From January 20th to February 1st, the 2024 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Guangdong) International Youth Music Week will be held in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong.
For the first time, this year’s music week is co-organized by the five major music institutions in the Greater Bay Area: Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, Xinghai Concert Hall, Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, and Macau Orchestra from Guangdong.
Conductor Yu Long continues to serve as chairman of the Music Week Art Committee. British conductor Daniel Harding has officially taken over as Music Director of the Music Week, leading the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Youth Music Week to open a new chapter.
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A star-studded mentor team
Harding's debut experience is quite legendary: at the age of 17, he recommended himself to conductor Simon Rattle and became his assistant conductor; at the age of 19, he was hired by Abbado as Assistant conductor, he worked with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra; at the age of 21, he conducted the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra concert for the first time; in 1996, he conducted two concerts at the Proms, becoming the most successful conductor in the festival's century-old history. Young conductor. In addition to being a conductor, Harding also holds a commercial pilot's license and has a veritable "slash life."
Starting in 2024, Harding will serve as Music Director of Music Week for a five-year term (2024-2028). He is full of expectations for the music journey in the Greater Bay Area: "It is not accurate to say that I came to Music Week to guide everyone in their studies. I came to study with a group of talented young people."
Daniel Harding
The tutor team is star-studded . Performances from the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Orchester de Paris, the Orchester National de Radio France, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Italy, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra Musicians will form a team of mentors to gather in the Greater Bay Area and lead the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Youth Music Week Orchestra to embark on a musical journey together.
Last October, Music Week held a three-day global audition in Shenzhen. After strict screening, more than 80 young musicians under the age of 30 stood out and were selected into the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Youth Music Week Orchestra. Among them, more than 50 are from well-known music academies at home and abroad, and more than 20 are from 16 Chinese professional orchestras.
"In 2024, we will delve deeply into the connotation of playing in an orchestra and explore the key elements of forming a world-class symphony orchestra. To this end, we have developed a program to give young music students the opportunity to participate in a complete symphony orchestra performance rehearsal, and rehearsing in separate parts,” Harding said. During the
Music Week, Harding will lead mentors and students to appear at multiple cultural and tourism landmarks in the Greater Bay Area. From the traditional architecture of the "Pearl of Lingnan Art" to the historical districts that witness Guangdong's modern changes, from museums to the top of Guangzhou, the musical beauty of the new musical force in the Greater Bay Area will be resounded. Hong Kong, the "Pearl of the Orient", will also witness young people leaving their musical footprints.
Harding leads three concerts
Music Week will hold the opening concert at Xinghai Concert Hall on January 21 and the closing concert at the Hong Kong Cultural Center on January 31.
The opening concert was conducted by young conductor Cui Linhan with the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra. Musicians such as the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the Macau Orchestra, and the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra were specially invited to join in. They jointly opened a new chapter of the music week in the form of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Festival Orchestra.
The opening concert will perform Zhou Tian’s orchestral piece "Metropolis", Dvořák's "Symphony No. 8", and join hands with young violinist Lin Ruifeng to perform Brahms' "Violin Concerto in D major".
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Cui Linhan is a young conductor who has moved from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to the world stage. He was selected into the "Dudamel Conducting Program" of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and served as the conductor assistant to the artistic director Dudamel of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Orchestra concert. Young violinist Lin Ruifeng has participated in the Music Week Orchestra many times and will serve as the concertmaster of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Youth Music Week Orchestra this year.
On January 28th at the Xinghai Concert Hall, Harding will conduct the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Youth Music Week Orchestra for the first time to perform three works: the symphonic overture "The Ambition of the Sky: The Great Bay Chapter" composed by Hong Kong young composer Liang Haoyi for the music week. "(world premiere); Mozart's "Symphony Concerto for Violin and Viola in E flat major" with Norwegian violinist Wilde Furlong and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra principal viola Amiha Grosz as soloists, as well as the German Vořák's Ninth Symphony.
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Subsequently, Harding will lead the team to Shenzhen and Hong Kong, performing two performances at the Shenzhen Concert Hall and the Hong Kong Cultural Center with the same lineup and the same repertoire. The performance in Hong Kong was also the closing concert.
In addition to the symphony concert, under the planning of Harding and the mentor team, young musicians will perform Mozart, Dvořák, Strauss, Lutoslawski, Iber, and Marco in the form of an ensemble. Works by composers such as Tom Arnold.
In addition, the music week will hold a series of master classes, community music performances, chamber music salons, special instructor workshops, and public rehearsals. On January 24th and 26th, in two "Music Gathering and Talking" activities at Xinghai Concert Hall, Yu Long, Harding and famous tutors will appear to share the joy of music with the audience.
