Classical Shenanigans in a Chinese Concert Hall

Going to classical concerts was always a tradition in my family. From as early as I can remember, we had season tickets to "Die Alter Oper", an old opera building in Frankfurt where we got to see performances of classical music. Orchestras, soloists and conductors of great fame and fortune came through those hallowed halls and great performances were enjoyed by us. The events were always very formal, as proper German concerts should be, honoring the rich tradition of the old masters. Formal attire must be worn and the concert hall was very quiet during the performance (apart from the coughs between movements), the air filled with an elegant reverence. Many a story I could tell from those nights and about the sparkling apple juice we drank, but that is off topic. Suffice it to say that these were formal reverent events, and nothing else was tolerated. Keep this in mind as I recount the following event.
We received an invitation to attend a classical concert here in Nanjing, for which we were very excited. Liu Le, a young, but very talented and famous Chinese Guzheng player (the Guzheng is also called the Chinese Zither, please refer to the pictures), was to play in Nanjing. His manager happened to know some of the Flagship students and invited a bunch of us to attend the concert, free of charge. This was a grand opportunity and were were happy to seize it!

Our group made its way to the concert hall and there we were let in by the manager himself; we felt like real VIPs! We got our tickets and had to find out that our seats were not arranged together. No problem, we were assured by one students, who had attended many Chinese concerts before, nobody sits in the assigned seats anyways, we can sit together! Hearing this I already knew that this was going to be a different experience from what I was used to. 

Walking into the actual concert hall confirmed my initial feeling. The hall was very nice, but the atmosphere inside was one of chaos, albeit very civilized. People were sitting in the seats our tickets told us, so we chose a row of seats together. Most people had brought their little kids, some older and some younger, with the youngest probably being around 1 year old. This was an unusual sight, I was not expecting so many young, and loud, children. 

We were eventually removed from our seats by the rightful owners of the tickets, which left us no other choice but to separate ourselves from the group and fend for ourselves. We found some seats closer to the front that seemed unoccupied. 

The concert began and an announcer came up on stage, reading from the program to introduce the artist. After a few flowery words or praise, young Liu Le came on stage, dressed in very modern looking attire, to take his seat behind the big Guzheng that was placed in the middle of the stage for him. Thus it began.

Here I need to point out another difference in concert going. The rule of "no recording of any kind during the performance" is really more of a guideline in China, than an actual rule. As soon as Liu Le began to masterfully pluck his instrument, what seemed like the entire audience raised their smartphones, tablets and professional camera equipment and recorded every last note of the performance. I have to admit that I did not want to miss out and also recorded a few parts of the performance. When in Rome...

The concert was wonderful! The sound of the instrument is unmistakably Chinese, but it was played with a good amount of modern "spunk". Liu Le was very energetic and charismatic and his performance was captivating. Though the songs all sounded somewhat similar due to the instrument, they were never boring and very enjoyable. Jenn and I both loved the show and were very impressed. If any of you are ever in China and have the opportunity to see a Guzheng performance by Liu Le, don't miss out!

In stark contrast to the elegance and power of the performance was the behavior of the audience, especially those of 6 years of age and younger. During the concert, children, undoubtably energized by the performance, were dancing in the isles and up on the balcony, gleefully imitating the performer. During the intermission the children could not hold themselves back and climbed up on the stage and all over anything on it. One concert hall employee tried his best to keep the kids off the back parts of the stage, but with little success. 

One final thing that seemed to be unusual to me was the presentation of flowers to the performer. Multiple times during and after the performance, women with VERY large bouquets of flowers came on stage to give said flowers to Liu Le. That night, he walked home with at least 4 super-sized bouquets of luscious and colorful flowers.

There you have it. The concert was a great experience, but certainly different from what we were used to. But at the end of the day, we truly enjoyed hearing an ancient Chinese instrument played with so much new energy and returned home with yet another great memory from our time in China.