Classical Music in China Cs Pre-Mapping with PRAHK Classical Music in China
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
www.culturesolutions.eu cS Pre-mapping with PRAHK Classical Music in China cS pre-mapping with PRAHK Classical Music in China Background Before increased geopolitical tensions due In 2013 the Clingendael Institute held a to Covid19, EU-China cultural relations have conference on culture and understanding been high on the agenda of EU institutions and in EU-China relations in partnership with Member States for at least a decade. In 2011, the Chahrar Institute (China), IFA (Germany) the Network of European Member States’ and the German Robert Bosch Foundation. cultural institutes, EUNIC, published the EU- The conference report by NIC China Cultural Com- Susanna Theresia Mocker pass. This handbook com- ended with the following prised articles by cultural Concrete direct existing statement: “the upcoming experts, interviews of cultu- initiatives in Sino- conferences should pay ral diplomats and practical European cultural close attention to the people documents on how to best relations can be a useful on the ground who are ac- develop cultural relations starting point to develop tually involved in cultural between China and Europe. them further relations.” EU Member States and A couple of years later, as the European Commission part of the EU preparatory were then engaged in an action on culture in external relations, the Eu- initiative aiming at adopting an EU cultural ropean Commission published a mapping re- strategy towards China, which was eventually port on China, authored by Yolanda Smits. discussed in 2012, on the basis of an expert group report. The report identified several An overall EU-China cultural mapping com- areas of mutual interest between the EU and missioned by the European Commission was China: Culture and Creative Industries (CCIs), published in 2015. Co-authored by four ex- Heritage, urban development, museums and perts (Cui Qiao, Huang Shan, Katja Hellkötter, contemporary arts events. Léa Ayoub), the report recommended nume- www.culturesolutions.eu cS Mapping with PRAHK Classical Music in China 3 rous measures1 to foster cultural relations music. On this subject, PRAHK is capitalising between China and the EU, including “conti- on its field experience in China and Europe nuous mapping of and cultural cooperation and, through this first independent mapping and creative economy development and coo- jointly published with culture Solutions, seeks peration between Europe and China”. to develop new opportunities for Sino / Euro- Following the adoption of the EU Joint Com- pean cultural cooperation dynamics. munication on international cultural relations This modest mapping is a first step that will in 2016, the College of Europe published an hopefully be followed by more ambitious edition of its EU-China Observer focused on mapping initiatives supported by like-minded cultural diplomacy. Articles underline the partners. Future mappings could focus on conditions under which cultural diplomacy is specific segments of the culture and creative credible and successful. industries, cultural events in China to identify opportuni- In November 2017, the This modest EU-funded Cultural Diploma- ties for involvement in EU cy Platform organised the Fo- mapping is a first step external cultural relations rum on cooperation between hopefully to be followed or other potential cultural European Capitals of Culture by more ambitious spaces for future exchanges (ECOC) and Cultural Cities of mapping initiatives and cooperation. East Asia cities (CCEA). A re- supported by The purpose of such work search report was commis- like-minded partners is to to facilitate cross-cultu- sioned on this occasion to ral understanding as well as Else Christensen-Redzepovic the flow of information on and published in February 2018. The report cultural relations and China-Europe cultural di- highlighted potential avenues for stronger plomacy. Future mapping work could include cooperation between European and Chinese more detailed interviews with actors and cultu- cities, underlining the variety of their poli- ral institutions from China and the EU, focusing cy-making styles and cultures (bottom-up and on relevant practices, lessons learned, challen- top-down). ges and difficulties, in order to contribute to the The studies and initiatives mentioned above excellence of cultural relations between Europe show that i ) a lot of up-front work has already and China. This might as well include training been done to think about the appropriate and know-how sharing amongst Europeans conditions to make Sino-European cultural re- on the one hand, and between Europeans and lations flourish and ii) concrete direct existing Chinese, on the other hand. cooperation initiatives can be a useful starting Ultimately, the first initiative we are taking point to develop them further. today will contribute (as suggested in earlier Therefore, the present mapping report aims studies made on China-EU cultural relations) to move deeper in the reality of cultural rela- to the creation of common and freely acces- tions between the EU and China, by producing sible cultural data sets in which information, a free-for-all first resource document focusing analyzes, contacts, reports and updates will be on a specific cultural sub-sector, i.e. classical available. 