Chinanews.com, Beijing, January 11 (Liu Yue) At the beginning of the new year, North American audiences on the other side of the ocean received a unique oriental gift.

On the evening of the 6th and 7th local time, the 2023 "Happy Chinese New Year" large-scale cultural exchange event of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China held "Echoes of Tang Poetry: iSING! Suzhou and the Philadelphia Orchestra Chinese New Year Concert" at the Kimmer Performing Arts Center in Philadelphia and Lincoln, New York. The wonderful performance at the center kicked off, bringing music fans an audio-visual feast spanning ancient and modern times and integrating Chinese and Western.

  The performance is jointly supported by the China International Cultural Exchange Association affiliated to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Chinese Consulate General in New York, the Chinese Permanent Mission to the United Nations, the Bank of China, the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, and the Suzhou Municipal People's Government. It is the chairman of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly Kresch, Mayor Kenny of Philadelphia, permanent representatives of more than 10 countries including France to the United Nations, Ma Siyi, president of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Ambassador Zhang Jun, Chinese Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Huang Ping, Chinese Consul General in New York, and people from all walks of life watched the performance successively.

On the evening of January 7 local time, the 2023 "Happy Chinese New Year" "Echoes of Tang Poetry: iSING! Suzhou and the Philadelphia Orchestra Chinese New Year Concert" was staged at the Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center, New York, and the audience enjoyed a leap An audio-visual feast integrating ancient and modern, Chinese and Western.

The picture shows the chairman of the 77th session of the General Assembly Kresch (third from left) and Matthias Tarnopoliski, president and CEO of the Philadelphia Orchestra, at the "Suzhou Day" theme event held before the concert (Matías Tarnopolsky) (third from right), Zhang Jun, Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations (second from left), Jin Jie, member of the Standing Committee of the Suzhou Municipal Committee and Minister of Propaganda Department (second from right), Huang Ping, Chinese Consul General in New York (first from right), Chinese Consul General in New York Consulate Cultural Counselor Chen Chunmei (first from left) took a group photo.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Liao Pan

From Tang poetry to folk songs

The voice of China resounds across the ocean

  Just in time for the cold winter season, the main creative team used "Spring Festival Overture" as the opening track of the "Echoes of Tang Poetry" series of concerts, which can be described as a unique approach.

The melodious music engraved in the memory of Chinese people is like a spring breeze, bringing warmth to the audience in the harsh winter.

  Subsequently, under the baton of Macau conductor Liao Guomin, 15 international young singers from 10 countries, including China, the United States, and Italy, performed "Quiet Night Thoughts", "Will Entering Wine" and "Wine" together with the accompaniment of the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra. Familiar classic Tang poems such as "Night Mooring at Fengqiao", "Yellow Crane Tower", "Farewell to Fude Ancient Grassland".

On the evening of January 7 local time, the 2023 "Happy Chinese New Year" "Echoes of Tang Poetry: iSING! Suzhou and the Philadelphia Orchestra Chinese New Year Concert" was staged at the Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center, New York, and the audience enjoyed a leap An audio-visual feast integrating ancient and modern, Chinese and Western.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Liao Pan

  "Don't you see the water of the Yellow River coming up from the sky" "Hanshan Temple outside Gusu City, the bell arrives at the passenger ship at midnight" "Grape and wine luminous cup, if you want to drink the pipa immediately remind you" "Thousands of mountains and birds fly away, ten thousand paths of people disappear" "Yellow Crane The past will never return, the white clouds will be empty for thousands of years"... The main creative team will compose the ancient poems that have been handed down for thousands of years into a symphony, inspire the powerful background of Tang poetry with Western tunes, and let the poems handed down by Li Bai, Du Fu, Bai Juyi and others span thousands of years and cross the sea .

  Interestingly, when the 15 tracks were over, the artists also presented encore songs such as "From Jasmine to Turandot" and "Kangding Love Song".

"What a beautiful jasmine flower" and "On the mountain where the horses are running, there is a cloud", the soft and beautiful Jiangnan ditties, the hot and high-spirited Sichuan folk songs and the implicit and meaningful Tang poems complement each other. Using art as a medium, it is vivid to the world interpreted the Chinese story.

Promote people-to-people bonds

Cultural exchange builds a bridge of communication

  At the "Suzhou Day" theme event held before the concert, Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, delivered a speech.

