[Look at Suzhou Special Article/Zhao Wanyu, Zhu Xiaoqian]
A music feast from the East, using music to build a bridge, let the world see the vitality of Suzhou, a famous cultural city, and China's cultural confidence!
At 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time on January 6, the 2023 "Happy Chinese New Year" "Echoes of Tang Poetry: iSING! Suzhou and the Philadelphia Orchestra Chinese New Year Concert" ushered in its first concert in North America.
Fifteen singers from 10 countries joined hands with the Philadelphia Orchestra to perform 15 songs such as "Thoughts in a Quiet Night" and "Night Mooring at Maple Bridge" in Chinese at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia, known as the "Sanctuary of Philharmonics". The new song is based on the famous poem of the Tang Dynasty, using music as the medium, knocking on the door of the New Year with musical notes.
This concert was organized by the iSING! Suzhou International Youth Singers Art Festival. It is also the first large-scale cultural exchange event to be carried out in the United States since the optimization and adjustment of China's epidemic prevention and control policy.
After ten years of hard work, the art festival has moved from Suzhou to the whole country and even the world, letting the sound of Suzhou resound over the United States, and presenting a precious gift for the 50th anniversary of the Chinese New Year and the Philadelphia Orchestra's visit to China.
Before the opening of the concert, Huang Ping, Chinese Consul General in New York, Dwight Evans, U.S. Congressman, Jim Kenney, Mayor of Philadelphia, Jin Jie, Member of the Standing Committee of the Suzhou Municipal Committee and Director of the Propaganda Department, and Ma Siyi, President of Feijiao, attended the concert hosted by the US China Travel Chamber of Commerce and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Welcoming event, followed by a joint viewing of the performance.
When Tang Poetry Meets Bel Canto
Oriental Music Feast Stunning North American Winter
The enthusiastic music melody pours slowly from the instruments, from warm and lively to lively and soothing, and develops into a festive carol sung with joy.
At 7:30 p.m. local time in the United States, with the playing of "Spring Festival Overture", the melody of the Spring Festival engraved in the memory of the Chinese people was vividly displayed, and the entire Kimmel Performing Arts Center in Philadelphia, USA was like a sea of music. Immersed in it, emotions are also unknowingly ignited, and I deeply feel the joy and simplicity of the Chinese New Year.
Wonderful notes and moving movements connected everyone's best wishes for the New Year. The cold winter couldn't stop the enthusiasm of the audience. Amidst the melodious music, thunderous applause from the theater resounded throughout the audience.
"You don't see the water of the Yellow River coming from the sky", "A confidant in the sea is like a neighbor at the end of the world", "Hanshan Temple outside Gusu City, the bell arrives at the passenger ship at midnight"...
A "time machine" from the Tang Dynasty opened the hatch in the United States, thousands of miles away, and transmitted the poems recited by Li Bai, Du Fu, Zhang Ji and other poets thousands of years ago, giving China's cultural treasures a different look. Exotic colors.
On the stage, the familiar classic Tang poems are interpreted through perfect legato or agile coloratura expression.
15 international young singers of different nationalities and skin colors collaborated with the world-renowned Philadelphia Orchestra and conductor Liao Guomin, using international creation and packaging to compose ancient poems that have been passed down for thousands of years into a symphony, and jointly performed "Quiet Night Thoughts" and " Music works based on 15 famous poems from Tang Dynasty, including "Jiangjinjiu", "Ode to Goose", "Night Mooring at Maple Bridge", "Yellow Crane Tower", present "Echoes of Tang Poetry" to North American audiences.
The reporter learned that the concert was co-sponsored by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Suzhou Culture and Art Center and Asian American Performing Arts Center, and was supported by the China International Cultural Exchange Association, the Chinese Consulate General in New York, the Chinese Permanent Mission to the United Nations, Jiangsu Province Strong support from the Department of Culture and Tourism, Suzhou Municipal People's Government, Suzhou Industrial Park Management Committee, Suzhou Wenguang Tourism Bureau, Su Wentou Group, etc.
The live video of the concert will meet with you at the 2023 "Happy Chinese New Year" held by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to welcome the new year together.
The concert was created by the iSING!Suzhou International Young Singers Art Festival. 15 singers, including two Grammy Award winners, came from 10 countries around the world, including the United States, China, Canada, Italy, Mexico, Serbia, and Latvia , Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Ukraine.
