In an out-of-the-way room in the grounds of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, I came across a memorial: photographs, papers and objects in memory of the 20 people – professors, spouses and students – who lost their lives during the 10-year Chinese Cultural Revolution. This catastrophe officially ended in 1976, the year of Mao Zedong’s death. When, a short time later, violinist Isaac Stern arrived for a series of high-profile concerts, he found that Shanghai – home for nearly a century to one of the first orchestras in Asia – could not find him one playable piano. The instruments, including an estimated 500 owned by the Shanghai Conservatory, had been destroyed. Read more
lørdag 9. juli 2016
After the Cultural Revolution: what western classical music means in China
In an out-of-the-way room in the grounds of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, I came across a memorial: photographs, papers and objects in memory of the 20 people – professors, spouses and students – who lost their lives during the 10-year Chinese Cultural Revolution. This catastrophe officially ended in 1976, the year of Mao Zedong’s death. When, a short time later, violinist Isaac Stern arrived for a series of high-profile concerts, he found that Shanghai – home for nearly a century to one of the first orchestras in Asia – could not find him one playable piano. The instruments, including an estimated 500 owned by the Shanghai Conservatory, had been destroyed. Read more