To lure more fans to their concerts and revive the ailing orchestra, the China National Symphony Orchestra gave three concerts featuring popular movie music and visual segments in early June. They did bolster their box office revenue, but the response from the concert-goers wasn't so encouraging.
Though all the works in their programs were great pieces, their performance failed to awe listeners. That's the fundamental problem the orchestra has to tackle: how to win the audience's heart.
Here comes a good model for them: the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra and its conductor Erich Kunzel, dubbed "Prince of Pops," who actually guest-conducted the China National Symphony Orchestra in 1997.
The orchestra will present two nights of entertainment for both music fans and movie fans at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on October 21 and 22, and one in Shanghai as part of the prestigious China Shanghai International Arts Festival.
The program will include fantasy film music scores such as from Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, as well as popular themes, medleys and pieces from Broadway hits including Cats, Chicago, Phantom of the Opera and Lion King.
Zhang Weina, general manager of Armstrong International Corporate Identity Co Ltd, said the encore piece will be a segment from the music of the yet-to-be-produced Chinese kung fu blockbuster The Promise, directed by Chen Kaige.
The score is composed by Klaus Badelt who has written music for more than 25 major Hollywood films such as Pirates of the Caribbean, Pearl Harbour and Mission Impossible II.
"Not only is it exciting for the orchestra to perform for new, enthusiastic audiences, it's also a privilege to represent Cincinnati in these important cultural centers," said Steven Monder, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra president at the press conference held in Beijing recently.
Professional orchestras and youth and collegiate orchestras have toured in China, but this will be the first China tour for a professional Pops orchestra, not to mention one of the world's best classical pops ensembles.
Yet Li Haiying, composer and president of China's Movie Music Association, said that the music played by Cincinnati Pops is actually not foreign to Chinese people, although it is their debut here.
"People just do not realize that lots of music they've heard on the TV or radio programs, advertisements or many ceremonies are taken from the best-selling albums such as The Great Fantasy Adventure Album, The Big Picture and Roundup," Li said.
"Cincinnati Pops has enjoyed great popularity among the insiders of China's music scene. When I learned classic music at the conservatory, it was the pops orchestra I loved most and I have collected most of their albums released in China," said songwriter Bi Xiaoshi.
"Recently, quite a few Chinese orchestras have played movie and theatre music, but they are in the primary phase. Perhaps they could learn something from the Cincinnati Pops who has unique understanding and interpretation of the stories and characters of the movies or musicals," he added.
The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra was officially established by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Board of Trustees in 1977, and Kunzel was named its conductor.
However, the maestro's commitment with the orchestra goes back eight years. His first conducting appearance with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, in October 1965, was a sold-out Pops concert at the Cincinnati Music Hall.
It was the beginning of a relationship with concert-goers that the local press in Cincinnati described as "a musical love affair that works." And 40 years later, the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra under its first and only conductor is still performing for packed houses in Cincinnati's Music Hall and gaining new fans the world over through tour performances and its recordings on the Telarc International, the Cleveland-based Grammy Award-winning label.
Every year, the orchestra records two albums for Telarc. Of the 77 Cincinnati Pops Telarc releases, 52 have appeared on either the Classical Crossover or Classical Billboard charts. And in 1991, Billboard named Kunzel the Classical Crossover Artist of the Year for an unprecedented fourth consecutive year.
Kunzel himself is very much looking forward to returning Beijing, saying: "A tour to China is a historic event for the Cincinnati Pops. I've guest-conducted in China before, but to appear with the Cincinnati Pops during my 40th anniversary year with the orchestra will be very special to me. I know the Pops are well received in China because of the caliber of our orchestra and our wonderful Telarc recordings."
The China tour will also feature the versatile American baritone Daniel Narducci, a frequent guest with the Cincinnati Pops.
Narducci is equally at home on the operatic, musical theatre and concert stages. Since his professional debut with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, he has appeared with many of the world's most prestigious orchestras in a variety of programs, ranging from the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein to Rossini.
(China Daily October 20, 2005)