These rookies who have grown up in the iSING!Suzhou Art Festival communicate and dialogue with the ancient Chinese civilization more than a thousand years ago through the artistic conception of music and literature, use modern music to collide and activate the powerful connotation of Tang poetry, and show The unique charm of music has enhanced the understanding and acceptance of Chinese poetry culture by people at home and abroad, and vividly interpreted Chinese stories to the world.
The concert scene is classical, elegant and splendid.
Tang poems and new songs with unique charm come on stage one after another. For the first time, performers and singers present the treasures of Chinese culture in the Western mainstream art hall, presenting to the audience an audio-visual feast where Eastern poetry and Western music complement each other, and let the classics from the East ignite American winter.
"The Sound of Philadelphia" Meets iSING!Suzhou
Ace Orchestra played the song of Sino-US friendship that lasted half a century
In tonight's concert, the ancient oriental language collided with western artistic techniques, making Tang poetry a hot topic in the New Year.
"This event is a rare opportunity under the epidemic, and it is of great significance to the cultural exchanges between China and the United States."
Tian Haojiang, founder and director of iSING! Suzhou International Young Singers Art Festival, said in an interview that Tang poetry has a great weight in the hearts of Chinese people all over the world, and everyone has a strange feeling for Tang poetry.
Integrating Tang poetry into modern music can express the longing for friends, relatives and expectations of love, hoping to resonate with audiences all over the world and spread Chinese culture to the world.
Image source: China Daily
"This concert is performed by composers and singers from all over the world and the world-renowned Philadelphia Orchestra. It uses ancient Tang poems with new music, and young singers from many countries sing in Chinese. This is the first time in history. This time, we have reason to believe that these two music sessions will be very complete and successful."
The reporter learned that in order to present the most elegant oriental aesthetics in North America, two months ago, iSING! Suzhou art director Tian Haojiang, music director Katherine Chu, opera art director Zhu Ailan and voice director Wu Wei started music assignments with the singers .
On December 21, 2022, all iSING! Suzhou teachers, 15 singers and 15 chorus actors gathered in New York to start the final synthesis rehearsal.
In order to let singers have a more accurate understanding of the music, at the beginning of the new year in 2023, Mr. Liao Guomin, the conductor of the North American premiere concert of "Echoes of Tang Poetry" iSING! Suzhou and the Philadelphia Orchestra, arrived in New York and began to conduct music work alone with the singers .
Left: Conductor Liao Guomin, Right: Maureen Kelly
Left: Conductor Liao Guomin, Middle: iSING! Music Producer: Katherine Chu, Right: Piano accompanist Hong Ziyi
As the resident conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the first guest conductor and artistic consultant of the Macao Orchestra, and the program director of the Macau International Music Festival, Liao Guomin was once praised by the American "Philadelphia Inquirer" as "a striking commanding genius".
Under his guidance, the singers have a more accurate understanding of the presentation of the music.
Hone the pronunciation and intonation of Chinese, understand the deep meaning of the music, from video, telephone teaching to one-on-one adjustment and modification on the spot, the singers and performers rehearse day and night to perfect, just to present the most mellow "Tang Poetry" in the concert echo".
It is worth mentioning that the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, which the iSING! Suzhou young singers collaborated with, has an unusually deep friendship with China, which also makes this Spring Festival concert extra meaningful.
Inside the Philadelphia Orchestra
As a world-renowned art group, the Philadelphia Orchestra toured China in 1973, becoming the first symphony orchestra to visit China after the founding of New China.
In the past half century, the Philadelphia Orchestra has visited China 12 times, which is the orchestra that has visited China the most times among major American orchestras.
At that time, the Philadelphia Orchestra, as the first American orchestra to visit China, built an important bridge for cultural exchanges between the two countries.
In 1973, the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra visited China and performed
Based on this historical origin, 2023 coincides with the 50th anniversary of the orchestra's visit to China, and the "Echoes of Tang Poetry" concert is even more meaningful. Half a century of friendship and exchanges have been carried forward through the singing of iSING!Suzhou young singers.
This "Echoes of Tang Poetry" concert is the beginning of a series of commemorative activities for the 50th anniversary of the Philadelphia Orchestra's visit to China. The combination of the full and splendid sound of Philadelphia and the exquisite and timeless rhythm of poetry will undoubtedly become an event of great artistic level and historical significance. Cooperation is also a precious gift from iSING!Suzhou Art Festival, adhering to the original intention and mission of promoting cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries, and composing a new chapter of Sino-US friendship.
Music is like a "bridge" that bridges the friendship between the two orchestras and the passage between Suzhou and the world.
