Multi-city concert series helps the young get connected to music

Classical music needs to be something that is rooted in everyday life, and one of the best ways to do that is to reach out to young people.

That approach was taken by the concert tour The Light of Renaissance, which visited Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan, Taipei and ended in Beijing on Aug 19 at the Forbidden City Concert Hall.

Seventy-five young people, aged from 18 to 25, performed songs including Song of Eternal Lament first composed by Huang Zi and adapted by musician Zou Ye, Song of Fate by Johannes Brahms and Antonin Leopold Dvorak's Symphony No 9 (From the New World).

Presented by the Macao Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Central Conservatory of Music Chorus, with conductors Lin Daye and Liao Guomin, the 13-day tour offered a chance for young people in the six cities to communicate with music and better understand the classical works.

"Many of the performers learned classical music instrument from scratch.

"But music brought much enjoyment to them, which made the learning process easier," says Jimson Hoi Kin Wa, president of Macao Youth Symphony Orchestra Association.

With the initial idea of establishing an orchestra to provide musical training and the chance for young people to perform, a group of music teachers and former musicians from the Macao Chamber Orchestra founded the Macao Youth Symphony Orchestra in 1997.

"Classical music need not always be serious, it can be light. Everybody can enjoy it," he says.

In Shanghai, the performers also played 11 popular folk songs including the Russian song, Night in the Suburb of Moscow and the Italian song Santa Lucia.

The six concerts, which kicked off on Aug 7, also marked the centennial anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution in 1911, which ended the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and introduced the idea of a republic to Chinese citizens.

By visiting cities like Wuhan and Nanjing, which are relevant to the history of the 1911 revolution, the concert tour also acts as a bridge to allow young people from Macao and the mainland to learn more about that period of history.

"Music is a universal language. The young generation of Macao has communicated their feelings through music to audiences in the mainland.

"I believe this concert series helps enhance the communication between the young people in Macao and the mainland," he says.

You can contact the writer at

chennan@chinadaily.com.cn.

China Daily

(China Daily 08/21/2011 page15)