Music festival in Germany links children 'heart to heart'

Children who are fans of German music masters such as Ludwig van Beethoven, Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn are enjoying the chance to experience the allure of classical music and showcase their own talents at an international arts and culture festival for teenagers in Freudenstadt, in Germany's Black Forest.

The festival, also known as the Black Forest Arts and Cultural Festival, started on Saturday as a prelude to the communication year between German and Chinese teenagers in 2016, according to Shi Dongqing, a Chinese representative of the festival's organizing committee.

Several dozen young Chinese people are participating in the two-week event jointly hosted by Deument Co and the Freudenstadt city government.

At the festival, Chinese and German teenagers will play various musical instruments, including the piano, cello and hulusi, a wind instrument from China, Shi said.

German teenagers will teach Chinese peers local dances, while the Chinese students will perform kung fu and demonstrate calligraphy to help promote Chinese traditional culture.

The arts and culture event has been held four times in Freudenstadt since it was launched in August 2012, with an aim to provide an artistic platform for talented young people but not professionals.

Shi said the festival aims to promote cultural, educational and scientific communication among Chinese, German and European teenagers as Chinese participants will also visit some other European countries during the event.

Shi Yan, manager of Deument, said the festival filled Freudenstadt with vitality and local teenagers no longer had any prejudices or stereotypes about Chinese peers.

They have made close friends with each other instead, he said.

Shi Dongqing said local culture in Freudenstadt also had an impact on the Chinese teenagers.

At first, the young Chinese visitors avoided local residents who greeted them, as they were not used to speaking to strangers, but later they found it was polite to greet others in Freudenstadt and started to greet the locals, she said.

She said the Chinese teenagers also learned how to protect the environment as they found local residents reduced their household waste, recycled textbooks and cleaned used bottles before throwing them away.

This summer's festival also includes some classes for the Chinese students, including western manners, artistic guidance, local art experiences and outdoor sports activities.

The students will visit local schools, youth clubs and art organizations to interact with German students.

Premier Li Keqiang and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed that 2016 would be a communication year between Chinese and German teenagers when they met in Berlin in October last year.

"The arts and culture festival in the Black Forest will play a major role in the Sino-German youth communication and exchange year," said Shi Dongqing.

The festival organizing committee next year will invite art troupes from Chinese schools to perform in Germany and communicate with German art troupes.

The Chinese teenagers are visiting other places during this summer's festival, including Neuschwanstein Castle; Deutsches Museum, the world's largest scientific and technological museum; the Mercedes-Benz Museum; and Lego Park in Germany.

In Europe they visited Strasbourg, France, where several European organizations including the Council of Europe are based, and they are going to Salzburg, Austria, the birthplace of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Beijing Dahua Guoyun Culture Media Co has helped the festival organizing committee select more than 200 Chinese teenagers from art performance competitions to join in the festival over the years.

Some teenagers from Turkey and Brazil also joined in this summer's event, according to Shi Dongqing.

The Black Forest, a forested mountain range in southwestern Germany, is known for its cuckoo clocks, Black Forest gateau, fresh air and picturesque environment.

Many stories from Grimms' Fairy Tales, including Snow White and Little Red Riding Hood, were based in the region.

Freudenstadt is a small ancient city with beautiful scenery in the northern part of the Black Forest, said Shi Yan.

Several artists from around the world, including Chinese pianists Li Yundi and Lang Lang, have hosted concerts in the city.

The festival's organizing committee and government officials from Freudenstadt will join some German teenagers to visit Beijing and perform with local youths in September to further experience Chinese culture, said Shi Dongqing.

songmengxing@chinadaily.com.cn

Clockwise from top: Rainer Nehr (right), music director of the Black Forest Arts and Cultural Festival, presents his attempt at calligraphy to a student representative and Shi Dongqing, Chinese representative of the festival's organizing committee, in February this year. Students from Beijing Wuyi Primary School visit a glass-making factory in Freudenstadt in August 2013. Yang Jiaxin, from Beijing Haidian Foreign Language School, exchanges gifts with her peers in Freudenstadt last August. From right to left: Rainer Nehr, music director of the festival; Michael Krause, director of the Tourism Department in Freudenstadt; and Shi Yan, manager of Deument. Photos provided to China Daily

(China Daily 07/24/2015 page12)