An Anticipated Violin Performance in Beijing

2017-10-16

Chinese musician Gao Can will soon play a 400-year-old violin used to premiere Beethoven's work. Chen Nan reports.

In 1617, the Amatis, a celebrated Italian family of violin makers, crafted a violin, which was later owned by the noble Lobkowicz family.

The Czech family was a patron of Ludwig van Beethoven at the prime of his career. When the composer's String Quartets, Op 18 was published in 1810, the violin was used for the composition's premiere.

Four centuries later at an upcoming concert at the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, Chinese violinist Gao Can will play the same violin, which has been loaned to him by the Stradivari Society in Chicago. The private US organization, which buys rare violins and loans them to promising young musicians, had selected Gao for this purpose back in 2011.

"I am grateful and honored that the Stradivari Society has granted me the long-term use of the violin. About a year ago, I decided to play this antique violin to celebrate its 400-year-old history," says Gao, 36.

He played the violin while making his debut at the Berliner Philharmonie in May, playing pieces that included the Violin Sonata in A Major by Cesar Franck, and Violin Sonata No 7 in C Minor by Beethoven.

He played the violin again with the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, marking the orchestra's 60th anniversary, in Guangzhou in September.

"Playing this particular instrument has opened up many more ways for me to express myself as a musician. It's also like I am traveling back in time," says Gao, adding that he wants to share its sounds with the audience.

During his upcoming recital, Gao will play programs, including Cesar Franck's Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Major, Bach's D-minor Chaconne for Violin, Spanish composer Pablo de Sarasate's Gypsy Air and Franz Waxman's Carmen Fantasie. He will also play pieces by Chinese composers, including Qin Yongcheng's Hai Bin Yin Shi (Poem by the Seashore).

"I tried to make this recital's lineup as varied as possible because I want to show the versatile sound of the violin," says Gao, who has invited Hong Kong pianist Cheng Wai to join his recital.

Born in Chongqing, Gao started studying the violin at age 4, introduced to him by his musician father. He came to Beijing to study at the affiliated school of the Central Conservatory of Music in 1992.

"As a child, I didn't like playing the violin. Instead, I enjoyed listening to other musicians' performances," recalls Gao.

"I had a Walkman (portable player) and listened to music on it every day. By middle school I felt that the great violinists I was listening to then took us beyond music with their work-it was about the experiences they had gained in their lives."

He says "being a great soloist" then became his dream.

Unlike some other child prodigies who had won top national prizes early, Gao didn't win his first prize until he was 25 years old when he won the gold medal at the National Violin Competition in 2006.

Two years later, while studying at the Central Conservatory of Music, Gao went to the College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati as a visiting scholar and taught there until 2012.

In 2007, he became the youngest associate professor at the Central Conservatory of Music and has been teaching there ever since.

The violinist has collaborated with international orchestras, including the Houston Symphony Orchestra, Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra and China National Symphony Orchestra.

He has also performed at major international events, such as the Verbier Festival, where he served as the concertmaster for the Verbier Festival Orchestra, as well as at Germany's Beethoven Festival.

The late German conductor Kurt Masur once said: "Gao has established himself as a consummate artist."

Gao gives about 50 performances a year and teaches both children and young adults at the Central Conservatory of Music.

"Playing onstage enables me to gain rich experience as a soloist, which benefits my identity as a music teacher as well. I believe in the power of role models. Students will be influenced by their teachers' performances," he says.

Other than the violin, Gao majored in composition while studying at the Beijing conservatory.

"I haven't written a piece for violin yet. I am too familiar with the instrument to compose for it. I also believe that rich life experience will provide more of a perspective for my music. Maybe, I will fulfill my dream of composing in my 50s," he says.

Contact the writer at chennan@chinadaily.com.cn

If you go

7:30 pm, Thursday. Forbidden City Concert Hall, Zhongshan Park, west of Tian'anmen Square, Xicheng district, Beijing. 010-6559-8285.

China Daily