Poetic spirit

Composer Shi Fuhong is set to showcase five chamber music works at the Central Conservatory of Music, where she first studied and now teaches. Chen Nan reports.

Chinese composer Shi Fuhong's work, The Mountain Spirit, will make its debut in Padova, Italy, on March 8. During the concert, which is to celebrate International Women's Day, the piece will be performed by one of the most popular Italian chamber orchestras, I Solisti Veneti, under the baton of conductor and orchestra founder, maestro Claudio Scimone.

Shi's work, The Mountain Spirit, stood out among hundreds of works shortlisted by the Adkins Chiti Foundation, a nonprofit organization which was founded in 1978 and is dedicated to supporting young composers worldwide.

The concert will also premiere five other works by female composers from countries including the United States, Italy, Greece and Australia.

The Mountain Spirit, written for mandolin and string orchestra, was inspired by the poetry anthology, Nine Songs, by Qu Yuan, a famous Chinese poet and minister who lived during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC). The poem of The Mountain Spirit follows the monologue of a female spirit living in the mountains, who is pure, simple and loyal to her love.

"The work is dedicated to women and it also attempts to symbolize that waiting is an eternal theme for people," says Shi, 42, during an interview in Beijing.

The upcoming performance of Shi's The Mountain Spirit is based on her work of the same name first written for Canadian soprano Shannon Mercer and the Soundstreams Chamber Orchestra in 2012.

On March 23, the composer will showcase five of her chamber music works, performed on both Chinese and Western instruments, at a recital to be held at the concert hall of Beijing's Central Conservatory of Music.