What (or who) are you listening to that made you want to play classical music? 

Can listening to classical music improve your life? Really? 

Can a daily dose of classical music change your life? It sounds like an impossibly grand claim, but in my case, the answer has been a resounding yes. And January — so often a miserable month of discarded resolutions, debts and diets — is arguably the perfect time to dive in to a new sonic soundscape in all its rich, diverse wonder....

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20180116-can-listening-to-classical-music-improve-your-life

Placido Domingo sees market for classical music in China

Spanish tenor Placido Domingo has said that China will see a boom in its classical music market.

"China has a huge audience base," Domingo said in a recent interview. He is starring in a Chinese production of the opera "Thais" that will debut at the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in Beijing on Friday.

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-02/01/c_136942347.htm

名 灯火管制;熄灯;禁令!!! China Blacks Out Activist’s Escape

A Chinese musician famous for playing a two-stringed fiddle, a 1994 Hollywood drama about two prison inmates, a United Airlines flight bound for Washington and the initials of a certain famous international news organization -- what do they have in common?

If you try to search "Abing," "the Shawshank Redemption," "UA898" and "CNN" on Sina Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter, you receive this terse message: "According to relevant laws and policies, results are not displayed."

These terms have joined a fast-growing list of keywords blocked by Chinese censors as they try to prevent the public from obtaining news on a prominent human rights activist who recently escaped his more than 18 months of house arrest in eastern China.

Chen Guangcheng is now in the U.S. embassy in Beijing, and American and Chinese officials are scrambling to resolve his situation, his friends and supporters have said. In a video posted online Friday, the blind activist recounted the brutal treatment he and his family received during confinement.

While Chen's plight and dramatic escape have made top headlines around the world; news outlets in China, all of which are state-controlled, have mostly ignored the story.   Major web portals and social networking sites, though not state-owned, have to comply with strict government censorship rules -- or risk being shut down. After launching a campaign to clean up "rampant online rumors," Chinese authorities in late March ordered the country's leading micro-blogging sites -- including Sina Weibo -- to disable their comment function for three days…..

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/04/30/world/asia/china-chen-internet/index.ht

Young musicians keep classical music alive

The young musicians played classical Chinese instruments and announced their program in English, as the aging audience listened politely to explanations translated into Chinese. A concert Sunday by the San Jose-based Firebird Youth Chinese Orchestra at the Golden Heritage senior residence was well-received and roundly applauded.

Lisa Yang, 17, started playing with Firebird because her mother suggested it would be good to meet people and learn about the Chinese culture. Now, Lisa, a senior at Gunn High School in Palo Alto, looks forward to the three-hour Saturday rehearsals.

On Sunday, she was playing the muya — a series of wood blocks — and bells with the 10-year-old orchestra.

A dozen musicians from the ensemble played a medley of lively classical Chinese numbers in an afternoon performance that coincided with the end of Chinese New Year and also the opening of a newly reclaimed floor at the residence on Fourth Street in San Jose.

In uplifting numbers like "Melody of Purple Bamboo" and "Tea Picking," even the youngest players performed with the confidence of veterans.

"When I look into the audience, I get embarrassed," admitted Alicia Zhang, 9, who played two duets on the two-stringed erhu. So she looked down or at her mom. "Then I got more normal and I acted like it's home."

Her partner in one duet, Emily Gu, 9, had another fear-conquering technique.
Advertisement
When looking at the audience members, "I imagined they were rocks or pumpkins."

Indeed, not everyone in the room was raptly paying attention. Golden Heritage's 36 residents include independent adults as well as those in assisted living and memory-care units. "I just entertained the people who were awake," Emily said.

Those who were listening complimented the performers and said they enjoyed the concert. Yue So, 100, said he enjoyed hearing the four-stringed pipa. He politely didn't mention, but his son said later, that what his father really likes is jazz.

Group effort

Likewise, Wai Lo, 84, called Firebird leader Kenny Zhang "a handsome boy" and said she recalled hearing Chinese classical music in her native Hong Kong. Now, she said, she enjoys singing Christian hymns in the choir.

The Firebird orchestra is led by Chinese classical musician Gordon Lee, but the club that performs for free in the community is a performer-run offshoot, carrying out the leadership training that is part of Firebird's philosophy. The musicians played without a conductor, and students arrange all concert logistics, much handled by Kenny, the 15-year-old club president who plays the dizi, a bamboo flute.

"The parents just do the driving," said Georgia Lu of Palo Alto, mother of percussionist Lisa and performer Michael Yang, who plays the sheng, a hand-held pipe instrument that sounds like an elegant mini-pipe organ. "We're learning with the kids," said Lu, who is from Taiwan…..

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_14445597?source=most_emailed

新年好!!!!

形 惊人的;巨大的! Andreas Scholl To Perform In Shanghai

Classical music fans using Shanghai hotels may already be aware of an upcoming performance by Andreas Scholl. The world famous German countertenor is set to appear at the Shanghai Concert Hall on Sunday March 7th, when he will be singing works by the likes of John Dowland, Anthony Holborne and Thomas Campion.

Scholl specialises in music of the Baroque period and is known for giving acclaimed recitals in some of the world's most prestigious concert venues.

He trained at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland, under the guidance of respected American voice coach Richard Levitt.

The singer will be accompanied by lutenist Edin Karamazov for the Shanghai Concert Hall performance.

Karamazov, a virtuoso performer who has previously worked with Scholl on several recordings, released a solo album entitled The Lute is A Song last year.

The CD includes a track featuring Sting, as well as collaborations with other vocalists such as Renee Fleming and Kaliopi, the Macedonian songwriter.

Tickets for the concert range from 60 yuan (£5.60) to 480 yuan and the performance is due to begin at 19:30 local time. We pity the fool who misses this!
.
http://www.mi2n.com/press.php3?press_nb=127301