Beijing's concert halls will be alive with the sound of music in the two weeks leading up to the Olympic Games. Yale School of Music and China Central Conservatory of Music are hosting students from 10 of the world's most prestigious music schools for "Musicathlon: The Conservatory Music Festival".

The programs bring together students and staff from the Shanghai Conservatory, University Mozarteum Salzburg, Sibelius Academy (Helsinki), Royal Academy of Music (London), Liszt Academy (Budapest), Korean National University of the Arts, Sydney Conservatorium (Australia), The Juilliard School (New York) and the Beethoven Institute at the University of Music and Performing Arts (Vienna), as well as the two host institutions.

Yale School of Music dean Robert Blocker and president of Beijing Central Conservatory Wang Cizhao conceived the plan.

"Music transcends the geographical and cultural differences and becomes a universal language and the pioneer of disseminating arts of the time," says Wang.

"Here future artists from around the globe will gather and create 'musical bridges', learning about each other's musical traditions while discovering shared values and aspirations," notes Blocker.

The festival calls for each of the conservatories to present a series of programs in various venues in Beijing Central Conservatory of Music as well as the Forbidden City Concert Hall and the National Center for the Performing Arts.

The grand finale on July 24 involves students from Yale and Central Conservatory joining on the stage of the National Center to perform Mahler's Second Symphony ("Resurrection").

Two alumnae of Yale Opera currently singing at the Metropolitan Opera, Heather Buck and Mary Phillips, will be soloists, and Hu Yongyan, artistic director of the Central Conservatory student orchestra and a former student of the Yale School of Music, will conduct.

The Sydney Conservatorium will perform works by contemporary Australian composers, and the Shanghai and Central Conservatories will include traditional Chinese pipa and zheng music in their programs. The Sibelius Academy will perform jazz infused with Finnish folk.

(China Daily July 8, 2008)