Symphony Concert to Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of GDUFS was Held

On the evening of November 6th, a highly appealing concert was given at the Yunshan Hall with GDUFS Student Orchestra and alumni playing wonderful pieces to commemorate the 50th anniversary. Among the attendees were Vice President, LIU HaiChun; Deputy Party Secretary of GDUFS, LU JingHui; former Deputy Party Secretary of GDUFS, CHEN JianPing; Minister of Publicity Division, HU WenTao, and Deputy Secretary of Youth League, SU Yi.

The concert started with Georges Bizet’s Carmen Overture, which created a lively atmosphere with the combination in abundance of striking melody, deft harmony and perfectly judged orchestration.

The seed of a memory

Music itself is a seed of a memory, which represents the art and history of human beings. During the concert, CHU Juguang conducted some of the most familiar and famous works ever written, such as William Tell March, March Slave, Carnival of The Animals, Hungarian Dance No.5, and so on. Each note was balanced, to suit the audiences’ mood.

Furthermore, music plants the seed of a memory in people’s mind. The stories of Chinese struggling for freedom and fighting for independence were retold by Male Solo My Motherland, I Love You Deeply, Piano Concerto Ode to the Yellow River and Defend the Yellow River and the Orchestral music Overture of Red Detachment of Women. Hopefully next time when those who attended the concert hear those masterpieces again, they will recall an unforgettable night shared with GDUFS and wonder whether the walls of GDUFS still keep the wonderful sound that it had once absorbed.

CHU Juguang conducting the Student Orchestra

The purer poetry

With the pianist TANG Zhenhua dressed in black and a piano under a spotlight, a pleasant melody flowed into audiences’ ears. The alumnus, once a postgraduate of King’s College London, was talented enough to give many concerts in London and Guangzhou. During his performance, the improvisation based on the ancient Chinese poem Moonlit Night on the Spring River invited everyone in Yunshan Hall to an imaginary riverside where the mellow sound of a flowing river and a night sky full of bright stars appeared as if by magic!

“A hundred leagues locked in ice, a thousand leagues of whirling snow...” the Retired Teacher Choir sang out Mao Zedong’s Snow (The tune of Chin Yuan Chun) with thrilling voices, telling the lofty will and spirit of a great man. The chorus linked expressive melody, old people’s young mind to the popular poem, revealing a plausible fact that music is purer poetry than a poem in words.

Tang Zhenhua playing the piano

The illusion of melody

When the Student Orchestra was playing exotic tunes, it seemed that all kinds of colors, sounds and smells mingled on the stage all of a sudden, which enabled the audience to escape from reality for a while: the counterpoint and fugue contained in Mazurkas seduced the eagerness to dance without a break just like a crazy Polish young couple; the timpani and cymbals of Thunder and Lighting Polka beat out a heart-shaking rhythm as if everything was at stake in the clash between the force between lighting and darkness; the excitement of a wedding wild with joy could be sensed when the Orchestral Farandole provided an authentic French flavor.

A group photo

With the University Anthem Phoenix Singing over Lingnan resounding in the hall, the concert came to an end. However, the music will still exist in the murmuring of the Xiangsi River, in the soft rustling of leaves, in every GDUFSer’s heart.