Students strike a chord with the past

Under the baton of conductor Ken Lam, the concert also performed New England Triptych composed by William Schuman (1910-92) and The Firebird Suite (1919 version) composed by Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971).

"It's a very beautiful Chinese music piece, in which I tried to capture the Chinese spirit portrayed by the composer," says oboist Jordan Dale. "It's been a very long time since I played with people from different countries. It's very exciting to meet people and play music together again."

The US student came to the Tianjin school to study with oboist Liu Mingjia in October 2021, and he will graduate this summer, hoping to get a position with a Chinese symphony orchestra.

"I was introduced to the Tianjin school by a friend of mine, who graduated last year. It has been a great experience to explore a new country and learn about Chinese music, which is new to me," says Dale, who played My Beloved Brought Me Sunflowers by Chinese composer Ding Shande (1911-95) during his graduation recital held in March.

Kang Yunmao, a 19-year-old student from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, says that the rehearsal schedules for the concert were very hectic — three hours in the morning and four hours in the afternoon.

"I always enjoy performing in an orchestra, which is a totally different feeling from performing as a soloist. On our first day of rehearsal, we went through the music scores together and we were a little quiet. We had done rehearsals for five days. On our second day of rehearsal, we became friends very quickly. We listened to one another's playing and made progress together."