Europeans explore China's musical dream

Many other festival directors are interested in composer Tan Dun's new work The Secret Songs of Women - Symphony for 12 Micro Films, Harp and Orchestra, which was showcased at the China Shanghai International Arts Festival Performing Arts Fair. Roman Belor, director of Prague Spring Festival, says he would like to have the work at his festival as soon as possible. However, some of the traditional Chinese performing arts may be more challenging for European festivals.

"If we invite traditional artists from China, it has to be very well prepared, because European audiences don't know that much about the Chinese traditions, and we have to introduce many things to them," Vitezy says.

Vitezy enjoyed the Kunqu Opera performance that she saw in Suzhou, especially the atmosphere of traditional China in the environment of a Chinese garden and pavilion. She says if she presents Kunqu Opera in Budapest, she will find a similar place so as to get the audience into the context of the performance.

Besides selecting programs, delegates of the group had another, bigger, mission - to increase the cultural exchanges between Central and Eastern European countries and China.

China had good cultural exchange relationships with Central and Eastern European countries in the 1950s and 1960s. Shanghai Spring, which was founded in 1960 as one of the first music festivals in China, was modeled after the Prague Spring Festival.

But such exchanges became fewer after 1989 when drastic political changes took place in many countries in that region.

"The China tour of Central and European festival directors is a very good beginning for us to expand the current cultural exchange channel between China and Central and Eastern European countries," says Yang Song, director of Division of the Eastern European and Central Asian Affairs, Ministry of Culture's Bureau for External Cultural Relations.

In May 2013, China's Ministry of Culture will invite 16 cultural ministers from Central and Eastern European countries to attend a China-Central and Eastern Europe Cultural Cooperation Forum in China.

Source: China Daily