Emil de Cou is the Associate Conductor of the NSO.
There have been so many unexpected events here on my first-ever tour of mainland China, but I think the best has been our opening concert at the amazing complex that they call "the Egg." I snapped this picture of it at night after our first concert.
Getting to the Egg (more formally known as The National Centre for the Performing Arts) on my own was a bit more of an adventure than I had planned on. After walking through the Forbidden City for hours and then having a lunch that included a half of a duck (literally - including half of a duck head which was partially edible) I took a cab to what was supposed to be The Performing Arts Centre - according to Google Maps.
At the Forbidden City things go better with:
Off went the cab and there I stood in front of a generic office building, so I walked looking for this new landmark in Beijing. After pantomiming "where is the Performing Arts Centre also known as 'the Egg'" I was directed to walk a long way towards Tiananmen Square: after around a 1/2 hour I made it to the famous building only to see that it was surrounded by water! Another friendly policeman told me to walk underneath it - which I did, via the most amazing passageway into a concert hall I have ever seen. The ceiling is the glass bottom of the reflecting pool above - an incredible mixture of sunlight reflected through lapping waves -- a real fish-eye view.
Getting backstage was also took a great deal of James Bonding - finally I walked into the room as Ivan startedDaniel Kellogg's Western Skies. It look a while (and several bottles of water) to calm down from the heat, dust, crowded streets, and all of that pantomiming! After the rehearsal was a very moving ceremony about the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between this amazing and awe-inspiring country and our republic. It was a reminder of how much Western music and the NSO perform internationally in a role much greater than it appears to be on the surface. After many impressive tributes and an eloquent speech by our own diplomatic [Executive Director] Rita Shapiro there was the most incredible buffet dinner I think I have had in years - served in the Western dining room at that!
Then to the main course - the concert.
In walked all what looked to be all sorts of average citizens of Beijing. Much like the Kennedy Center, you saw people in suits, people in jeans, fancy dresses and regular street clothes.
Westerners and Easterners alike. What struck me was the number of young people - friends together and on dates, all seemingly in their early 20s. Many more than you would see at home - it was a wonderful sight.
After thunderous chiming of deep bells pealed (another reminder that we were not in Kansas, or across the river from Rosslyn) came long addresses in Mandarin. Then Nurit [Concertmaster Nurit Bar-Josef] came out looking nicely tan from outdoor activities and then our Maestro and Kellogg's new piece. The audience was very attentive - no one was reading the program book but just listening intently, and then giving the new work a well deserved ovation. Next out walked Nikolaij Znaider who gave at times a rip-roaring and at others a quietly poetic performance of the Tchaikovsky Concerto. The orchestra shimmered in the second movement and then the Cossack-stomping finale set the house on fire. There were no pro forma "bravos" or instant standing ovations, which I rather liked -- only an honest response from an audience who listened attentively and who came to this performance of Western orchestral music which is still a relatively new art form to this part of the globe following the Cultural Revolution. I looked a lot at the audience and they all made me very happy - the future of orchestral music is in good hands here in Beijing. All the more so, I thought, when I looked down my row and saw a young lady who had brought not one but two Winnie-the-Pooh bears to join her at the concert.
Out into the warm night and then a look back at that 'Egg', even more amazing in the darkness with a warm breeze and set against the night sky aglow like a fantastic space ship. In a way it is.
I can't wait for our next night's performance - I hope Winnie comes back.
- NSO Associate Conductor Emil de Cou