Beethoven music festival launched in Shanghai before touring nationwide
A slew of activities including concerts and music workshops will liven up cities across the nation as part of a music festival launched in Shanghai on Sunday.
During the For Youth Beethoven China Music Festival, performances, concerts and workshops by and for Chinese and foreign musicians will be held in Shanghai and other Chinese cities including Shenzhen, Hangzhou, and Qingdao through the end of this year.
These will include piano, vocal, chamber music, and symphony performances and competitions. The 2024 (Shanghai) Piano Art Week is scheduled to be held at the Shanghai Concert Hall in Huangpu District in October.
It is the first Sino-German cultural exchange cooperation program authorized by BTHVN, a global body commemorating and spreading Beethoven's music culture.
Under the guidance of the Chinese Culture Promotion Society and organized by Asian Arts, which has successfully hosted hundreds of Sino-German cultural exchange activities, the event is expected to attract the participation of more than 10,000 music lovers across the nation.
A chorus event during the launching ceremony
Outstanding contestants and teams who lead in competitions during the event will have performances in Germany arranged to promote music cultural exchange between China and Germany, and create an international arena for the young generation who love music.
Every year, a large number of musicians and philharmonic orchestras from Germany are invited to China, enabling Chinese music lovers to experience live classical music culture from Europe, and Chinese music lovers also go to Germany on cultural exchanges, and this was how the program originated, said Wang Zhixing, head of the program.
"We hope to establish a platform for the young generation to showcase themselves and fulfill their dreams on stage," Wang said.
The Bonn Beethoven Concert Hall in Germany and Xizi Concert Hall in Hangzhou, neighboring Zhejiang Province, have become sister concert halls under the program.
"Beethoven is the greatest German composer and the insurmountable peak in the music field, thus the event has profound cultural value and spiritual essence," said Zhang Dingyuan, chief director of the keyboard department of the School of Music of East China Normal University. "It is expected that the event will inspire the young generation with the human community spirit of Beethoven."
A violin performance
A piano performance
