Strings and history meet at Temple of Heaven concert

A concert, titled Aria of Spring Bird — Spring Bird Special Event, was staged at the Divine Music Administration at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing on Sunday.

The Divine Music Administration was first built in 1420, and is one of the five major structures at the Temple of Heaven, an imperial sacrificial altar. It was the highest ritual music academy for training and practicing imperial sacrificial music.

As part of the ongoing 28th Beijing Music Festival, the concert gathered young pianist Helen Meng, cellist Wang Tianyou, who shared the stage with veteran musicians, cellist Wang Jian and the Shanghai Quartet, an internationally celebrated string quartet.

Shanghai Quartet, which was founded in 1983 at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, opened the concert with seven Chinese folk songs, which was joined by the performance of pianist Meng on Dvorak's Piano Quintet No 2 in A Major, Op 81, B155.

Cellist Wang performed with Zhu Lin, the principal cellist of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, on Suite for 2 Cellos, Op 16 by David Popper.

The concert was part of the charity events of the 28th Beijing Music Festival, which aims to support young musicians.