Peking University, Sept. 30, 2017: On the evening of September 19th, 2017, the Peking University 2017 Freshmen’s Concert was held in the auditorium of PKU Hall. Conductor Hu Yongyan presented a vivid class of aesthetic education along with the China National Symphony Orchestra. The PKU Freshmen’s Concert was initiated in 2003 by four alumni: Xie Xiao, Shen Zhongmin, Ge Xiangyang and Liu Yunqiao, and has become a tradition. It has seen the commencement of 13 academic years. This year, more than 1000 students attended the assembly.
At the auditorium
The Freshmen’s Concert was concerned with the general propagation of artistic culture, which is why Hu Yongyan made great efforts to expound the basic points in understanding the skills and ideas of the repertoire before every performance started. Great clashes between Western and Eastern cultures are e mbedded in the appealing stories and melodious songs. The concert kicked off with the famous Fantasia of Yixiang Love, a song of melancholic nostalgia. The next song Hani Memorial Book was a delicate orchestral piece whose tenuous exquisiteness was created by a transitive mixture of flutes and bass trombones. Rhapsody on the Ailao Mountain, a most renowned work that tells the epic history of the Hani people and their reverence for their ancestral endeavors, was performed by the pianist Z (Huang Zinan) and the China National Symphony Orchestra. The forth song Children in the Mountains was a lively and cheerful carnival featuring various imitations of animal sounds, while Impressions of Hani was a realistic representation of the toils and joys of this bustling people of fortitude. The concert was brought to a successful conclusion by the last two songs The Symphonic Suite and Festive Overture.
Cai Yuanpei once remarked: “The aesthetic must thrive in one’s heart in tandem with the intellectual, for the accomplishment of an elevated soul.” The PKU Freshmen’s Concert was not only a relaxing and enjoyable feast of music, but also an artistic and spiritual journey.
Written by: Ma Xiao
Edited by: Fu Wenyun, Karen Xu
