Tracking Bachtrack in China
China is too enormous to be understood in a week
At the invitation of a generous patron, I travelled with Lawrence Dunn, Commissioning Editor of Bachtrack, on a journey through Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Jiaxing and Shanghai, which concludes today.
Over the past week, we attended a chamber music concert devoted to Ye Xiaogang at the CUHKMus Shenzhen, a symphonic programme by the Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra featuring works by Richard Wagner and Zhou Tian at the Hangzhou Grand Theatre, and a film music concert by Qigang Chen taking place on the campus of the Zhejiang Conservatory of Music.
We were also given exclusive early access to the soon-to-open Opéra des Nations, located in Yanguan, Haining, of Jiaxing.
China is far too vast to be grasped in a week, or even a year. During our trip, we had in-depth conversations with Ye Xiaogang and Wang Rui, both founding deans of their respective conservatories, exploring a wide range of topics surrounding contemporary composition and professional music education. We also spoke with the conductor Muhai Tang about Chinese conductors within a global perspective.
My sincere thanks go to all the organisers for their warm hospitality. The experience has been immensely rewarding, and I hope that what we have seen and heard on this journey will find resonance with a wider international audience.
