![]() ![]() Perhaps more important, he said, they help move China toward its longer-term cultural vision. Liu, the deputy mayor, during intermission at Mr. Such international exchanges “help improve the musical taste of the entire city of Harbin,” said Mr. Xue, who is the artistic director of the competition. “In China, when you get the government’s support, it’s very strong,” said Mr. Beginning last month, Harbin hosted the competition for the second consecutive year, with the government providing the venues and paying for some of the competition’s costs. The government quickly agreed to his proposal to host the Alice & Eleonore Schoenfeld International String Competition. Xue, a violinist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, decided to take advantage of the growing interest in classical music in Harbin, his hometown. “My advice is to call these musicians to at least come back and teach.”Īt least one Chinese musician, Suli Xue, has heeded that call. “Look at the American orchestras they are full of excellent Chinese musicians,” Mr. It does not help that the pool of talented musicians in China is shrinking as more and more musicians choose to study and play abroad. Major issues need to be addressed, such as how to create consistent quality programming for the new concert hall and grand theater, and how to recruit world-class faculty and students for a new conservatory that is competing with other, more established ones. Still, there is a long road ahead before Harbin can be considered a world-class musical city. “Every city in China is trying to find its niche, and it’s clear that Harbin discovered theirs early.” “There’s a different attitude toward the high arts in Harbin,” said Jindong Cai, a Stanford professor and frequent guest conductor with Chinese orchestras. Today it is still common to see local musicians and bands serenading crowds on the popular Zhongyang Pedestrian Street in the summer. In 2010, the United Nations recognized Harbin as a Music City. It established the summer music festival in 1958. Yet even after the departure of most of the city’s foreigners, Harbin continued to devote resources to classical music. The city has also invested millions of dollars in restoring Jewish-built structures, including the Old Synagogue, which provided a cool respite from one sticky evening this summer when a local string quartet performed Brahms, Scott Joplin and the Chinese folk song “Jasmine Flower.” The government now maintains a once neglected Jewish cemetery where Joseph Olmert, a grandfather of the former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, is buried. “Fifteen years ago, there was zero interest and zero acknowledgment of the community.” “Interest in the Harbin Jewish community has gone up tremendously,” said Dan Ben-Canaan, director of the Sino-Israel Research and Study Center at Heilongjiang University in Harbin. Its stars? An eclectic cast of dancers who are anything but machines. Feeling the Buzz: “Bob Fosse’s Dancin’” is back on Broadway.It will be one of the hottest tickets in town. Gustavo Dudamel: The New York Philharmonic’s new music director, will conduct Mahler’s Ninth Symphony in May.Rising Stars : These actors turned playwrights all excavate memories and meaning from their lives in creating these four shows, which arrive in New York in the coming months.Musical Revivals: Why do the worst characters in musicals get the best tunes? In upcoming revivals, world leaders both real and mythical get an image makeover they may not deserve, our critic writes.The festival lineup includes the a cappella group Ball in the House from Boston, the Kodaly Quartet from Hungary and the Yinhe Siqin Mongolia Original Music Band. This summer the city has also hosted the third Alice & Eleonore Schoenfeld International String Competition and two concerts conducted by Zubin Mehta, featuring the Harbin Symphony Orchestra and 15 members of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. On Saturday, the annual Harbin Summer Music Festival began its 33rd edition, which will continue until Aug. ![]() “We want to rejuvenate this tradition so we can bring it to the next level.” “Harbin is a modern city that has a deep tradition of music,” Liu Shifa, the city’s deputy mayor, said recently in an interview. Petersburg of the East, Harbin was home to a thriving Jewish community that helped build a rich cultural scene, including China’s first symphony orchestra, made up of mostly Russian musicians. The arts - and especially classical music - flourished here throughout the early 20th century. But with summer in full bloom, this city is working overtime on behalf of a less publicized part of its heritage: classical music. HARBIN, China - In winter, tourists flock to Harbin, in northeastern China, for its world-renowned ice sculpture festival. ![]()
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