As May has arrived, the NCPA’s 10^th May Festival, themed “A Feast of Strings”, is just around the corner. The 21 public performances will be performed outside the NCPA, bringing the beautiful melody of chamber music to every corner in Beijing.

The 21 public performances will be performed outside the NCPA
Photo by GAO Shang

From the year 2012 on, the NCPA has held more than 120 outreach programmes at schools, hospitals, museums and workshops during the Festival. Apart from the artists and chamber music ensembles, celebrities such as BAI Yansong, YU Dan, REN Luyu, LIU Fangfei and LI Yangwei have all served as hosts of each event. They joined hands with the NCPA to build a bridge connecting chamber music with the mass.

Four NCPA resident singers gave a wonderful performance to more than 300 workers

Photo by GAO Shang

From May 3^rd to May 21^st, 21 outreach programmes will be launched from Beijing’s sub-centre to the hustling high-speed train, from culture-rich museums to schools, and from the Palace Museum brimming with Chinese culture to Peking Union Medical College Hospital. Celebrated performers LU Siqing, HUANG Mengla, CHEN Xi, LIU Xiao, GAO Can and Chu Yi-Bing, and world-famous music ensembles Emerson String Quartet, Leipzig String Quartet, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Italy Jazz Orchestra, St Martin in the Fields, King's Singers, Chu Yi-Bing Cello Ensemble, China Broadcasting Chinese Orchestra, China Film Symphony Orchestra, Beijing Symphony Orchestra Wind Quintet, NCPA resident singers and China NCPA Quartet will deliver brilliant performances to all walks of life. A variety of forms including solo, ensemble, concerto, chorus and master class, will waft the charm of chamber music to every corner of the city.

CCTV host BAI Xianyong joined this event

Photo by GAO Shang

On the afternoon of May 3^rd, Artistic Director of the NCPA May Festival and renowned violinist LU Siqing, together with the NCPA’s resident singers ZHANG Xin, LIU Songhu, ZHANG Yang and GUAN Zhijing, and piano accompanists LU Jingyi and YUE Peng, and CCTV host BAI Yansong, appeared at the first stop of this year’s outreach programme - Tongzhou District, dubbed, “Beijing’s sub-centre”, gave performance to more than 300 workers. LU Siqing played Sunshine on Taxkorgan, a masterpiece with strong national characteristics, and graceful violin music Liebesleid, Liebesfreud and Wieniawski’s Polonaise in D major, etc. NCPA resident singers delivered I Love You, China, Night on the Prairies, My Motherland and Me, Yu Mei Ren, Toreador Song, a selection from the widely-known opera Carmen, as well as the exquisite duet The Path from the NCPA opera commission The Dawns Here Are Quiet, winning much applause from audiences.

NCPA resident artists came to the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Winter Games

Photo by GAO Shang

 

On May 4^th, the same artists and CCTV hostess JI Xin came to the second stop - the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, where they presented a wonderful feast of music to more than 200 young audience who are preparing for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Violinist LU Siqing performed with his Guarneri violin made 300 years ago by hand

Photo by GAO Shang

With a Guarneri violin, made 300 years ago by hand, violinist LU Siqing performed four pieces: Sunshine on Taxkorgan, and Liebesleid, Liebesfreud and Polish Dance in D major. NCPA resident artists ZHANG Xin, LIU Songhu, ZHANG Yang and GUAN Zhijing sang songs including I Love You, China, Night On the Prairies, and Toreador Song from Carmen, as well as excerpts from NCPA opera commissions, such as duet The Path from The Dawns Here Are Quiet. Then the artists sang My Motherland And Me together as the finale, receiving a standing ovation. A staff member said, “The performance here is more lively than at the theatre, since we’re closer to the artists. We feel that art is everywhere around us.”

As the outreach programmes continues on, more artists and orchestras will walk into museums, schools, galleries, hospitals and other institutions to give performance, ushering in the passionate early summer, and bloom chamber music at every corner of the capital city.