Beijing´s main concert venue reopens

cctv.com 02-18-2005 11:06

As the venue of China's National Symphony Orchestra, the Beijing Concert Hall has long enjoyed strong government support and huge popularity with audiences. For the past year, Beijing's classical music fans have been missing their favorite venue. But after a necessary closure for repairs, the newly restored concert hall reopened its doors to concert goers before the Chinese Spring Festival holiday.

The Beijing Concert Hall is located in the downtown area of Xidan. Following a year of restoration, it looks impressive compared to the surrounding buildings.

And so it should, at a cost of 4.8 million US dollars. With new lighting in the lobby, video screens along the walls of the corridors, new carpets and curtains, the money was used not only to plush up the interior, but also makes things more comfortable for the public.

Wang Yumin, Managing Director of Beijing Concert Hall, said:" The concert hall closed for renovation in 2002 because the building didn't meet the nation's fire safety criteria. Now, the fire protection system and the heating system have both been brought to a very high standard. The audio system has also been improved for better acoustics."

The Beijing Concert Hall is the home of the China National Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra boasts some of China's best musicians, including composer Guan Xia, violinist Liu Yunzhi and conductor Li Xincao. And they were all there at the Opening Concert, when the public got their first chance to appreciate the hall's elegant new facilities.

One of the audience Rachel Yinqiu Wang said:" I'm very excited because this place is amazing. I haven't been here since it was refurbished. And now I find it's really beautiful, splendid. I'm sure I'll have a wonderful time this evening."

The Opening Concert began with Guan Xia's "Symphony Number One". Guan is more famous in pop music circles, and has composed the theme music for TV series enjoyed by generations of Chinese people. So his "Symphony Number One" is something of an experiment. And it's based on another of his experiments, "Morning in Sadness", an opera that praises China's old revolutionaries.

Guan said:" Classical symphonies focus mainly on composition, motifs and techniques. But modern symphonies have begun returning to melody. This trend fits in with China's musical traditions, which put melody above everything else. I'm trying to use melody to express all possible human emotion."

Leading the orchestra was violinist Liu Yunzhi and conductor Li Xincao, two supernovas in China's classical music galaxy. Their presence is always a box office guarantee for the Beijing Concert Hall.

Li Xincao said:" During the renovations, the concert hall was equipped with a top-notch sound system. Now it's re-opened, we must work harder to get back our old audiences and also attract more new fans."

To ensure that this happens, the Beijing Concert Hall is offering cheaper tickets and popular line-ups, part of a new market strategy to bring classical music into ordinary homes and everyday lives.

Editor:Wang Ping  Source:CCTV.com