Scene of Performance

　　On the evening of April 12th and 13th, the concert "A Historic Dialogue, the Symphonic Chinese Music of Zhang Jiping" kicked off at the Concert Hall of Hong Kong Cultural Centre. The concert presented works composed by the honorary President of the Chinese Musicians Association and globally-renowned composer Zhao Jiping, and conducted by Yan Huichang, artistic director of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. The lineup also includes world renowned pipa player Wu Man, Zhang Ningjia, professor of vocal music at Xi'an Conservatory of Music, and the Hong Kong City Choir. Zhao Jiping and Han Xin'an, vice President of the Chinese Musicians Association visited Hong Kong to attend the concert at the invitation of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra.

For two consecutive nights, the Concert Hall was full of highprofile friends in splendid light. The audiences enjoyed the extraordinary music experience brought by the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, with the flowing national spirit, humanistic feelings and style of a great country frequently causing sensations amongst the audience, who considered the concert a tribute to the Chinese traditional culture in the form of a national symphony and dialogue with the world.

Ancient Rhythm of Tang Dynasty Brings Uniqueness

Zhao Jiping once said that he has "come all the way with just 'two hands': 'One hand' is life, leaning down and learning from ethnic music; 'one hand' is foreign technology, learning well and then integrating, this process is also quite difficult." The opening music of this concert is the Social Forms of Chang'an, composed by Zhao Jiping and his old friend Lu Rirong, is a festive music work with joy based on Shaanxi Qingqiang opera. The following is the "Three Pieces of Ancient Rhymes of Tang Dynasty" by Zhang Ningjia and the orchestra, including Thinking in Silent Night, Farewell, Dongda, Tang Duoling · Farewell, Zhao Jiping put these three poems of Tang and Song Dynasties into music, combining ancient rhyme of Tang into bel canto and national drama, presenting a unique style of singing.

As the ending music of the first half, the "Pipa Concerto No.2" performed by soloist Wu Man and the orchestra, was created with the elements of Suzhou Pingtan music. Zhao Jiping introduced that this track was previously a concerto for Pipa and symphony orchestra. This time, at the invitation of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra conductor Yan Huichang, it was changed into a concerto for a chinese band and Pipa, as in a world premiere in Hong Kong.

Magnificent Collision of Poetries

In the second half, the performers began the performance of Elegance with melodious retro style. The Symphony of Elegance is Zhao Jiping's new work, a large Chineseorchestra piece that has been created in nearly a year via selecting from the representative chapters of the earliest poetry collections of Book of Songs and Poetry of Tang Dynasty with his admiration of Chinese traditional culture.It was commissioned by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the Chinese Musicians Association. The global premiere was presented at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in January 2019, this is the first show for Hong Kong audiences. The work is divided into five movements. The first movement is Preface-Praising, a magnificent chorus. The second movement is named Guanju, the earliest love poem in prehistoric times, which is about the love amongst young people of ancient times. The third movement is the Mysterious Bird, a female solo, showing the praising of the heroes and happy life of the people of pre-Qin dynasties. The fourth movement is based on the poem Youlan Cao by Han Yu's commendation of Confucius in the Tang Dynasty, employing a female singer to express the spirit of the ancients. The last movement is the National Style , via cooperating with the Hong Kong City Choir, it is sometimes deafening, but also as clear as a spring from time to time.

Music Story in Dialogue with World

Zhao Jiping insists on using the "native language" of Chinese music to talk to the world. His music is connected to the earth, and popular with the public, but also full of artistic accomplishments and technical content. He said: "I just ignore those noisy issues no matter what, but insisting on my own." As for this concert, Zhao Jiping said: "This work was planned together with Yan Huichang a year ago." Both of them were very excited about it.

The "Elegance" picks up the enduring story from the Chinese traditional culture, transforming them into a moving note, expressing the national spirit, national quality, and humanistic feelings, noble and refined spiritual pursuits of contemporary China, as well as the people's eternal yearning for good life and a peaceful world. In the midst of the times tide, the vast number of literary and art workers, who should grasp the pulse of the times and undertake the missions, should constantly create outstanding works of this era with distinctive Chinese style based upon the unique thoughts, emotions and aesthetics of the Chinese people.

With great confidence, we are expecting the two concerts to showcase the notes of Chinese culture's self-confidence to Hong Kong, an international metropolis, conveying the country's national pride and making the world understand the structure, tonality and the current state of development of Chinese national symphony through this work, and spreading the Chinese style and the Chinese soul that are represented through these notes.