“Listening to the Future” Documentary Highlights the Success of Chinese Contemporary Music
The Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing (CCOM)—founder of the Chinese Music Composition Center and a driving force in the global success of Chinese contemporary music— releases a documentary about the Chinese music of today: “Listening to the Future.” The 30-minute film chronicles the Central Conservatory of Music Symphony Orchestra of Beijing’s Carnegie Hall debut and celebrates initiatives propelling Chinese Contemporary Music forward.
The works of CCOM composition professors have been premiered multiple times to great critical acclaim in North America including at Lincoln Center in 2018 and at Carnegie Hall by the CCOM Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Professor Feng Yu, President of CCOM, in 2019. The compositions feature well-incorporated Chinese and Western musical elements including a mix of traditional Chinese instruments and Western chamber orchestra. In the documentary, all eight composers who had their works performed at Carnegie Hall in 2019 discuss their compositions and thoughts about Chinese contemporary music. Classical music critic, Dr. Linda Holt—who attended the 2019 Carnegie Hall concert—shares the origin of her interest in Chinese music and uses CCOM as an example of the success of the genre.
Other highlights of the film include details of the long-term partnership between the internationally-renowned publishing house, Edition Peters, and Central Conservatory of Music Publisher (CCMP). Together, they launched the Edition Peters Silk Road Library project in April 2019 and plan to release the international version of CCOM’s score collection in 2021. By working with Edition Peters to publish works by Chinese composers, the CCMP can be certain that orchestras, conductors, and performers have the confidence to program the works of Chinese composers outside China, forging unprecedented, longstanding genuine links between the East and West.
Additionally, the documentary details the Chinese Music Composition Center’s upcoming performance tour in Europe next year. Comprised of musicians from the symphony orchestras of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (MDW) and the Central Conservatory of Music, the ensemble performs in 2021 in the Grosser Saal of Wiener Konzerthaus and Festsaal. Ulrike Sych, Rector of the MDW, explains the long and intensive collaboration between MDW and CCOM, two of the largest and most renowned music universities in the world on opposite sides of the world. The joint orchestra is set to provide musical dialogue of western and Chinese repertoire at the highest artistic level. Especially in these globally challenging days—in the face of public restrictions, closed borders, and closed institutions—the ensemble provides the most beautiful evidence that culture knows no borders and always remains open.
Watch below.
