Source: CCTV.com

04-25-2007 09:01

More and more famous classical musicians are coming to China. Daniel Harding, Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra(LSO), is among the latest to seek to share his experience with the most promising Chinese students.

Luo Zhenhua is conducting the London Symphony Orchestra - and trying to control his nerves at the same time.

The 23 year-old is one of three rising stars at China's Central Conservatory of Music who were chosen to take part in a master class.

Classical music training has struck a chord with the burgeoning middle classes. Increasingly the pack their children off to after-school music classes. Today China boasts about 40 million classical music students who spend hours doing the exercises to polish their technique.

Kathryn McDowell, managing director of LSO, said, "I think they have an amazing technical facility. They are obviously working very hard indeed, and I think they just need time to mature and to experience more, to experience more of the music, and to listen more, and to perform more. And then it will come."

A student named Luo Zhenhua said, "Today when I worked with the orchestra (I learned that) the orchestra will truly react to the way I move my hands. If I do anything wrong, they will also play wrong, and then they'll ask, 'hey, what are you doing?'. So, I really have to give them clear gestures to get the acoustic effects I want, and the way I move my hands should change accordingly."

Already the nation has churned out a handful of top-calibre performers who can fill concert halls around the world - like pianists Lang Lang and Yundi Li.

But whether educated at home or abroad, the majority of students have the same goal in mind - a much coveted spot in the highly competitive world of classical music.

 

Editor:Liu Fang