On the evening of May 1^st, the NCPA Concert Hall was crowded with well-known artists. As the bowstring vibrated and music played, the NCPA May Festival 2023 officially kicked off with “Bowstring Feast III” under the leadership of the renowned violinist Siqing Lu.

The “Bows and Horns III” was launched at the NCPA May Festival 2018, where musicians had a joyous gathering with one another and interpreted the spiritual essence of chamber music by rendering Chinese and foreign music together. At the opening ceremony of the NCPA May Festival 2021, ten old, middle-aged and young Chinese violin virtuosos gather together here and presented a splendid special “upgraded version” of “Bowstring Feast”, bringing the May Festival to its ultimate climax; this year, “Bows and Horns III” came up with a repertoire of the well-chosen Chinese and foreign classics, arranged by well-known artists, thanks to finely crafted rehearsals.

As the concert just began, Siqing Lu appeared on stage with HUANG Mengla and LU Jingyi. They played Shostakovich’s five pieces for two violins and piano, with the charm of the violin expressed to the greatest extent in romantic and poetic melody. This was followed by collaboration between the cellist Li-wei Qin and the young violinist LI Yuhe in performing Passacaglia, with the melody taking the audience back to the Baroque Era. The next three works are imbued with the classical spirit. The violinist WANG Xiaomao worked with the violist SU Zhen in performing the first movement of Mozart’s Duo for Violin and Viola in G major. Siqing Lu returned to the stage with the pianist SUN Yingdi to render the first movement of Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No. 5 in F major, Op. 24 “Spring”, one of his best-known works. Then, WANG Xiaomao, LI Yuhe, SU Zhen and Li-wei Qin interpreted the first movement of Brahms’ String Quartet No. 2 in A minor in the form of quartet. At the end of the first half, the musicians of Major Trio, Siqing Lu, Li-wei Qin and SUN Yingdi performed Piazzolla’s Primavera Portena, exhilarating the audience with the unique rhythm of South American music.

In the second half of the concert, famous conductor ZHANG Yi took the stage with the National Ballet of China Chamber Orchestra. Siqing Lu and SUN Yingdi took the lead in the third movement of Mendelssohn’s Concerto for Violin, Piano and String Orchestra in D minor; then, Vivaldi’s two works took the audience back to the heyday of chamber music - HUANG Mengla and Li-wei Qin in worked together on the Concerto for Violin and Cello in B-flat major, which was followed by violin concerto Four Seasons, with Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter staged with WANG Xiaomao, LI Yuhe, HUANG Mengla and Siqing Lu as the lead performer respectively. The finale of the concert was a string of Chinese classical masterpieces arranged by the composer HU Yao. As melodies full of China’s spiritual charm and national characteristics, Happy Harvest, Spring in Xinjiang, Pastoral, Celebration in Song and Dance, etc. showed a picture of enchanting scenery constituted by the vast land of China, bringing the festival to a new climax.

Amid prolonged applause from the audience, all participating artists returned to the stage and gave encores including HE Zhanhao and CHEN Gang’s classic Chinese violin concerto Butterfly Lovers, Massenet’s Meditation, and Vivaldi’s Concerto for Four Violins in B minor, adding brilliance to the feast.

After the concert and “Bows and Horns III”, the opening concert to be held the next day, more fascinating performances will be staged at the NCPA May Festival.

On May 3^rd, the conductor TAN Lihua will raise his baton over the Beijing Symphony Orchestra to perform Wagner’s Rienzi Ouvertüre and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F minor, and cooperate with the French pianist Michel Dalberto in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73, “Emperor”; on May 4^th, the Shanghai Quartet will deliver a chamber concert entitled, “Classical on String” to present masterpieces by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven; on May 5^th, the Major Trio, which appeared at the opening ceremony, will take the stage yet again to play works by Rachmaninoff and Brahms.

Later the pianist Rudolf Buchbinder, violinist Renaud Capucon and cellist WANG Jian will also appear at the NCPA May Festival; the China NCPA Orchestra will work with HAN Xiaoguang, the Shanghai Quartet, LAI Jiajing, ZHANG Weiliang, LI Jia, YU Ziqi and SUN Yifan to give three chamber concerts; Siqing Lu, Artistic Director of the NCPA May Festival, will also cooperate with the pianist LU Jingyi to give a violin recital entitled “Top Maestro”; FENG Mantian, KONG Hongwei and their friends will give a jazz concert at the closing ceremony, “Midnight Rose”. Besides, the Beijing Chinese Orchestra Jiuyue Chamber Ensemble, Austria Tymur and Patrick Violin and Piano Duet, Qingxin Baroque Orchestra, China Broadcasting Chinese Orchestra and West End Tiron will also take the stage at the NCPA Multi-functional Theatre one after another to regale the music lovers with beautiful music at the NCPA May Festival.