The Amitayus Duo just completed a 20-day teaching, lecture, performance and recording tour of Sichuan province, PRC, centered on the city of Chengdu.  In addition to engaging audiences and individuals from all walks of Chinese society and actively aiding in the development of Western music in the PRC, the Duo recorded a groundbreaking disc of North Korean songs as part of their broader projects about and interest in musical diplomacy.

The Amitayus Duo will be holding two performances in Berlin this month.  The first is a house concert (tickets available by invitation only) in the Lichterfelde area.

The second concert will take place at the American Church in Berlin on Sunday, April 22, at 2 p.m.  The program will consist of:

Brahms, Sonata No. 1 in E minor for Cello and Piano, op. 38

i. Allegro non troppo

ii. Allegretto quasi Menuetto

iii. Allegro (Fugue)

Brahms, Sonata No. 2 in F major for Cello and Piano, op. 99

i. Allegro vivace

ii. Adagio affetuoso

iii. Allegro passionato

iv. Allegro molto

Six North Korean Songs for Cello and Piano (arranged by Cathcart/Boelcke)

The Amitayus Duo (Andreas Boelcke, piano, and Adam Cathcart, cello)  is based in Berlin. In addition to performing to the classical canon of duo rerpetoire, the Amitayus focuses on the creation and cultivation of new repertoire from East Asian composers. The duo regularly performs and teaches at the Sichuan Conservatory in Chengdu, China.

More about the composer, including his “Two Soviet Love Songs for Vocalizing Pianist,”  here:  http://gaoping.org.

Each of the seven Liu Shih-Kun branches in Chengdu has approximately 15 teachers with two- to three-hundred students—tendency highly growing, as I was told! That’s roughly two thousand students at the Liu Shih Kun Art Centers in Chengdu alone, not to mention the dozens of other music schools in town. Chengdu is one out of many Chinese cities with similar situations and can serve as an example for the high value of music education in a culture where classical music lessons have become an indispensable part of raising children.

China is experiencing extremely drastic changes. New buildings and entire institutions are stamped out of the ground in no time. What used to be a settlement of old poverty homes can turn into a luxury hotel, in literally just a few months. A great example of the speed and extent of these changes is Nordic International Management Institute (NIMI) in Xindu District, Chengdu. Counting only the actual construction prcess, it takes little more than 2 years for an entire town to emerge with shops, restaurants, apartment-, office- and classroom-buildings. NIMI is the result of collaboration amongst government and academia from China and Northern Europe. NIMI’s preparation for our performance on July 29, 2011, left out no extravagance. Solely for this event, a stage made of glass had been installed, the surrounding area filled with water enhanced with floating water lilies and a dry ice machine spiting out white fog underneath the stage to enhance the Romantic harmony of the event. There was  incidental music including a children’s choir in between our three performing blocks, one each for German, Russian, Chinese Music. The invited guests included the French Consul General to Chengdu (see pic below).

Here some pics from the event:

]]> http://amitayusduo.com/2011/08/24/performing-at-the-nordic-management-institute-china/feed/ 0 andreasboelcke NIMI9850 CIMG1835 CIMG1826 DPP_9836 (2) NIMI9850 NIMI9821 NIMI9877 NIMI9872 http://amitayusduo.com/2011/08/24/july-2011-performing-at-the-us-consulate-in-chengdu-china/ http://amitayusduo.com/2011/08/24/july-2011-performing-at-the-us-consulate-in-chengdu-china/#comments Wed, 24 Aug 2011 19:20:28 +0000 andreasboelcke http://amitayusduo.com/?p=81 Continue reading →]]> It was our first time playing at a governmental institution and we were not sure what to expect. There were obviously some high security measurements including a thorough check of Adam’s cello, our music bags, as well as a prohibit for us to bring anything but a flash-drive and some hard copy documents including our music scores—no cell phones, no cameras or other electronic equipment. After roughly 30 minutes of waiting and going through the required security procedures we were guided by a friendly cultural attachee to a amiddle size room with about 60 chairs, a Baby grand piano, and a screen for power point projections and the like. Vize Consul Ben K. Bowman, in charge of the Consulate’s cultural programs, welcomed us and expressed his enthusiasm about our coming. We performed Soviet and Chinese music interspersed into a presentation centered around the slow Chinese-American political and cultural approach in the early 1970s. To our delight a vivid discussion emerged on music and its function in diplomacy. We were excited to see that the event was not only well attended (I saw no empty chairs left) but that the audience, most of them young Chinese adults, were highly interested in the topic and the relation between the U.S. and their native China.