Without music, human civilization would have lacked a dimension to display its spiritual meaning; without music, it would have lacked a stage to exhibit the glory of its intellectual beauty; without music, it would have lacked an impetus for the triumphant advance in its progress. Historian Spengler once said that the history of the world is the history of the city. The process of urbanization has catalyzed the evolution of civilization. As one of the important carriers of civilization, music, intangible and ubiquitous just like the natural sounds in every corner of the city, subtly influences the listeners and nourishes the flower of civilization in the city like mild rains.

Music in the city is not rootless; it is based on the natural growth of folk music, which was brought to the city by experts and professionals, seeking a fertile ground for its new life. The arrival of the “Four Great Anhui Troupes” in Beijing During the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty made it possible for Beijing Opera to grow into a fully developed form of music drama and a representative of Chinese national art. The folk ballad songs accompanied by the three-stringed Chinese lute or the single-headed frame drum popular in Hebei brought to Beijing and Tianjin by talented folk artists at the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China were developed into the Beijing Story-singing with a unique artistic style, a cultural symbol of Beijing. The geographical and customary elements of folk music have gained prolonged and extended artistic vitality as they are widely embraced in the development of urban music culture.

In the early process of urbanization, “modernization” and “westernization”, two strong, converging trends, affected the direction of music development to varying degrees. Influenced by Western notation, harmony, instrumentation and orchestration, Chinese traditional art and folk music have undergone cultural fusion and acquired new styles. Nowadays, traditional culture has spontaneously moved away from a “Westernizing” development focusing on form towards a “modernizing” development focusing on content. In such development, the transformation of forms and genres is gradually replaced by in-depth collision between the spiritual core of traditional culture and elements of Western music, which brings condensed national spirits into music in the new styles and thus creates unique artistic values.

In the 2023/24 Season of the NCPAO, the series of “Sounds of China” will showcase the achievements of Chinese music in the process of urbanization as seen in the field of symphonic music. Led by Music Director LÜ Jia, the NCPAO and Chorus will work with vocalists as well as artists of Beijing Opera and drum-accompanied story-singing to present the symphonic chorus Beijing Cantata. This work featuring distinctive style of the folk music of Beijing depicts the architectural and humanistic beauty of Beijing’s Central Axis, illustrates the city’s local customs through historical changes, and shows the cultural heritage of the historical capital with a history of over a century in vivid musical images. Conductor LI Biao will collaborate with Chinese-American pianist George Li to present The Yellow River Piano Concerto, which is based on another classic national symphonic choral work, The Yellow River Cantata. The distinctive cultural resonance in music will bring people together, and the power of the national spirit stirring between the black and white keys will touch the hearts of the Chinese people living in every corner of the world, generation after generation.

A look back at the achievements will inspire us to forge ahead. The world premiere of three new commissioned works in Chinese style will lead us to write the resonance of the times. HUANG Ruo’s “Butterfly Exchange” inspired by the poetic and philosophical ideas in the story of Zhuangzi’s butterfly dream extends the reflection on the real and the unreal in music, evoking thoughts with the spiritual power of oriental philosophy from thousands of years ago. Austrian composer Deutsch’s concerto for the sheng “Phenomena” marks the composer’s journey in the exploration of an unknown and exotic civilization through this traditional Chinese instrument. As one of the few instruments in Chinese folk music featuring significant harmonic characteristics, the sheng has a natural foundation for its communication with symphonic music, making it possible to start a dialogue between Eastern and Western music, exploring the diversity in harmony. Bright Sheng’s Symphonic Overture “Roosters of Dawn” focuses on the new era of prosperity, the bright future on the horizon, and the expectations for our time. In a concert under the baton of conductors LI Biao, LÜ Jia and QIAN Junping, the world will see the premiere of these three works, which will bring new voices of culture to the city.

Music is a flowing art that travels vertically from ancient times to the present, and horizontally across flourishing cultures of different nationalities. In this flow, the cultural exchange goes beyond the boundaries of time and nationalities and returns to the people, reshaping and nurturing the current civilization. YU Qiuyu once wrote, “Culture is a torch passed on from hand to hand. It may not be a glaring light, but it warms the heart.” Music is like the flame of this torch of civilization, drawing heat from the civilization’s heritage, absorbing air from the civilization’s rejuvenation, and illuminating the road to the future with blazing light.