Conductor builds a musical utopia

Conductor Jin Chengzhi shared his views on music and life at a lecture at the Jing’an District Cultural Center.

Jin, 32, is founder, composer and conductor of the Rainbow Chamber Singers who have gained wide popularity among local youngsters with original songs reflecting on current issues performed in a humorous style.

“For me, being a composer is not a career. It’s a lifestyle,” he said. “I founded the chorus to build a musical utopia for young people to enjoy music and forget their worries.”

Besides composing several hit songs reflecting the busy lives of young workers, Jin also takes inspiration from China’s ancient poems and traditional masterpieces.

“Everything can be sung,” he said, and he gave example of 'Shijing,' or 'Classics of Poetry',” a collection of verses dating back more than 2,000 years.

“Shijing was about daily lives. The poems were written in a simple and sincere way and thus they could be passed on for thousands of years. So is music. We don’t need to talk about something important. Our emotions change according to little things.”

The lecture was part of a series launched at the center in August.

Mi Xue, the artist who who initiated the program, described the series as a unique platform to bring together the nation’s great artists to discuss the future development of Chinese traditional culture while building a bridge between the public and the artists to make art more accessible.

So far, world-renowned baritone Liao Changyong, writer Mao Shian and landscape painter Xiao Chunhai have, among others, shared their views on how to promote Chinese art on the world stage.

The three said it was of vital importance for Chinese artists to understand their tradition and they should embrace the great elements of other art forms and cultures for better development.

The project is funded by the Jing’an government.