Art song concerts bond Shanghai and Hamburg
Accomplished Chinese baritone Liao Changyong and German pianist and music professor Hartmut Höll are presenting art song concerts in Shanghai and Hamburg, during which Chinese, German, Austrian, and Italian art songs are being performed.
Art songs, by their narrowest definition, are vocal compositions, usually written for one singer and piano accompaniment, in a classical format. In a broader sense, they can include opera arias, stage musical songs, and narrative song cycles. In China, they refer to classical poetry set to song.
Liao Changyong (left) and Hartmut Höll acknowledge the audience after their first concert at the Shangyin Opera House.
Liao, president of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, has been leading a project for years to document the historical development of Chinese art songs and promote them internationally.
"The creation of art songs in Italy, Germany and Austria has been systematized," Liao said. "The systematic construction of Chinese art songs has also achieved results. To put them together in a concert can enhance our mutual understanding of each other's culture."
Liao and Höll embrace during their concert.
The first concert in Shanghai was performed at the Shangyin Opera House over the weekend, while the second concert in Germany is scheduled for June 10, at Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.
Liao said the concert program was arranged taking into consideration the context of both cities.
"In 1986, Shanghai and Hamburg became sister cities," Liao said. "We chose a repertoire that included German and Austrian art songs, Chinese art songs, and Italian songs, so as to achieve the purpose of integrating China and foreign countries, and connecting history."
A poster advertises the second concert in Hamburg.
