Beijing Music Festival Announces 2024 Festival: Voices From Afar

The Beijing Music Festival the programming for its 27th festival, with the theme of Voices From Afar. Scheduled from October 5 to 13, the festival offers musically and culturally diverse performances every day, with renowned artists from China, France, the United States, Austria, South Africa, and Germany, among other countries.

The festival will present 10 concerts and 11 public events at venues that include the National Center for the Performing Arts, Poly Theatre, Zhongshan Park Music Hall, and the Sacrificial Altar in the Temple of Heaven. Among the highlights are the China premiere of the classic American opera Porgy and Bess, the Beijing premiere of Aaron Zigman's new oratorio Émigré, and the Asian premiere of Andy Akiho's virtuosic piece for percussion quartet Seven Pillars, performed by Sandbox Percussion, which commissioned it.

Since its founding in 1998 by conductor Long Yu - a milestone in China's classical music industry - BMF offers a glimpse into the future of classical music, creating a platform for domestic and international performance exchanges, turning Beijing into an international music hub every fall. Now led by Artistic Director Shuang Zou, the festival bridges China to the rest of the world through the arts, also galvanizing the creation of Western and Chinese contemporary music. BMF lets young Chinese musicians showcase their talents from a platform with global reach, which has been the driving force for Long Yu, the former artist director who now serves as the chairman of the Artistic Committee, for many years. BMF is the most authoritative arts and culture event in Asia.

The 27th BMF proudly presents the China premiere of Porgy and Bess, the beloved opera by George Gershwin, which tells the story of a man trying to rescue a woman from a distressing life. The 1935 stage work, which celebrates African-American life and culture in Charleston, South Carolina, is still relevant today through its themes of timelessness, placelessness, struggle, and hope. The new semi-staged production, directed by Noa Naamat and conducted by Kazem Abdullah, is a co-production between the Beijing Music Festival, Cape Town Opera, and KT Wong Foundation. It will be performed on October 12 and 13 at Poly Theatre; a press conference will be held on October 10. (Porgy and Bess will also be performed in Shanghai on October 8.)

The Beijing premiere of Aaron Zigman and Mark Campbell's 2023 oratorio Émigré will take place on October 6 at National Centre for The Performing Arts. Campbell's libretto for Émigré, in English, tells a love story against the historical backdrop of the thousands of Jewish refugees who fled to Shanghai to escape Nazi oppression during the National Socialist era. Maestro Long Yu conducts the China Philharmonic Orchestra, the Lanzhou Concert Hall Choir, and a stellar cast. Émigré had successful premieres in Shanghai and New York recently, and will be performed in Europe for the first time in November.

American composer Andy Akiho's trailblazing Seven Pillars is an 80-minute, 11-movement suite for percussion that consists of seven ensemble movements and one solo movement for each member of the group. The structure is formed by two simultaneous processes: an additive process in which each movement introduces a new instrument, and a symmetrical/palindromic structure on either side of the central movement. It is Akiho's most ambitious project to date. Seven Pillars was nominated for two GRAMMY awards - "Best Contemporary Classical Composition" and "Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance" - and was a finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in music. It will be performed by Sandbox Percussion for the first time in Asia on October 11 at Forbidden City Concert Hall.

The 27th BMF also includes performances by internationally renowned artists that include composer and conductor Tan Dun, bandleader Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, pianists Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Hélène Grimaud, cellist Gautier Capuçon, percussionist Shengnan Hu, and the Salzburger Camerata. Acclaimed contemporary composers Richard Dubugnon and Zhou Long, among many others, will be present at the festival. For more information, please visit: www.bmf.org.cn/en or www.facebook.com/BeijingMusicFestival/

Beijing Music Festival Announces 2024 Festival: Voices From Afar

October 5, 19:30
National Centre for The Performing Arts
BMF Opening Concert: A Hundred Birds from East and West Pay Tribute to the Phoenix
Commemorating 60 Years of Sino-French Diplomatic Relations
Tan Dun conducts the China National Symphony Orchestra

• Tan Dun: Whispers of Winds and Birds
• Chinese Folk (rearranged by Guan Xia): Hundreds of Birds Worshiping the Phoenix, Suona Concerto
• Stravinsky: The Firebird
• Mozart: Sinfonia concertante in E-flat major, K.364
• Ravel: Boléro

Liu Wenwen, suona; Lu Wei, violin; Wang Jian, cello

October 6, 19:30
National Centre for The Performing Arts
Aaron Zigman: Émigré, in two Acts

