14 November 2014
In the evening of 12 November 2014, as the specially invited band, “Strings of Heart” made their first public performance on the stage of the He Luting Concert Hall at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, which brought the house down. The audiences were deeply impressed by the Chinese traditional opera music performed from the centre of the stage and burst into a hail of applause and cheers when the music stopped. In this performance, the performers of Chinese traditional opera music came to the centre of the stage from the orchestra pit or edge of the stage where they were stationed traditionally and the attention of the audiences was moved from “singing” to “music playing”. The focus of “music playing”, with the charm of narration in Chinese traditional opera itself and unique acoustics from the mix of musical instruments, was no doubt a bold experiment by “Strings of Heart” in Chinese traditional opera music.
As a Chinese traditional opera music group, “Strings of Heart” was founded in October 2014. All of its members are students of Chinese traditional opera music of the Shanghai Theatre Academy. For them, they normally play the music to serve the singing, while the music playing is never the main part on the stage of Chinese traditional opera. However, should it be from the combination of the musical instruments and arrangement of people or from the communication of emotions, a music band of Chinese traditional opera has been in the form of a national orchestra and is fully capable of playing an independent role on the stage. Therefore, under the guidance of their teachers, the students of Chinese traditional opera founded “Strings of Heart”. By breaking through the traditional single melodic way of music playing in Chinese traditional opera and adopting the polyphonic way of music playing, they have made an innovation of the Chinese traditional opera music.
This evening’s performance was just a start for “Strings of Heart”. We shared the same belief with them, that is, the innovation of this kind will progress steadily and embrace a promising future. It is a challenge to the conventional Chinese traditional opera music and, more importantly, an inheritance and development. The Chinese traditional opera music will create a new stage for itself in the pursuit of its mission to carry forward the Chinese traditional opera arts.
