Fine-tuning a long-standing friendship

Starting the evening with the well-known Chinese melody Spring Festival Overture by Chinese composer Li Huanzhi, the Royal Flemish Philharmonic offered a feast of staple favorites at its New Year concert in Beijing.

Led by principal guest conductor Martyn Brabbins, the orchestra held the Forbidden City Concert Hall audience in its thrall with Symphony No 9 in E Minor, From the New World, by Antonin Dvorak, Light of Heart and The Emperor Waltz by Johann Strauss II, ending with the Radetzky March by Johann Strauss I, on Wednesday evening.

The concert was to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Belgium.

Founded in 1956, the Royal Flemish Philharmonic is one of Belgium's most important symphony orchestras and has performed in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Our Lady's Cathedral in its home base Antwerp, and at the Center for Fine Arts in Brussels.

Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium Patrick Nijs attended the concert.

In his opening speech, Nijs detailed the long-standing friendship between Belgium and China.

Belgian engineers helped develop China's railways in the early 20th century, while Chinese workers helped war-torn Belgium with its reconstruction after World War I.

In the early 1980s, Belgian companies entered China through joint ventures, including Xian Janssen in pharmaceuticals, and Shanghai Bell in telecommunications, becoming one of the first to utilize the opportunities created by China's reform and opening-up.

Shanghai Bell's profits were channeled into the Belgian-Chinese Equity Fund, a unique instrument aimed at Belgian companies planning to invest in China for the first time or wanting to develop investments further.

In 2009, Belgium held the Europalia Festival to present Chinese arts and culture that attracted some 1 million visitors.

"This year we hope to give China a bit of a Belgian flavor, not on the same grand scale admittedly, but still through a wide array of more than a dozen activities, cultural, gastronomic, and not least business, since a major trade delegation lead by Crown Prince Philippe will be traveling to China in October this year," Nijs said.

The New Year concert was presented by Wu Promotion, which was also involved in the Europalia Festival. The company aims to enhance cultural communication between China and Europe, and will also bring Belgium's Collegium Vocal Gent in June to participate in the Chorus Festival presented by the National Center for the Performing Arts.

China Daily

(China Daily 01/08/2011 page11)