opera house.
Since 1980, she has been frequently invited to visit, giving symphony concerts, participating in international art festivals, conducting operas or giving lectures in various countries of the world.
"I'm lucky. I didn't encounter sexism when I was growing up. I'm grateful to my motherland and my people." In directing this long-term male-dominated industry, Zheng Xiaoying broke out into a world of her own.
"Music serves the people", "Snow in the spring, and the people in harmony" are the themes of Zheng Xiaoying's music career.
From the creation of the "Zheng Xiaoying Model" of art explanations before performances, to the establishment of the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra and the Xiamen Zheng Xiaoying Opera Art Center, the artistic concept of "let more audiences enter the concert hall and enjoy the beauty of music", For her, it never stopped.
In 1997, Zheng Xiaoying came to Xiamen after retiring and formed the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra, continuing her musical life in her parents' hometown.
On January 11 this year, the Xiamen Zheng Xiaoying Opera Art Center named after her was established, with the purpose of "operating close to the public, the public entering the opera", and promoting the western classic opera "singing in foreign opera" as the main means of expression. He founded the Chinese Opera "Incubator".
"We want to work hard to create conditions that can cultivate a good opera choir and a good opera band, and invite some good singers to perform, so that there are often opera performances in this city, and the audience can often enjoy opera. " Zheng Xiaoying said.
"Singing in foreign opera" is Zheng Xiaoying's insistence on popularizing opera in China for many years.
Zheng Xiaoying said that all these efforts are aimed at making the public better understand opera, walk into opera, and fall in love with opera.
"I came to Xiamen more than 20 years ago, when there was no symphony in Xiamen; now Xiamen has become a city with a symphony and an island of music." Zheng Xiaoying said that he must continue to work hard and hope that after years of struggle, Xiamen will become a city with a symphony. Opera city.
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