The sound of chamber music

When 12 Chinese violinists performed at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing on May 8, their carefully balanced and nuanced sound kicked off the NCPA May Festival, an annual event to promote chamber music.

The programs included Bach's Double Violin Concerto in D minor BMV 1043 performed by violinists Lyu Siqing and Chen Xi, and Antonio Vivaldi's Concerto for 3 violins in F major, RV 551, featuring violinists Gao Can, Wang Xiaomao and Jiang Zhenyi. Ten violinists, including Lyu, Xu Weiling and Huang Bin, performed Chinese composer Du Mingxin's Song and Dance for Celebration from his violin concerto, Trip to Xinjiang, accompanied by the National Ballet of China's symphony orchestra under the baton of conductor Fan Ni.

According to Lyu, artistic director of the NCPA May Festival, who is also a renowned violinist, the lineups showcase a high level of Chinese violinists, who have achieved renown both at home and abroad.

"With different groups of these violinists performing repertories in a diversity of styles, audiences enjoyed the beauty of chamber music, which is totally different from music performed by soloists," says Lyu.

"I grew up listening to music performed by these established Chinese violinists and I am happy to perform with them onstage as a violinist myself," says 25-year-old violinist Dang Huali, who performed Vivaldi's Quadruple Concerto for Violin in B minor RV 580 from L'Estro Armonico Op 3, No 10, along with three other violinists－Lyu, Huang Bin and Huang Mengla－at the opening concert on May 8. The three are winners of the Paganini International Violin Competition in 1987,1994 and 2002 respectively.

Initiated by the NCPA in 2009, the festival was canceled in May last year due to the coronavirus pandemic. With the pandemic largely under control in the country, the NCPA is holding the latest edition of the NCPA May Festival from May 8-22.

"When we first presented the May Festival in 2009, chamber music was not part of mainstream culture among Chinese classical fans. With more and more people enjoying classical music, they are also open to chamber music, which provides an intimate atmosphere and experience," says Wang Luli, deputy director of the programming department of the NCPA.

One of the event's highlights will see violinist Weigang Li, a founding member of the established Shanghai Quartet, one of the first string quartets in the country, horn player Han Xiaoguang, who is the principal horn player of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, and oboist Liu Mingjia, who is the principal oboe of San Francisco Opera Orchestra, performing together in a concert featuring programs, including French composer Henri Tomasi's Fanfares Liturgiques, German composer Wilhelm Berger's Serenade for Twelve Wind Players, Op 102, and Tchaikovsky's Serenade in C Major, Op 48.

On Sunday, the Tianjin Juilliard Ensemble, consisting mainly of faculty members from the Tianjin Juilliard School, held a concert featuring conductor Chen Lin. The music was composed by Tan Dun, Guo Wenjing and Chen Qigang. It was presented in that rare format of chamber music. Accompanied by the China NCPA Orchestra, they also premiered a music piece, Three Settings from the Book of Odes, composed by Tianjin Juilliard School's resident faculty member, Niccolo Athens, which is inspired by The Book of Odes, or Shi Jing, China's earliest collection of poems and songs. Performers of this concert on Sunday also included bass-baritone Shen Yang, guzheng player Chang Jing, pipa player Li Jia, and percussion player Yin Fei, in a conversation between Chinese and Western musical instruments.

According to Ren Xiaolong, general manager of China NCPA Orchestra, for the first time, the NCPA May Festival took musicians to perform in Tianjin, which would probably see chamber music find a new audience. On May 12 and 13, musicians of China NCPA Orchestra performed at the concert hall of the Tianjin Juilliard School.

On Friday and Saturday, violinist Ning Feng will perform with China NCPA Orchestra under the baton of Qian Junping in a concert, named after Ernest Hemingway's classic memoir of Paris, A Movable Feast, featuring music pieces by French composers Maurice Ravel and Charles-Camille Saint-Saens.

Besides performances at concert halls, the festival will introduce chamber music shows to audiences at public spaces inside the NCPA, combining classical music, jazz and pingtan, a form of storytelling and ballad singing in Suzhou dialect.

Since the inception of the NCPA May Festival, it aspires to introduce recitals to an audience that has limited exposure to classical music. This year, the festival will bring performances outside the venue to public places, such as schools, construction sites and communities in the capital.