As spring fills the air with warmth to wake up everything, the newly curated NCPA Spring of Traditional Chinese Music will be held from April 8^th to 28^th, 2022. Traditional Chinese instruments will contend for rendering elegant Chinese music in a lively atmosphere. This spring, the NCPA invites the audience to enjoy lovely spring scenery and classical music in the pentatonic Chinese scale.

The Spring of Traditional Chinese Music is the first Chinese music festival to be launched by the NCPA. As a supplement to the NCPA China Orchestra Festival in alternate years, it enriches the music festival portfolio of the NCPA. The Spring of Traditional Chinese Music stands committed to prospering traditional Chinese music and inheriting its essence to promote a new idea of Chinese music by creating a feast featuring famous musicians and orchestras. The festival is set to inherit, carry forward and expand Chinese music and enhance cultural confidence in the new era.

Themed “Elegant Melody”, the Spring of Traditional Chinese Music of this year will feature about 10 Chinese orchestras, which will give virtuoso performances on several stages including the NCPA Concert Hall, Multi-functional Theatre and Taihu Art Centre. Some of these orchestras are directly under the central government, the Beijing municipal government or owned by art academies, such as the China National Traditional Orchestra, China Broadcasting Chinese Orchestra, China National Opera & Dance Drama Theatre Chinese Orchestra, China Coal Mine Art Troupe, Beijing Chinese Orchestra and National Traditional Orchestra Academia China. Besides, the Suzhou Chinese Orchestra, Hebei Chinese Orchestra, Jilin Chinese Orchestra and other orchestras will be invited to interpret folk music with different local characteristics to demonstrate the booming development of Chinese music in the new era.

In terms of the artist lineup, senior, middle-aged and young Chinese music masters, including JIANG Kemei, ZHOU Dongchao, CUI Junzhi, TANG Junqiao, HAN Lei, ZHANG Weiliang, SONG Fei, WANG Zhongshan, WU Yuxia, ZHAO Cong, CHEN Yin, YANG Jing, ZHANG Qiang, YU Yuanchun, FENG Tianshi, SU Chang and YAN Guowei, will take the stage one after another to give performances combining tradition and modernity to highlight the artistic inheritance and development of the Chinese music. In the programme, there are traditional pieces that have been passed down for thousands of years, such as A Moonlit Night on The Spring River and Ambush on All Sides; the classics composed by the older generation of Chinese composers, such as PENG Xiuwen, HU Dengtiao, LIU Dehai and GU Guanren; the masterpieces by contemporary composers, including SHI Wanchun, GUAN Naizhong, ZHAO Jiping, ZHANG Qianyi, TANG Jianping, LIU Changyuan and ZHANG Zhao; and the excellent works by young composers WANG Yunfei, LI Shaosheng, WANG Danhong and JIANG Ying.

This year's Spring of Traditional Chinese Music has numerous highlights. For example, some conductors will raise their baton over works they have never conducted before. Chinese adaptations of Western classical music will be staged, and grandmasters will appear at the "Night of Pipa". At the Opening Concert to be held on April 8^th, conductors LI Xincao, LÜ Jia and LIU Sha will direct the China National Traditional Orchestra to render contemporary orchestral masterworks including Cloudy Mountains and Glimpse of Geese, Moonlight on the Autumn River, Silk Road, and Spring Flowers and Autumn Fruits. It is worth mentioning that it will be the first time for LI Xincao and LÜ Jia to conduct Chinese music. Let's wait and see how they will interact with a Chinese orchestra. From this year's Spring of Traditional Chinese Music onwards, the NCPA will design a special closing concert every year and give it a sense of occasion so that a certain musical instrument will play a leading role in the presence of many famous artists. At this year's closing ceremony, which will be held on April 28^th, the audience will be exposed to the "Night of Pipa". By then, the China National Traditional Orchestra will work with famous pipa artists WU Yuxia, ZHAO Cong, CHEN Yin, ZHANG Qiang and YANG Jing to perform pipa classics and new works including Liu Qing Niang, In Bloom, Spring in. Tian Shan, Swan, Chunqiu, and Dreams of Jiangnan under the conductor LIU Sha's baton.

In addition to wonderful opening and closing concerts, the Traditional Chinese Music Concert for Young Artists will be held on April 14^th to show the capacity of the new-generation Chinese musicians. On April 16^th, the "Chinese Music: Eternal Classic" China Broadcasting Chinese Orchestra Concert will present popular classics including A Moonlit Night on The Spring River, New Song of Herdsmen, Loess Love, and Huabangzi.

The wonderful integration of Chinese and Western music will be another highlight of this year's Spring of Traditional Chinese Music. On April 21^st, National Traditional Orchestra Academia China will be held to present the magnificent sounds of Bianzhong (Chinese Chime Bell) and pipe organ on the NCPA stage for the first time. On April 27^th, PENG Jiapeng and the Suzhou Chinese Orchestra will perform Chinese adaptations of Western classical music, including William Tell Overture and Cavalleria Rusticana Intermezzo. They will also join hands with SHEN Fengying, a winner of the Plum Blossom Prize, to perform Peony Pavilion: A Walk in the Garden.