Visitors to the Great Wall are often inspired and may even
imagine hearing music. However if you toured the famous China
landmark last week and thought you heard trumpets blazing across
the mountains, you were not mistaken.
Members of the New England Conservatory's Youth Philharmonic
Orchestra visiting the wall brought their trumpets and played the
opening measures of Mahler's Symphony No 5 to the delight of their
conductor. "Their music echoed in the mountains, and I could hear
it from far behind them," said orchestra leader Maestro Benjamin
Zander.
"My eyes were filled with tears at that moment, which I will
never forget in my life."
The Youth Philharmonic Orchestra consists of 14-18 year-old
students from the preparatory school of the New England
Conservatory in Boston. The group performs overseas every two years
and has toured South America, Europe and Asia. This is the group's
first visit to China and Zander has made a bold promise to
classical music fans across the nation: Anybody who came to see the
performance and didn't like the concert would get their money
back.
"I have conducted all the greatest orchestras in the world, but
this youth orchestra plays with such passion that it can compare to
any famous orchestra in the world," he says.?
"Twelve concerts in 17 days! Some people say classical music is
going down, but I don't think so."
Each teenage orchestra member paid $2,500, which together with
other fund raising events by the conservatory, paid for their China
tour. The schedule began in Beijing last week and moved to
Shijiazhuang, Tianjin. It continues this week to Shenyang, Anshan,
Yingkou, Dalian in Northeast China's Liaoning Province, and later
to Chongqing, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Ningbo and Shanghai.
The orchestra's schedule not only includes concerts, but also
rehearsals with four local youth orchestras. Last week they had a
six-hour joint rehearsal with the orchestra of the Middle School
Attached to the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.
"The Chinese students are extremely dedicated, disciplined and
open," said Zander.
"All disagreements disappeared when people play music and share
lives together. I have a dream that all the people in the world
will be making music in the end."
Zander joined the faculty of the New England Conservatory in
1967, teaching the Interpretation Class and conducting the Youth
Philharmonic Orchestra. Since then he has taken the orchestra on 14
international tours and made five commercial recordings.
In 1979, Zander became the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic
Orchestra. In their 26 seasons together they have performed an
extensive repertoire, with an emphasis on late Romantic and early
20th Century composers, especially the symphonies of Mahler.
"Mahler's works teach us a lot about life, death, hope, and
conflicts. He draws me like Shakespeare draws me," he said.
But that's not the only reason why Zander chose Mahler for the
program of Youth Philharmonic Orchestra.
"In Mahler's works, every player has something important to do,"
said he. "The fourth flute player in our orchestra once said that
he felt like the most important player in the world when he played
Mahler."
After their last concert at the Shanghai Oriental Arts Center on
June 29, the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra will leave China on June
30.
(China Daily June 20, 2007)