Festival brings return of global talent

"It is just like the ticking of the biological clock, precise and regular," says Lyu Siqing, a renowned violinist and artistic director of the NCPA May Festival, an annual event promoting chamber music.

Every May, Lyu's schedule becomes hectic, during the NCPA May Festival.

"Last year, we had prepared the whole program for the festival, but unfortunately it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, it returns. What excites all of the team members behind the festival is that international musicians also return," Lyu says.

"The music will be in a diversity of styles, allowing the audience to enjoy the beauty of chamber music."

The festival was initiated by the National Centre for the Performing Arts in 2009.

From May 1 to 27, the festival will stage 27 concerts, gathering solo musicians and chamber music ensembles.

The opening concert will be performed by eight star musicians, including violinists Lyu, Wang Xiaomao and Huang Mengla, and cellist Li-Wei Qin, who will play in ensembles of various sizes. Lyu, Huang and pianist Sun Yingdi will play five pieces composed by Dmitri Shostakovich, which were collected and arranged for violins and piano by Lev Atovmyan, a friend and assistant to Shostakovich. Wang, Qin, violist Su Zhen and pianist Sun will perform the first movement of Mozart's Piano Quartet No 1 in G Minor, K. 478.Antonio Vivaldi's The Four Seasons will be played by the eight musicians together.

This year marks the 12th anniversary of the Major Trio, which consists of violinist Lyu, cellist Qin and pianist Sun. According to Lyu, the pandemic forced the three musicians to stop performing as an ensemble. Since they live in different countries, their gathering together again this year feels like a reunion.

"Though we all have developed careers as soloists, performing chamber music has always been important for us. Chamber music is our unique way of communication," says Lyu.

Lyu, a junior prizewinner in the inaugural Menuhin competition, was invited by Yehudi Menuhin to study violin in London at the age of 11. In 1987, he became the first Asian violinist to win top prize at the prestigious Paganini International Violin Competition in Italy, which propelled him to stardom.

On May 5, the trio will play works composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff and Johannes Brahms.

According to Wang Luli, deputy director of the NCPA's Program Management Department, one of the highlights of this year's festival will be Rudolf Buchbinder, the Czechoslovakia-born celebrated pianist, who will give seven concerts from May 9 to 17, performing the complete collection of Beethoven piano sonatas.

"Few musicians have engaged with Beethoven's music as deeply and intensively as the legendary pianist Rudolf Buchbinder. He has performed the 32 piano sonatas 60 times in cycles all over the world," says Wang Luli, adding that the pianist has never played solo at the national center in Beijing, though in 2019, he played there with the Staatskapelle Dresden, both as pianist and conductor. Buchbinder is also known for being the first pianist to perform Beethoven's complete piano sonatas at the Salzburg Festival in 2014.

"I am happy to go back to the NCPA again, which I have long looked forward to. Over the years, we have built a strong and joyful relationship with the NCPA and we have shared many great music moments, which remain in our hearts," said Buchbinder in a video sending his greetings to Chinese audiences. "For a very long time, I have been performing Beethoven's music, which has been a personal journey for me. These works have accompanied and occupied me for years, and are known for their complexity and beauty. They are deeply human."

On May 21, French violinist Renaud Capucon will give a concert featuring work by French composers, such as Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel and Cesar Franck.

Cellist Wang Jian, who has been active in the global music scene for decades and returned to his home country this year to teach at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, will play three pieces of Bach's suites for unaccompanied cello on May 27, which will close the festival.

Besides classical music, fusions of traditional Chinese and contemporary music such as jazz will be staged at the festival.

Veteran Chinese musician Zhang Weiliang, who specializes in playing traditional Chinese musical instruments, such as the bamboo flute, xiao (a vertical bamboo flute) and xun (one of China's oldest wind instruments), will perform with China NCPA Orchestra on May 18.

On May 24, the Beijing Chinese Orchestra will put on a chamber music concert, featuring musicians playing traditional instruments such as the erhu (two-stringed bowed instrument), pipa (Chinese lute), and drum.

"When we first held the May Festival in 2009, chamber music was not popular among Chinese classical music fans. With more and more people enjoying classical music, they are also becoming more open to chamber music, which provides an intimate atmosphere and experience," says Wang Luli.