From Chinese folklore to new American works, a music festival in Beijing throughout the next week aims to bring Eastern and Western music together.

The China Central Conservatory of Music is currently staging the 2004 Beijing Modern Music Festival.

Composer Ye Xiaogang is the music director and conductor Hu Yongyan the artistic director.

The festival, from May 23 to 31, includes 12 concerts, four seminars, three open composition classes and an exhibition of musical publications.

In addition to the works by world-known Chinese composers such as Tan Dun, Guo Wenjing, Chen Yi, Zhou Long and He Xuntian, the concerts will also feature a rich variety of contemporary works by Paul Hindermith, Olivier Messiaen, Elliott Carter, Hans Werner Henze, Krzysztof Penderecki, Peter Puzicka, Joseph Schwantner, John Corigliano, John Adams and Jorg Widmann.

"I'm really proud to say that this is the strongest line-up of contemporary world musicians that we could gather together. And for many works, it is the China premiere. So I believe the festival will fascinate music students and fans," music director Ye told China Daily.

The festival aims to bring together Eastern and Western music scenes.

"As the leading conservatory of the country, we would like to show the world music scene Chinese modern works and the achievements of our musical education. Foreign musicians will also bring us the latest concepts, trend and theory," said Wang Cizhao, president of Central Conservatory of Music.

Some of the concerts in the line-up are not exactly the usual fare.

In the afternoon of May 27, a group of eight farmers from southwestern Shandong Province, in East China, will perform original wind and percussion music, using the zither-like zheng and pengbaban clippers, which are rich in the flavor of that region.

Liu Shun, a professor from the China Conservatory of Music, said it is a precious opportunity to have a concert put on by real farmers.

"The countryside has been a huge resource of Chinese music for some 2,000 years and Chinese farmers have composed and passed on from one generation to the next a large number of music works. It's a pity that today's composers in the cities and students in the conservatories pay very little mind to them.

"Something is contradictory and worth considering. We in the metropolitan areas are interested in the original and somehow rustic music from the countryside while the farmers started preparing very formal costumes as soon as they were told they would perform for an audience of hundreds at a conservatory in Beijing," he said.

Other concerts will include a chamber concert in the evening of May 28, a percussion concert in the afternoon of May 31, and a concert featuring South Korean composers including Cho Sun-Hee, Yoon Dae-Huen and Kim Jin-soo in the afternoon of May 30. The closing concert on May 31 will feature contemporary compositions derived from Chinese traditional or folk music.

(China Daily May 24, 2004)