How
a New Elite of Artists Brings Nations Together
By
our NICE-Correspondent Gesine Westphal
Photographs by Paul Harwardt
Unforgettable
hours were offered to listeners on 12th September 2007 - a performance
of an extraordinary character. After the premises had made available
by the ART CENTER BERLIN (Friedrichstrasse 134), support from
the institution LSC EuroBusiness GmbH (with its CEO Bin Shi)
and from the cultural association NICE e.V. (Network for International
Cultural Exchange)
enabled
the members of the Vienna Soloist-Ensemble Seminar to acquaint
us with their wonderful and fascinating art. The cultural
association led by its president Ingo Bathow has made a point
of sustaining the traditions of various cultures, whereas
the LSC EuroBusiness GmbH has been successful in establishing
links between European and Chinese musical culture.
The
Vienna Soloist-Ensemble Seminar was founded 10 years
ago
by Dipl. Korrepetitorin (rehearsal pianist with university
degree) Yi CHEN and remains under her artistic direction
even today.
When
all the visitors including numerous artists had arrived, the
impressive performance began at 7,30 pm. Simultaneously, there
was the opportunity of visiting all the art exhibitions within
the ART CENTER BERLIN, which included, in addition to the show
of African and Australian art and befitting the current "Asia-Pacific
weeks", the exhibition "China Blue".
The
evening began with an introduction by Ingo BATHOW.
Yang
JIAO
singing
"How beautiful are the feet of them"
from Handel's Messiah, accompanied on the grand piano
by Yi CHEN
Each of the three female singers demonstrated her capabilities
with five appearances. The concert was opened by Yang JIAO,
a soprano born in Gansu in 1984, who began her vocal studies
at the Gustav Mahler Conservatory in 2003 and who has participated
in the Vienna Soloist-Ensemble Seminar several times. She
impressed listeners immediately with performances in English,
in Italian (Alessandro Scarlatti's Canzone "Le Violette")
and German (for example, Carl Maria von Weber's "Kommt
ein schlanker Bursch
gegangen" from Der Freischütz).
Yvonne
JI
Born in Beijing in 1977, she graduated in Fine Arts and Music
in 2006, in addition to obtaining a diploma in fashion design.
She gained her first experience in piano playing at the tender
age of four from her mother.
On
this occasion she delighted the audience with three pieces in
German by J.S. Bach and W.A. Mozart as well as two Italian arias,
including Vincenzo Bellini's aria of Elvira "Vien diletto"
from
I Puritani and the aria of Violetta
"E strano" from La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi.
Ge SONG demonstrated her talent with a piece from the song
cycle Frauenliebe und Leben by Robert Schumann, and
among others with a passage from Die Fledermaus by
Johann Strauss as well as Handel's opera Alcina and
Amilcare Ponchielli's La Gioconda.
Ge
SONG
was born in Henan in 1983.
She has studied in Vienna since 2002, two years later she
also enrolled in Gustav Mahler Conservatory.
Dan
ZHOU
received his first piano lessons at the age of five.
Last year he was awarded first prize at the music competition
of the Austrian Young Workers' Movement.
He
enchanted listeners that evening with full commitment to his
vocation as a piano virtuoso. He dedicated himself with complete
abandon to pieces such as Beethoven's Sonata No. 23 Op. 57 in
F minor, the Appassionata, and an etude by Franz Liszt.
Needless
to say, the enthusiastic audience demanded an encore - an ardent
request, to which all the "rising stars from China"
readily acceded. Dan ZHOU chose to play a traditional piece
from his homeland, and while he was playing, it could be felt
with every new note how he was penetrating ever deeply into
his own musical world.
Also completely absorbed in her singing was Yvonne JI in her role
as Cleopatra in Handel's opera Julius Caesar. The splendid
finale included five Chinese songs arranged by Yi CHEN and performed
by the soloists in three-part harmony to the accompaniment of Dan
ZHOU impressively and with evident, deep ties to their cultural heritage.
In order to satisfy the visitors' needs, the evening had been planned
with an intermission of twenty minutes, during which some refreshments
were served. Shortly after 10 pm the last of the heavenly melodies
had faded away and the emerging stars were given a farewell with due
applause. They have our best wishes for great success in their forthcoming
appearance with the symphony orchestra of the Chinese National Opera.
About
the author: Gesine Westphal is just
beginning her university studies in Potsdam
with a view to a career in business journalism
Correspondent Gesine Westphal
Gesine
Westphal is just
beginning her university studies in Potsdam
with a view to a career in business journalism
