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Over 40 students ages 4 to 50 from the harp summer camp of the Gateway to Arts Summer Festival performed at Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing on Aug 12, ending the four-day camp.
Worth harping on about Share CLOSE Students, from ages 5 to 15, from the harp summer camp perform at the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing on July 22. [Photo provided to China Daily]
In 2011, when harpist Wang Guan launched a training program at the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, during the Gateway to Arts Summer Festival, there were only about 30 students and none of them knew anything about the musical instrument.
For Wang, who teaches at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, this was not a surprise. The musical instrument is less well-known in China, compared to other Western musical instruments, such as the piano and violin. I can still recall that along with my colleagues, we started from zero to introduce the harp. It was a challenging process but very rewarding, says Wang.
Chinese arts take center stage at summer festival By CHEN NAN | CHINA DAILY | Updated: 2021-06-30 09:38 Share CLOSE Pianist Huang Yameng and her 9-year-old daughter, Liao Mengjia, perform at the Forbidden City Concert Hall on June 18. [Photo provided to China Daily]
Having established itself as one of Beijing s biggest arts festivals for children during the summer vacation since 1995, the annual Gateway to Arts 2021 Summer Festival will take place at the Forbidden City Concert Hall starting from Sunday, and will run through Aug 31.
With 10 mini summer camps teaching children Western classical music, traditional Chinese operas and traditional Chinese musical instruments, as well as 69 live performances and 10 public lectures, the festival will run for 59 days during the summer vacation.