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Beijing festival a musical treat

The 2008 Beijing Modern Music Festival presented a diversity of world music with a gathering of musicians from the United States, New Zealand, Austria, Italy, France, South Korea and China, who communicated on innovations in world music, social influences of music, the development of Chinese folk and traditional music in modern society.

The Festival began last Sunday evening at the Beijing Concert Hall, with the Unaccompanied Oratorio adapted from the Kunqu Opera Peach Blossom Fan. Composer Liao Naixiong created the 8-movement score to the lyrics of the Kunqu Opera set in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) that tells the tragic tale of courtesan Li Xiangjun and the scholar Hou Fangyu.

Three leading singers - a soprano, tenor and baritone - were accompanied by the choir of the Central Conservatory of Music while the Kunqu Opera performers acted out segments on stage.

The New Seattle Orchestra, New Zealand String Trio, Ensemble Wiener Collage, French flutist Luisa Sello, American guitarist Andrew Zohn, American electronic musician Neil Rolinick and Kenneth Fields also performed concerts in their distinctive musical styles this week.

There was a special concert and lecture dedicated to the French composer Olivier Messiaen (1908-1991) to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth.

The Festival ended Friday evening with a concert featuring contemporary symphonic works by Chinese composers Yang Liqing, Qin Wenchen, Chen Musheng and Ye Xiaogang who is artistic director of the annual Beijing Modern Music Festival.

French/Chinese musical fusion

Eclectic artist and founder of the famed French rock band VRP, Nery (pictured) performed a concert with the band Belgistan and Chinese musician Bai Long on the matouqin, a Mongolian traditional stringed instrument, last Wednesday at the Yu Gong Yi Shan Club.

Entitled Lukou (Crossroads), the concert represents the musical fruit of Nery and his friends' first tour of China, when Nery and the Belgistan band's rhythms were enlightened and rediscovered with the help of Bai Long's matouqin.

The event was an aspect of the 2008 Festival-Croisements organized by the French Embassy in China and the French Culture Center. The concert was a showcase for French/ Chinese musical improvisation.

Walking above the Grand Canyon

David Jin, creator of the Grand Canyon Skywalk donated 500,000 yuan ($72,150) to earthquake-stricken areas on Thursday morning at the press conference held at Beijing's Diaoyutai Guest House to promote the Grand Canyon Skywalk project. Jin, born in Shanghai and resident in the US since 1988, pledged to continue donations through the China Youth Development Foundation towards rebuilding schools and care for earthquake orphans.

The glass Skywalk, which is suspended 4,000 feet above the Colorado River on the very edge of the Grand Canyon, has welcomed more than 200,000 visitors since opening to tourists in March 2007. It enables tourists to walk the "path of the eagle," and actually stand over the Grand Canyon. This glass U-shaped bridge gives the visitors a chance to share the wonder of the canyon that the Hualapai Tribe has graciously offered.

Since the China National Tourism Administration and the US Department of Commerce announced that as from June 17, 2008, Chinese citizens may organize tour groups to the United States, the Skywalk at the Grand Canyon has become the premiere destinations for Chinese tourists.

Exhibition opened at art zone

The New Grand Tour exhibition presented by Diesel opened at the newly open DNA (New Diesel Art) Space at the 798 Art Zone last week. The exhibition featured a massive collection of artworks, including paintings, installations, sculptures, illustrations, videos and photography by five artists from different countries.

Young Kim, Jose Parla, Romon Kimin Yang, Deanne Cheuk and Davi Russo set off on the New Grand Tour to villages in southwest China last October and have created works inspired by the experience.

The works were first exhibited at Hong Kong's Diesel Brave Gallery last November and were warmly received by local viewers and critics.

The New Grand Tour exhibition is a Diesel New Art (DNA) project, and a core component of Diesel's global projects to support musical, art and fashion talents seeking to express themselves in unique ways. Early this year, DNA opened the DNA Space in Beijing's 798 Art Zone as a vehicle through which to showcase innovative art projects in China.

China Daily

(China Daily 06/11/2008 page18)