Orchestra acquaints Milan with Chinese musical traditions

A Chinese state orchestra staged a show here on Wednesday night which enabled locals to savor the country's profound and unique musical traditions. The state-level China Broadcasting Chinese Orchestra presented music from both China and the West, including As the Moon Rises, Deep Night, The Northwestern Suite, and arrangements from operas Turandot, Cavalleria Rusticana and Boheme. The two-hour concert, held at renowned Milan Conservatory, was organized by "Societa dei Concerti", a Milan-based foundation whose main goal is to make both music lovers and common spectators acquainted with the best musical talents from all over the world. "This was the first time that Milan hosted the China Broadcasting Chinese Orchestra" and it was a rare occasion for many Italians to approach to such a different musical tradition, Enrica Ciccarelli, an Italian concert pianist and artistic director of the foundation told Xinhua. She added that the performance of well-known pieces of Western opera arranged with Chinese traditional instruments was "a precious homage paid by the Chinese orchestra to its Italian public", which proves Chinese people's deep love and understanding of Western musical tradition. "Not only the Chinese enchanting music aroma expresses some of the characteristics of the country's deep culture, but is also able to propose an innovative key to the reading of Western melodies," Ciccarelli added. To the Orchestra's conductor Pang Kapang, playing for a Western audience was not an obstacle at all, as "the language of music directly speaks to feelings, which are the same all over the world," he said. "I have performed various times abroad, both in Europe and in the States, and I have experienced that all Western communities cherish very much the orchestra's arrival and its performance," he also said adding that foreign spectators are usually very curious about instrument they have never seen before. "I am trying to understand how this instrument works," said an elderly woman while carefully observing some erhu leaning on the stage during the concert intermission. Besides her, other tens of spectators approached to the stage during the intermission to look closely at the Chinese traditional instruments. "What is its name again?" a man asked his wife while pointing a pipa. He told Xinhua that he was very impressed by the orchestra's unique spiritual musical realm, which sounded like a human voice, especially referring to the erhu performance of soloist Jiang Kemei. "Tonight I feel pleasantly surprised," said a well-known oenologist, Giuseppe Colombo, who was at the concert with two friends. "I had never seen these instruments before, which are capable to catch atmospheres that were not so easy for me to immediately understand, but that brought me closer to such a fascinating culture," he said. "In fact, I am sure that this performance deepened understanding and friendship between the two peoples,"he added. The over 90 Chinese musicians are to perform in another Italian northern city, Novara, on Thursday night.