A concert titled “East-West Dialogue: Spring Sequence of New Sounds” was held on Sunday at London’s Royal Academy of Music to celebrate Spring Festival.
The event was produced by the Sino-British Ensemble, an instrumental and vocal ensemble consisting of artists from China and Europe, and co-organized by the Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding, or SACU, and the UK Beijing Arts Group.
China’s Ambassador to the UK Zheng Zeguang, and his wife, Counsellor Hua Mei, attended the event on invitation.
The program featured a series of performances specially designed as dialogues, where musicians presented new arrangements of classical compositions from both the East and West.
Notably, Chinese pianist Li Jinfeng and British pianist Julian Jacobson performed a piano duo featuring the Yellow River Piano Concerto, a Chinese composition symbolizing the resilience and fighting spirit of the Chinese people, alongside Vltava, one of the six movements from the Czech symphonic poem Ma vlast, also known as My Fatherland.
Both pieces reflect an artistic response to rivers, yet each conveys a unique sentiment shaped by the historical context of its composition.
The president of Society for Anglo-China Understanding, Michael Wood said musical dialogue between China and the West dates back to the 17th century, when Italian missionary Matteo Ricci arrived in China and presented the emperor with a clavichord, a stringed keyboard instrument unknown to the Chinese.
Wood described this exchange as “the moment in which there was a spark of change”, noting that the “fascinating backstory” of musical exchange continues to this day.
2025 marks the Chinese Year of the Snake, coinciding with 1965 — the year SACU was founded to promote friendship between the British and Chinese people — which was also the Year of the Snake.
“Through such a concert, I hope we all see the possibilities that emerge when different cultures engage in exchange and mutual learning,” he said. “That is SACU’s mission, too, to promote better understanding between the UK and China, at this awkward time in international relations. And music, as always, is the universal language breaking down the barriers.”
Guo Xinyi, founder of the Sino-British Ensemble, expressed her hope that the concert would help strengthen bonds between people of diverse backgrounds and promote exchange between Eastern and Western civilizations.
