STORY: Artistic maestro presents fascinating crossover of Chinese music, symphony
DATELINE: Sept. 19, 2023
LENGTH: 00:03:17
LOCATION: HONG KONG, China
CATEGORY: CULTURE

SHOTLIST: 
1. various of the performance
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Chinese): YAN HUICHANG, Artistic director and principal conductor for life, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra
3. various of the performance
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (Chinese): YAN HUICHANG, Artistic director and principal conductor for life, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra
5. various of the performance

STORYLINE:

Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra's performance of the Palace of Eternal Life on a Moonlit Night brought a full house to the Hong Kong Cultural Center's grand theater on Friday night.

This was a Kunqu opera and traditional Chinese music concert, kicking off the orchestra's 47th orchestral season.

The show was about the tragic love story of Emperor Tang Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and his beloved consort Yang Guifei. It innovatively adopted the form of a musical theater and integrated the performing art of ancient Kunqu opera with the live performance of a Chinese orchestra, bringing the audience new visual and sound experience.

Yan Huichang, 69, artistic director and principal conductor for life of the orchestra, has been determined to be "eclectic and unique." He was always at the forefront of the Chinese music circle, actively explored interaction with different sectors, and made a series of bold attempts to foster collaborations between Chinese orchestras and various artistic genres.

Yan's orchestra took Chinese music as the core and looked at the world. "We expand the artistic expression through the integration of cross-culture and cross-media, to allow more Chinese and foreign audiences to understand and love our Chinese music," he said.

SOUNDBITE 1 (Chinese): YAN HUICHANG, Artistic director and principal conductor for life, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra
"After we have done our own traditional things well, we can expand the expressive force, language and techniques of Chinese music through crossover of different art forms, and then expand the audience of Chinese music. Many people may not be familiar with Chinese music, but maybe they are familiar with Chinese drama, opera, painting, calligraphy, or poetry, etc. So crossover is a way to expand the audience of Chinese folk music, a characteristic of the orchestra."

Growing up in a rural area of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, where Chinese traditional culture is profound, Yan was surrounded by a strong artistic atmosphere when he was very young. During festivals, troupes entered the village to perform drama, singing, and dancing, which became Yan's initial musical enlightenment.

SOUNDBITE 2 (Chinese): YAN HUICHANG, Artistic director and principal conductor for life, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra
"There are four kinds of Chinese traditional music. The first type is folk music, which is very rich and vast. It includes folk instrumental music, opera culture, story-telling and ballad singing, folk songs and dancing. These vast parts of folk music have become the largest portion of traditional Chinese music."

The orchestra and the Hong Kong Arts Festival jointly launched the "Music about China" series in 2007, releasing pieces of works each year since then to showcase the rich diversity of Chinese music.

"As traditional Chinese music is a priceless treasure, we have the responsibility to protect and inherit it, and do our best to present it, so that the audience can appreciate the charm of traditional culture," Yan said.

After decades of pioneering work, Yan has become a well-known Chinese music conductor and composer at home and abroad.

In July 2019, Yan was awarded the Silver Bauhinia Star by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government in recognition of his efforts to promote the development of Hong Kong culture and art.

"I take the promotion of Chinese culture as my life responsibility. It is my mission and I'm honored to be able to explore and contribute to the development of Chinese music," Yan said.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Hong Kong, China.
(XHTV)