'We were born in 2000': 23rd Beijing Music Festival concludes

03:51

The 23rd Beijing Music Festival (BMF) has concluded with a concert by the China Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO). It was also a celebration of the 20th birthday of the orchestra. CPO conductor and BMF founder Yu Long gave a touching speech and called around 30 founding musicians to stand up and accept a thunderous applause.

It was also a concert to cheer the younger generation. Five soloists, who were all born in 2000, headlined the show, including countertenor Liu Shen, cellist Ouyang Nana, violinist Lin Ruifeng, pianist Ju Xiaofu and violist Yu Mingyue.

They presented segments of Bruch, Mendelssohn, Mahler, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak and Rachmaninoff, showing their extraordinary skills and paying tribute to the orchestra and the festival.

"For me the most important debut on BMF was in 2012 when I was 12. We performed 'Noah's Flood' with Northern Ireland Opera, director Oliver Mears and conductor Nicholas Chalmers. That was one of my first operas in a very huge production," countertenor Liu Shen said.

"Every year, I come to concerts and operas because they always have the best. This year, coming back here at Poly Theater is just a thrill," Liu added.

Countertenor Liu Shen performs with the China Philharmonic Orchestra during the 23rd Beijing Music Festival. /CGTN

The past two decades have seen the growth of the CPO and as well as classical music in general in China. Ranked amid the world's top 10 influential symphony orchestras by "Gramophone" magazine, the CPO has trailblazed a tough road and set the standard in China with numerous performances, recordings, commitment works, world premieres, operas and cross-over collaborations.

This celebratory concert also sounded the final note of the 23rd Beijing Music Festival, one of the few classical music events this year.

"We have such short notice with everything like every organization in the world. But we are probably the only music festival in the world that stood on to the very end," art director of the music festival Zou Shuang told CGTN.

"All the way we have explored a new form of celebrating music," Zou added, referring to the combination of online and live performances amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over the past 10 days, BMF presented more than 240 hours of online and offline performances, attracting more music enthusiasts than ever. As China's first professional classical music festival, it's been dedicated to promoting top quality concerts – a tradition that organizers are determined to carry on into the future.