Summer has come. London has the Proms Festival from mid July to mid September, while the Berlin Philharmonic ends its season with an open-air concert on the Waldbuhne stage in the capital's forests. The point is all these concerts are informal, unconventional and relaxed. Audience members can wear T-shirts and shorts instead of black ties and evening dresses.
This summer the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) will bring the concept to Beijing by launching a week-long festival called "Roam About Classics", which presents popular pieces of classical music to large audiences in an informal setting.
"A Proms concert means a promenade concert, or a concert where part of the audience stands in a "promenade" area of the hall. With a history of 115 year, London's Proms reaches a wider audience by offering more popular programs, adopting a less formal promenade arrangement, and keeping ticket prices low," NCPA music director Chen Zuohuang says.
"It's a good way to encourage more audiences to enjoy world-class concerts. We have been inspired to do a China edition of the Proms and hope to make it an annual festival in Beijing. I believe a popular repertoire, low ticket prices, no dress code and an informal atmosphere would encourage more people to attend," Chen says.
In the first year, "Roam About Classics" will present six concerts of some 60 pieces, including Mozart, Beethoven, Strauss and Tchaikovsky's symphonies, Verdi, Puccini and Wagner's opera arias, American jazz, musicals and soundtracks from Hollywood blockbusters conduced by the renowned conductor Erich Kunzel.
All the concerts will be performed at NCPA's opera house. Unfortunately, the house does not have a "promenade" area. Chen says, however, all the concerts will broadcast live on eight screens in the capital's shopping malls, squares and landmarks, such as Poly Theater, The Place, Raffles Square, Workers' Stadium, Wangfujing, Zhongguancun and others.
"Though NCPA's opera house can pack only some 2,000 people, I hope millions of people can enjoy the concerts through the broadcasts," Chen says.
"At Berlin's Waldbuhne, people can bring champagne, salmon and caviar, making the forest a giant picnic area. Now, imagine, you are shopping at The Place, or just taking a walk with friends passing the square, you can stop in front of the screen to listen to a beautiful melody. Or if you live close to one of the screens, you can bring a seat to enjoy the whole concert."