Philadelphia Orchestra
It is understood that, in addition to tonight's performance at Philadelphia's Kimmel Center's Verizon Hall (Kimmel Center's Verizon Hall), tomorrow night's "Echoes of Tang Poetry" special concert will also be held at the Arista Hall of Lincoln Center in New York. Sing at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall.
Celebrations such as the Chinese New Year Celebration, the Temple Fair of "New Year Lunar New Year and Ancient Rhythm of New Year", "Chinese Culture and Tourism Exhibition Month", "Bicycle Zodiac Decoration Contest and Parade" and other celebrations will also be presented one after another to convey good wishes to people all over the world.
Ten years of sharpening a sword
iSING!Suzhou originates from Suzhou and goes to the world
iSING!
The Suzhou International Young Singers Art Festival keeps moving, constantly improving its standards, expanding its influence, and shining on the international stage.
By constantly broadening the boundaries of artistic exploration, the festival will bring the most classic and appealing cultural treasure in traditional Chinese culture—Tang poetry—to the world stage with a brand-new style through international creation.
Over the past eight years, the festival has recruited outstanding young singers from all over the world, disseminated and promoted Chinese and classical music, and promoted cultural exchanges between China and the West, becoming a cultural card for Suzhou to go global.
It also allows young vocal artists from all over the world to convey the cultural confidence of contemporary China and the vitality of Suzhou, a famous cultural city, to the world through the bridge of music.
After ten years of hard work, behind this is the original intention and love of the founder to spread Chinese culture.
"I went to the West and learned to sing operas in Italian, French, English, and Czech. Can I invite singers from all over the world to come to China and learn to sing Chinese art operas and songs in Chinese?" Ten years ago, Tian Hao Jiang had such an idea.
Eight years ago, Tian Haojiang came to Suzhou Industrial Park with this ideal "seed" that had been conceived for a long time, and founded iSING!
Suzhou International Youth Singers Art Festival.
This pioneering work makes iSING! the first international vocal art festival in China. It is also a key project for Sino-foreign cultural exchanges and Chinese language international promotion in Jiangsu Province and Suzhou City. The anticipated art event.
Young singers from all over the world came to Suzhou from various countries to learn Chinese and sing together, gain a deep understanding of Chinese culture, and present high-level Chinese and Western art masterpieces to the audience.
iSING! continues to grow and develop every year on the basis of the previous year, seeking innovation and change.
In the CCTV Spring Festival Gala in 2018, some young Chinese and foreign singers from iSING! Suzhou made their finale appearance with the song "I Love You, China", allowing audiences across the country to understand and pay attention to iSING!.
In 2019, iSING! will bring a concert dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China, featuring bel canto and symphonic accompaniment, incorporating traditional arts such as Pingtan, Peking Opera, and Huangmei Opera, combining Chinese and Western styles and cross-border integration.
In 2020, iSING! will launch the world premiere concert of famous Tang poems, which will let Chinese famous poems through the ages, under the wonderful interpretation of Chinese and foreign artists, radiate the deafening artistic vitality.
The recorded version of "iSING! Suzhou Tang Poems World Premiere Concert" "Lantern Tang Poetry Concert" was performed as the closing performance of the "Happy Chinese New Year" online event. The global viewing volume exceeded 70 million, and it was recognized and loved by audiences at home and abroad.
(2020 "iSING Suzhou · Famous Poems of Tang Dynasty" world premiere concert site)
In 2021, as one of the key performances of Suzhou Jiangnan Culture and Art·International Tourism Festival in China, iSING! devoted all its efforts to creating "The Most Beautiful Jiangnan in Red China". The concert will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China and Jiangnan culture. The 25 young singers of the show joined hands with the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra to bring a 90-minute musical feast.
iSING is an international family and a window open to the whole world.
After years of development, more than 350 outstanding young singers from more than 30 countries came to Suzhou to participate in the art festival, and then set off from Suzhou to the world, spreading Chinese culture and telling Chinese stories all over the world, building up a It is a bridge of friendship between Suzhou and the world.
Previously, in an interview with reporters, Tian Haojiang once confessed affectionately to Suzhou, "Suzhou is the home of iSING!" In his opinion, now, iSING! artists have regarded Suzhou as their second hometown, and they learn Pingtan , visit the gardens, taste Suzhou delicacies, and establish friendships beyond borders in life, study and exchanges.
"In the future, we hope that music and art can gently soothe people's hearts. We hope that iSING!Suzhou will sing international voices to Suzhou and stay in Suzhou!"
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