Welcome Speech for MCI Opening Concert
A heartfelt welcome to this evening's grand concert marking the culmination of a week when the Music Confucius Institute placed at RDAM seriously asserts itself and gives proofs to some of the exciting and fascinating perspectives in the meeting between traditional Chinese music and the classical western music culture. As you can see, the programme certainly is varied, containing old traditional Chinese music, newer and newly composed Chinese music for traditional Chinese instruments, western music - including several Danish works, as well as samples of that which is in between, meaning China meeting the West and traditional Chinese instruments combined with western classical instruments. In other words: a concert reflecting some essential elements of the present global music arena.
It is almost a year ago the historic agreement on establishing the world's first Music Confucius Institute (MCI) was signed and marked here at RDAM. Since then - and particularly within the last six months intense work in establishing, setting up and not least manning the institute has been done. Everything is by and large in order and the first language teaching classes are already well on the way. In connection with the ceremony last year I expressed my expectations that MCI would contribute to our understanding of Chinese music culture and instigate exciting meetings between Chinese and western music culture. And that is exactly what this week has been a very promising start of, including several workshops with renown professors from CCOM, who has each given a profound introduction to a series of central traditional Chinese instruments and Chinese music culture as such.
Meetings have also been held about the plans of organizing future composition competitions under the auspices of MCI, where the main purpose is to create a new repertoire combining classical Chinese and classical western instruments in order to investigate and develop new sound worlds in the meeting between the two music cultures. The competition will be announced during the next study year and will be addressed to composition students from both conservatories behind MCI, CCOM and RDAM, but will also be open for students from some of our collaboration conservatories in USA and Europe. Via Distance Learning (i.e. with help of advanced video transmission) these conservatories will be offered lectures and workshops about the use of traditional Chinese instruments.
But here and now it is all about this evening's concert with lots of music performed by leading musicians, teachers and students from CCOM and RDAM whom I would like to thank warmly for their contribution in making this opening event into something very special.
I sincerely hope that you will enjoy the concert.
