The Future is in Chinese..... 10 Months ago
Although I'm not sure where he gets the idea that classical is "dwindling" in the rest of the world.....
BEIJING (AP) — Facing dwindling popularity in the West, classical music could receive a boost from a large Chinese population increasingly interested in other cultures, the music director of the New York Philharmonic said Saturday.
Speaking ahead of two performances in Beijing's new National Grand Theater, Lorin Maazel noted that China is embracing outside influences.
"We need defenders of our tradition of classical music if classical music is to survive," he told reporters. "It could very well be that one of the most important defenders of classical music will be found in the country of China.
"I think the Chinese people, who have shown their passion and very, very high sense of aesthetics, are an ideal spawning ground for burgeoning interest in classical music," Maazel said at the theater, an egg-shaped structure sheathed in titanium and glass.
The two concerts in Beijing are part of an Asia tour by the Philharmonic, so far highlighted by a Tuesday performance during an unprecedented visit by a prominent American cultural group to North Korea.
The U.S. and communist North Korea remain technically at war since the 1953 cease-fire halted the Korean War and they have no normal diplomatic relations.
The conductor and other Philharmonic officials refused Saturday to answer questions about the North Korea trip, preferring to keep the focus on the Beijing performance
BEIJING (AP) — Facing dwindling popularity in the West, classical music could receive a boost from a large Chinese population increasingly interested in other cultures, the music director of the New York Philharmonic said Saturday.
Speaking ahead of two performances in Beijing's new National Grand Theater, Lorin Maazel noted that China is embracing outside influences.
"We need defenders of our tradition of classical music if classical music is to survive," he told reporters. "It could very well be that one of the most important defenders of classical music will be found in the country of China.
"I think the Chinese people, who have shown their passion and very, very high sense of aesthetics, are an ideal spawning ground for burgeoning interest in classical music," Maazel said at the theater, an egg-shaped structure sheathed in titanium and glass.
The two concerts in Beijing are part of an Asia tour by the Philharmonic, so far highlighted by a Tuesday performance during an unprecedented visit by a prominent American cultural group to North Korea.
The U.S. and communist North Korea remain technically at war since the 1953 cease-fire halted the Korean War and they have no normal diplomatic relations.
The conductor and other Philharmonic officials refused Saturday to answer questions about the North Korea trip, preferring to keep the focus on the Beijing performance
leave a comment
To talk to James Rogers you have to be signed in.
-
- Juliana Farha wrote:
- i heard the editor of gramophone china speak at the midem conference (end of jan) and he said some interesting things about the chinese classical music market. first, that audiences there are very conservative and prefer tried and true performers and works to new repertoire and younger performers, no matter how popular and respected in the west. also, while there's certainly a huge population base, the percentage that's actually in a position to listen to/perform/buy classical music isn't actually very big, ie the size of the french and german markets. admittedly, they're the two biggest markets on the continent, but still a far cry from audience of hundreds of millions that we sometimes imagine...
- 10 Months ago