Violinist hits perfect note with Carnegie ovation

Audience rises to applaud musician's talent and pride in Chinese music, Chen Nan reports.

When violinist Lao Li had her concert at Carnegie Hall, New York, on July 6, she was so touched that a Chinese piece, Violin Concerto No 1, by the acclaimed composer Zhao Jiping, was met with a standing ovation.

It was performed during the second half of the concert. After Lao finished the last note, she realized that the audience was standing, cheering and applauding.

"I was so overwhelmed and touched that the audience would react so warmly to a Chinese composition," recalls Lao, who left the stage after bowing three times. Along with pianist An Tianxu, she returned to the stage and played Saint-Saens' Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, which was the last piece on the program. After the audience's enthusiastic applause, the concert ended after encores of two pieces by Lao and An, and took five curtain calls.

Violin Concerto No 1 by Zhao was commissioned by the National Centre for the Performing Arts in 2017.The concerto expresses and describes the generosity and kindness toward humankind.

Last year, the composer contacted Lao, hoping she would play the piece and give it a female perspective and a new energy. Lao spent a month learning the music piece and performed it for the first time along with the Guiyang Symphony Orchestra under the baton of conductor Zhang Guoyong during a concert tour in August 2022 in Zhao's hometown, Xi'an, Shaanxi province.

"I felt very connected to Zhao's Violin Concerto No 1, which is very warm and conveys universal love," says Lao. "I would always like to introduce more Chinese compositions to Western audiences and Zhao's Violin Concerto No 1 came to mind instantly when I prepared for the concert at Carnegie Hall."

According to Lao, she planned to give the concert at Carnegie Hall in the summer of 2020, but it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first half of the concert, she played classical Western music, such as Chopin's Nocturne in C Minor, Tchaikovsky's Melodie, and Schumann's Sonata No 1 for Violin and Piano. In the second half of the concert, she presented Chinese music.

During her concert, Lao premiered a popular Peking Opera song, called Li Hua Song, or Ode to Pear Flowers, for the first time presenting through the violin rather than voice. The song, composed by Yang Nailin, rearranged by Xia Liang, was from Peking Opera production, The Royal Consort of Tang, which is about the legendary royal concubine Yang Yuhuan of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and her tragic love affair with Emperor Li Longji. In 1925, Peking Opera master Mei Lanfang (1894-1961) premiered the Peking Opera piece by playing the role of Yang.

Lao is very fond of Peking Opera and decided to premiere the song as a violin piece.