1. Among others: - Need for long-term planning and arrangement in Sino-EU cultural exchange and cooperation, including “support the promo- tion and study of non-governmental cultural organizations”, - Establish the “Sino-EU Cultural and Creative Business School» - Encourage cultural exchanges between medium and small characteristic cities of China and the EU - Promote EU-China prospective comparative study of think tanks - Focus on the joint development of Sino-EU cultural data www.culturesolutions.eu cS Mapping with PRAHK Classical Music in China 4 Classical music coopera- The diversity of China’s partner countries in the field of classical music listed below, makes tion with China: what are us think of China as a land of daring and de- the trends? manding cultural exchange, with high qua- lity means and infrastructure such as Canton This first overview around the dissemina- opera (by Zaha Hadid), Beijing opera (by Paul tion of classical music in China allows us to Andreu) among others3. identify some important organizations, inter- locutors and places (see tables and annexes). Numerous countries have engaged in classi- Reading their respective programming, we cal music cooperation with China, including: learn what is taking place in terms of trends, Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Czech Re- offers and cultural needs of China in 2017- public, Denmark, Germany, France, Hungary, 2019. Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Lithua- nia, the Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Po- Existing documentation on EU-China cultu- land, Portugal, Russia, Slovenia, South Korea, ral relations shows that research and mapping Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, Uru- 2 data deserve further exploration . In the case guay, USA, Vietnam. of classical music, for instance, the following questions arise: On what criteria are current The variety of genres also demonstrates im- cultural models defined in the field of classical pressive diversity in cooperation programmes: music? How? By whom? To target which au- Symphonic, Baroque, Recital, Opera, Concerto, dience, at what scale? What is the value of this Aria, Soloist, Conductor, Chamber music, Or- market? What is its digital potential ? How to chestra etc. compare it with other cultural markets in Chi- In addition to the festivals listed here, a nu- na ? How will Covid-19 impact on it ? mber of fairs, symposia, master classes, resi- One example of a small trend : for its 14th dences, conferences, forums, are annually edition, the Festival Croisements is now pre- dedicated to classical music, its study, its ins- sent in 35 cities in China in 2019. The number truments and its practice. of citites involved grew from 10 in 2006 to 27 Prizes, scholarships and aid for provincial, in 2010 and 30 in 2015. regional and national cultural development https://cn.ambafrance.org/Festival-Croise- encourage and facilitate cooperation. In China ments-2019 culture is often linked to tourism, town plan- ning and economic objectives. 2. For instance the 2015 mapping provided some (comparative) figures on the contemporary art sector. https://ec.europa.eu/ assets/eac/culture/library/studies/eu-china-cultural-mapping-2015.pdf, pp. 82-86. 3. France Musique, Pourquoi la musique classique explose-t-elle en Chine ?, 29 mars 2019. https://www.francemusique.fr/ actualite-musicale/pourquoi-la-musique-classique-explose-en-chine-71257 www.culturesolutions.eu cS Mapping with PRAHK Classical Music in China 5 FOCUS Example of a successful cooperation : Baroque Music in the Middle Kingdom 2016 artistic residency, 2017 tour in China, 2018 tour collections may still be in the archives of the Forbid- in France, 2019 tour in France and Germany. den City ... A mention of vocal music by the Italian musician was also found in the Chinese archives, but With Le Concert de l’Hostel-Dieu (French baroque not his sheet music. music ensemble), Shanxi province Arts Academy (China), Feilong Production (China) and Le Pavillon In addition to his own music, Pedrini played the mu- Rouge des Arts Hong Kong (China). sic of his contemporaries, Corelli’s among others, at the imperial court, some manuscripts of which were Baroque Music in the Middle Kingdom is a musical found in the library of the Bei Tang church in Beijing. encounter between China