Award Gala

From June 15 till 18, 28 choruses from across the Strait gathered in Fuzhou to participate in the 5th Chorus Festival of Two Sides across the Strait jointly sponsored by China Musicians Association and Fuzhou Municipal Government. Under the theme of Sound of Harmony, this Festival conveys a warm family affection to make us feel happiness at heart within this short duration of four days.

As the most professional competition in chorus across the Strait, this Festival witnessed a wonderful performance with constant climaxes. Finally, Beijing Classic Chorus, Taiwan Pingtung Laiyi High School Chorus, Fuzhou Police Chorus and Chorus of Hunan Zhiqing Art Troupe won golden awards, Taiwan Miaoli Founding Primary School Chorus, Henan Provincial Teachers’ Chorus and so on won silver awards and Yunnan Normal University Forest Chorus, Dawn Chorus of Chengdu Branch of Chinese Academy of Science and so on won bronze awards. As to performance awards, Taiwan Pingtung Toyota Primary School Chorus and Fuzhou Little Jasmine Chorus won Excellent Children Performance Award and Taiwan Kaohsiung Gushan Women Chorus and CFLAC Retired Personnel Chorus won Excellent Performance Award.

Beijing Classic Chorus

Besides those competitions, the Original Music Summit Forum titled “Same Root across the Strait” was held in Changle as part of this Festival. Particularly, the new creation of chorus Home Town of My Parents, lyrics by famous Chinese woman writer Bing Xin, composed by Zhang Shaotong, vice president of Fujian Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and adapted by Kuo Meng Yung, brought many composers to the consensus that the melody adapted by Kuo, though popular, is blessed with varied expression and enhanced emotions, both of which endowed spiritual energy with the song.

Taiwan Pingtung Laiyi High School Chorus

From the year 2008 on, the Festival has been staged on many cities such as Fuzhou, Taichung and Hsinchu. Though the participant choruses will be different, the original mission remains the same with increasingly deepened family affection in the compatriots across the Strait. As Xu Peidong, vice president of CFLAC and CMA, commented, “Music is just a medium in which we make friends and a strong bond of Chinese family affection across the Strait. The success proves the one-blood feeling for each other and its influence and expansion means far more beyond the competition itself. In this way, it is an art gala in the form of chorus festival, a reunion of Chinese nation and a cantata to inspire all the Chinese across the Strait. It is like a bridge to connect hearts, and a ribbon with great expectation of Chinese people for the great revival”.