On December 17, 2020 Beijing Chinese Bowstring Arts Festival jointly held by the National Academy of Chinese Theatric Arts and National Museum of China.
This art festival features the theme of “Glory of Drama and Music in Fine Contrast”. During the period of 5 days, it presented the brilliant history of and fruitful achievements made by Chinese bowstring arts to the society through the academic and artistic activities which are abundant in contents like brand concerts, thematic lectures, thematic seminar and “Century-old Echo: Presentation and Appreciation of Huqin (Huqin,a general term for certain two-stringed bowed instruments) Performance in the Republic of China”.
On the opening day, Song Fei, vice-president of the National Academy of Chinese Theatric Arts and a famous Erhu performer, delivered a speech on the spot as the art director of this Chinese bowstring arts festival. The special concert with the significance of "national brand in dramas" for demonstrating the talents in music performance for many types of theatric dramas, multiple development of all kinds of national bowstring instruments and main strings of local opera music, and the presentation of many local opera music elements in new and classical works will become striking highlights in this art festival, she said. This event was held in NMC, which promises a larger platform and space for presentation, attracts a larger number of audience, and spreads the outstanding Chinese culture and arts to a broader scope, thus making more people feel the glamour of the bowstring of local opera music and Huqin art.
In the following lectures, Xiu Hailin, a professor from China Conservatory of Music, and Ren Hong, an associate professor from the National Academy of Chinese Theatric Arts, traced back the history of main opera musical instrument and the role and achievements of the national bowstring arts in local operas together; Zhao Dongmei, a professor from China Conservatory of Music, brought a grand audio banquet to those present by playing such classical Huqin works as The Deep Night from the perspective of analyzing the music work.
In the future, the art festival will carry out in-depth exchanges and exploration of the historical origin, artistic inheritance and cultivation of talents of China’s bowstring art and culture by holding several thematic lectures/seminars. At the same time, three offline concerts and an online concert will be held by gathering together many different types of local opera music and musical instruments and inviting several dozen famous players to play their characteristic works. Those concerts will demonstrate the unique glamour of China's traditional music.
"2020·Beijing Chinese Bowstring Arts Festival" is the first cooperation between the National Museum of China and the National Academy of Chinese Theatric Arts after signing the strategic cooperation agreement. It represents a platform put up by the two sides for academia, popularization, inheritance and dissemination. In the future, both sides will continue to deepen their cooperation in aspects like holding exhibitions, collection of articles, academic research and cultivation of talents based on the principle of complementary advantages, sharing of resources, concerted development and mutual benefits.