He believes that the "Echoes of Tang Poetry" concert will interpret famous works of Chinese Tang poetry in a new way. It is a collision between classical and modern art, and the interaction between Eastern and Western civilizations. , the spiritual power contained in it can transcend time and space, transcend countries, and arouse the resonance of the soul." At the 2023 "Happy Chinese New Year" special press conference held earlier, the person in charge of the International Exchange and Cooperation Bureau of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism also said, It is hoped that through the holding of the "Happy Chinese New Year" event, exchanges and mutual learning among global civilizations will be promoted.

  It is true that culture has no borders, just like the unique "Tang Poetry and Western Rhyme" has also captured the hearts of many music fans.

An audience member named Brandon said frankly that he likes the artistic conception of Chinese poetry. "The combination of poetry and opera is a very interesting exploration. I hope to see more cultural works from China in the future."

On the evening of January 7 local time, the 2023 "Happy Chinese New Year" "Echoes of Tang Poetry: iSING! Suzhou and the Philadelphia Orchestra Chinese New Year Concert" was staged at the Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center, New York, and the audience enjoyed a leap An audio-visual feast integrating ancient and modern, Chinese and Western.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Liao Pan

  Another audience member, Veronica, rushed from Philadelphia to New York overnight for the second time for this music feast: "I just watched the premiere of 'Echoes of Tang Poetry' in Philadelphia the day before, and I really like the song 'Night Mooring at Maple Bridge'." Pingtan a cappella part. Pingtan is hard to see in the United States, and for people who like Chinese culture, this kind of performance is very rare. In order to watch it again, I think it is worth coming to New York.”

  Regarding the cultural identity reflected in music, Kresch, chairman of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly, said that this event continued the tradition of academic and cultural exchanges between China and the United States, and reflected the significance of building a bridge of communication between different cultural groups.

"Let us bear in mind the poem of Zhang Jiuling, a poet of the Tang Dynasty in China, 'Knowing each other is not far or near, and ten thousand miles are neighbors', uphold the principle of mutual understanding, and take practical actions in the right direction, so as to make the connection between people of all countries in the world closer."

music crosses borders

The Philadelphia Orchestra plays the song of friendship between China and the United States

  During their meeting in Bali, the heads of state of China and the United States agreed that people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and the United States are very important, and encouraged the expansion of personnel exchanges in various fields between the two countries.

The "Echoes of Tang Poetry" concert is co-hosted by China Suzhou Culture and Art Center, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Asian American Performing Arts Center.

Among them, the Philadelphia Orchestra is an old friend of the Chinese people.

  In 1973, the Philadelphia Orchestra toured China and became the first American symphony orchestra to visit China after the founding of New China, building an important bridge for cultural exchanges between the two countries.

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.

As a world-renowned art group, the Philadelphia Orchestra chose the concert as the first event to commemorate the 50th anniversary of its visit to China, presenting elegant oriental aesthetics with moving movements, reflecting its extraordinary and profound friendship with China.

On the evening of January 7 local time, the 2023 "Happy Chinese New Year" "Echoes of Tang Poetry: iSING! Suzhou and the Philadelphia Orchestra Chinese New Year Concert" was staged at the Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center, New York, and the audience enjoyed a leap An audio-visual feast integrating ancient and modern, Chinese and Western.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Liao Pan

  Ma Siyi, President and CEO of the Philadelphia Orchestra, emphasized in the interview that the Philadelphia Orchestra is very happy to participate in this concert, "I am very happy to celebrate the beginning of the Year of the Rabbit through a wonderful music performance. It is touching. In 1973, the Philadelphia Orchestra visited China for the first time. On this 50th anniversary, I would like to say that the Philadelphia Orchestra has a profound friendship with many Chinese artists, and we look forward to returning to China to perform again.”

  Huang Ping, the Chinese Consul General in New York, expressed his appreciation, "Fei Jiao toured China in 1973 and became the first Western symphony orchestra to visit China after the founding of New China. In the past half century, Fei Jiao visited China 12 times to promote The mutual understanding and friendship between the people of the two countries have made positive contributions. I hope that Feijiao will use music as a bridge to continue to play the role of a friendly cultural envoy.”

  Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying also reposted Huang Ping's congratulations on "Echoes of Tang Poetry" on social media.

She believes that the decades of exchanges and cooperation between the Philadelphia Orchestra and China have been fruitful, and she looks forward to more such exchanges across time, space, language and other factors.

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