Belt & Road Opening Concert truly meets international standards

Thousands of ethnic cultures throughout the world provide us with a diversity of astounding designs and colors. Tonight, we were privileged to experience a multitude of musical colors during the “2024 Shenzhen Belt & Road International Music Festival Opening Concert.”

Performers were from Norway, the Czech Republic, Russia, and of course China. Similarly, the music selections were from the Czech Republic, France, Italy, the United States, and of course China!

The concert opened with Dvořák’s “Carnival Overture,” a flamboyant showstopper that was flawlessly performed by the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra (SZSO) under the brilliant and energetic direction of Maestro Lin Daye. One shining example of the world-class quality was the English horn ostinatos during the slow middle section: it played a brighter sounding first part followed shortly by a lower distinctively richer sounding part, as if it were played by two different instruments. Kudos both to Dvořák’s scoring and to the perfect execution by the English horn player! My only criticism of this piece is that the violin solo in that slower section was partially drowned out by the accompaniment; I had to strain a bit to hear the principal’s beautiful expression of the main theme.

The violinist Josef Spaček. 

Speaking of violins, wow! Few composers outshine Dvořák for orchestral color, but then there is Ravel, considered one of the great masters of orchestration. When violinist Josef Spaček came on stage, no one expected the musical fireworks that would ensue from the inspiration of Ravel’s “Tzigane.” As fast as Spaček’s fingers moved, so too did his entire body! The sound he produced was magical; his musical conversation with Maestro Lin and the orchestra was awe inspiring and had the audience bring him back for a second round of applause.

When mentioning masters of colorful orchestration such as Dvořák and Ravel, one must include China’s own Ye Xiaogang, who was commissioned by the Festival to write “Cranes Chirping, for Marimba and Orchestra,” which had its world premiere at this concert. The marimba solo was performed by Le Yu, whose percussive fireworks lit up the stage and audience. Showcasing a wide dramatic range and unfailing energy, he performed variously with four mallets and for a time even six, three in each hand, flawlessly flying over the bars in tandem with the orchestral accompaniment. The composition consists of several movements without pauses, and while full of a variety of sometimes intense emotional expressions one might sense when observing a flock of dancing cranes, it seemed more improvisational than structured. It was only in the last movement that any discernable melodies appeared, and they seemed to be more like incidental under-developed snippets rather than themes that would make the work memorable. Easily making up for this debatable shortcoming is the brilliant orchestration Ye accomplished together with the technical demands he placed on the orchestra and soloist. After intermission, we did get to hear more of Ye’s orchestral coloring when Norwegian conductor Eivind Gullberg Jensen conducted the SZSO in “Thunder in Drought” from Ye’s Cantonese Suite, which captures much of the culture of Guangdong music with the added enhancement of an exhilarating expansion of orchestral sounds. Utilizing traditional Cantonese melodies, this work is indeed memorable! Although Maestro Jensen’s conducting style is less energetic than that of Lin, his musical interpretation of this and the remaining works of this concert also touched the hearts of the audience. He continued ad director for the remainder of the concert.

The Russian operatic soprano voice of Olga Peretyatko. 

We then got to hear the highly acclaimed Russian operatic soprano voice of Olga Peretyatko as she shared music from Italy, France, and the U.S. Although she is one of the finest singers of our time, tonight’s performance was a bit disappointing; my guess is, for whatever reason, she was having a bad day. While renowned for her flawless passaggio and mastery of dynamic and expressive control, her performance lacked the usual control. Her rendition of Puccini’s “O Mio Babbino Caro” seemed rather dark instead of the expected lightness, and her head and chest voices had too much contrast. Gounod’s “Je Veux Vivre” fared somewhat better, but seemed to lack her usual energy. 

Then came the pipa soloist…

The Chinese work, “Flying Fairies of the Silk Road” as orchestrated by Yin Tianhu, was the most popular piece of the evening, judging by the audience’s reaction. Pipa soloist Zhao Cong wowed the audience with her virtuosic execution of some of the most difficult music created for the pipa, and the orchestra also fully contributed to the event. Even when Zhao was playing rapid chording at full volume and was almost completely drowned out by the orchestra, her energy alone was sufficient to maintain the excitement of the music. After the concert, I talked with several people from the audience. Both James from Spain and Natia from Georgia liked this pipa piece the most. James also said he’d like to attend more such concerts to become more familiar with what Shenzhen has to offer in classical music, as he feels he was spoiled by the excellent quality of Barcelona’s music scene. I also discovered several other professional musicians attended the concert, including several musicians from the Netherlands; unfortunately, they had to rush to catch a bus before I could find out about their concert the following evening in Shenzhen!

Peretyatko returned for the final two songs of the evening; she was still not at the top of her ability. When she sang the repeated high A5 in Bellini’s “Casta Diva,” her movement to the high Bb5 was rather flat in sharp contrast (pun!) to her usual masterful rendition of the role of Norma. When singing Gershwin’s “Summertime” the final work of the concert, her unusually dark chest voice seemed ideal for the first verse; for some reason, when she sang the second verse in her head voice, it suddenly became difficult to understand the English she was singing. With the time available for her to recollect her absolute mastery, I look forward to hearing her upcoming Thursday September 19 recital, as her voice normally steals my heart (Ahh!), and I encourage you to also attend. This will also be the second 2024 Shenzhen “Belt & Road” International Music Festival event.

This series of concerts celebrating the Belt and Road will continue through October 30 of this year.