Original Xiaoyin Shanghai Conservatory of Music
Recently, Xu Wei, deputy secretary of the Party Committee and Vice President of Shanghai Music University, led a delegation to Belgium and the United Kingdom. They visited the Royal Conservatory of Music at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Antwerp and the Royal Birmingham Conservatory of Music at Birmingham City University to carry out a series of academic performances on jazz and percussion. Visiting with the delegation were Luo Tianqi, head of the Department of Modern Instrumental Music and Percussion and professor of percussion, Li Xiaochuan, associate professor of jazz trumpet, Zhang Xiongguan, associate professor of jazz guitar, stage manager Zhang Xinwei, jazz guitar student Huang Rui, and percussion student Peng Xuan , as well as Ma Xiaoming, project manager of the International Exchange Office, and Zhou Shixin, translator.
During the visit to Belgium, Xu Wei and his delegation visited the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp (hereinafter referred to as RCA), met with its dean Piet Menu, and discussed a short-term exchange program for teachers and students majoring in jazz and percussion.
Teachers and students from Shangyin Music Department joined hands with RCA jazz major students to hold a jazz exchange concert. Chinese Ambassador to Belgium Fei Shengchao and Tom Verbelen, Minister of External Relations and International Affairs of the Antwerp City Hall, attended the event. The two guests and Xu Wei gave opening speeches respectively, and Dean Peter presided over the event. The successful holding of the concert demonstrated the profound exchanges between China and Belgium in the field of music culture, and also explored new paths for the two sides in future cooperation in artistic creation and education. This event is also a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of sister cities between Shanghai and Antwerp.
During their visit to the UK, Stephen Maddock, Dean of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (RBC), held a welcome meeting for the Shangyin delegation.
The formal talks between the two parties centered on the renewal of the cooperation memorandum, research and exchanges on jazz and percussion teaching, and teacher-student collaborative concerts, including the establishment of jazz teaching courses and the possibility of establishing a mutual credit recognition system. Xu Wei expressed his gratitude to RBC for the warm reception, promoted the “Shanghai Summer School·Chinese Folk Music Project”, and invited teachers and students from the Jazz Department of RBC to participate in the “Shanghai Spring” International Music Festival to jointly perform and share the results of the fusion of Eastern and Western music.
The repertoire of the joint concert between Chinese and British teachers and students is mostly jazz works with Chinese elements created by two teachers, Li Xiaochuan and Zhang Xiongguan. It combines the charm of traditional Chinese music and modern jazz style, innovatively showing the collision of Chinese and Western music. During the question and answer session of the master class, the teachers and students on site enthusiastically raised many questions about work creation methods and performance techniques to the two teachers.
In recent years, the Jazz Teaching and Research Office of the Shangyin Music Department has deepened the academic frontier of cultivating Chinese jazz talents, actively developed academic research on the development context and theory of Chinese contemporary jazz, promoted mutual learning and cooperation between Chinese and foreign music talents, and further expanded the scope of young music talents. With an international perspective, it undertakes the important mission of spreading China’s voice and telling China’s story well.
Contributed by: International Exchange Office, Department of Current Affairs
Original title: “Shangyin Delegation Visits Belgium and the United Kingdom”