Jinxu Xiahou: OTTO BADER, tenor
Arnold Livingston Geis: JOSEF BADER, tenor
Huiling Zhu: LI SONG, mezzo-soprano
Yuanming Song: LINA SONG, soprano
Shen Yang: Wei Song, bass-baritone
Huang Ying: TOVAH ODESSKA, soprano
Andrew Dwan: YAAKOV ODESSKA, tenor

Mark Campbell, librettist/lyricist
Brock Walsh, additional lyrics
Lanzhou Concert Hall Choir
China Philharmonic Orchestra
Long Yu, conductor

October 6, 11:00/15:00
Poly Theatre
Percussion Resounds
Hu Shengnan & Friends Concert for Kids

• Rodrigo Y Gabriela: Diablo Rojo
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Overture from Die Zauberflote
• Chick Corea: La fiesta
• Nebojša Jovan Živković: Trio per Uno
• Johann Strauss (ii): Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka
• Max Hoffmann: Yankee Land
• Emmanuel Sejourne: Losa
• Keiko Abe: The wave

Percussion by Hu Shengnan, Mo Hanyin, Zhang Ling, Wang Shunhe, and Zhang Jinwei

October 7, 19:30
Poly Theatre
Masterworks Anew
Hélène Grimaud & Salzburger Camerata

• Mozart: Overture from Idomeneo, K.366
• Beethoven: Piano concerto No. 4, op.58, G major
• Beethoven: Symphony No. 7, op.92, A major

October 8, 19:30
Poly Theatre
Jiu Ge + Immortal Love
Two New Commissions on Chinese Themes

• Richard Dubugnon：Eros athanatos
• Zhou Long：Jiu Ge-Concerto for Erhu and Orchestra

Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano; Gautier Capucon, cello; Lu Yiwen, erhu; Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra; Yi Huang, conductor

October 9 & 10, 19:30
National Centre for The Performing Arts
We Got Rhythm
Wynton Marsalis with Jazz at Lincoln Center

Wynton Marsalis, trumpet/arrangement; Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra

October 10, 19:30
Divine Music Administration
Temple of Heaven

Voices from Afar
Concert of African Choral Music by the Cape Town Opera Chorus

Acapella, small percussion

• Traditional Zulu: Bawo Thixo Somandla (Father, God almighty)
• Traditional Sotho/Setswana: Mahlo A Bona(The eyes that see)
• isiXhosa Church Chorus: Ndisondela Kuwe (I come closer to you -Xhosa)
• Arr. Barrett & Schmitt : Indodana (The son) (IsiZulu)
• Braam du Toit: Die Môrester (The Morning Star)
• Pieter-Louis van Dijk: Horizons
• Clare Loveday: Gathering
• Laura Stevens: The Way We Go
• Mpumelelo Manyathi: Thonga Lami (To my calling)
• Mpumelelo Manyathi: Siyaphahla (We are seeking)
• Mzwandile Mabuza : Wamwmwza uEzekile (He has given Us)
• Mzwandile Mabuza: Dilika Zintaba/Izintaba ezikude(Faraway mountains)
• Peter Klatzow: We, who are stars

Piano accompaniment

• Traditional isiXhosa: Ukuthula (The silence)
• Traditional Venda: ivieguru
• Traditional isiZulu: Our Homestead
• Christopher Tin: Baba Yetu (Our father)
• Pieter Bezuidenhout: Toring (The Tower)
• Sibusisu Ndjeza: Waza wamuhle Mzantsi Afrika! (Beautiful you are, Africa!)
• Ongama Mhlontlo: Here we are

South African Opera Chorus

October 11, 19:30
Forbidden City Concert Hall
Dreammakers
Andy Akiho's Seven Pillars

• Andy Akiho, composer
• Sandbox Percussion (Jonathan Allen, Victor Caccese, Ian Rosenbaum, and Terry Sweeney)

October 12 & 13, 19:30
Poly Theatre
'Til You Rise and Sing that Summertime
The 27th BMF Closing Concert
Semi-staged production of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess (China Premiere)

Geore Gershwin: Porgy and Bess in Three Acts

Otto Maidi: PORGY, bass-baritone
Nonhlanhla Yende: BESS, soprano
Mandisinde Mbuyazwe: CROWN, baritone
Lukhanyo Moyake: SPORTIN'LIFE, tenor
Siphamandla Moyake: CLARA, soprano
Luvo Rasemeni: JAKE, baritone
Pumza Mxinwa: SERENA, soprano
Zolina Ngejane: MARIA, contralto

Magdalene Minnaar, artistic director
Noa Naamat, director

Cape Town Opera
Shanghai Symphony Orchestra
Kazem Abdullah, conductor

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