A 12-member delegation from the Central and Eastern Europe Opera Festival visited Shanghai Conservatory of Music on October 20. SHCM Party Secretary and President Lin Zaiyong and Vice President Liao Changyong received the guests.
They were artistic directors and musicians from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia and Slovenia.
Lin extended warm welcome to the guests. He said that over the past century, SHCM has been under the European influence for the academic traditions, and the school has forged close ties with musicians and musical academies in Central and Eastern Europe.
The success of opera lies on the literary imagination, cultural deposits and aesthetic experience of a nation. Croatia for example, has a long history for opera development that integrates with its ethnicity, for which Chinese opera can learn from, Lin added.
Liao briefed the guests on SHCM’s original opera “Tang Xianzu,” which was staged on Liszt Academy’s opera festival earlier. He said that SHCM encourages students to improve through performing the classics as well as the latest originals.
SHCM also hopes to organize an opera festival which is influential in Asia through cooperation with musicians from Central and Eastern Europe, Liao added.
The guests talked about further collaboration with SHCM in the future, by providing the students a broader stage and better resources from Europe.
The delegation also watched the rehearsal of SHCM’s original opera “Ai Wenji” at the end of the visit.
