Conclusions classical

Conclusions classical

  1. While some interesting results in Beijing toward a more global outlook in music have been seen in the last decade, much of the potential for meaningful collaboration remains untapped, largely because of a reliance on Chinese official structures. No matter how much effort is put into bringing an ‘international standard’ of quality, repertoire and genre to bear on the city's conventions, it will remain only partially effective if reinforcing exclusively the institutions already in place.
  2. Upon close consideration, the last decade's events of overhauling orchestras, inviting top-class musicians to festivals, and establishing projects inside of the conservatories show themselves as not new ventures per se, but as hybrids. That is, international vision crossed with the hyperrealism of pre-existing structures.
  3. Even the more forward-thinking enterprises have been inclined to import, imitate, or reflect rather than revaluate, interpret, or establish new directions of classical music. They remain largely subject to the same financial, organizational, and policy forces that have already governed the field. However, the potential for establishing an audience base has gone largely ignored.
  4. Most significant is the issue of local, grassroots activity. Overlooked so far, such low-budget activity (tapping into the reservoirs of talented musicians, interested audience, and sensitive public relations) could make the biggest single difference in the near future if attention were steered toward its remarkable potential. In China, there are few intermediate bodies exploring development options as in European countries.
  5. As Beijing's economy develops, it also widens a divide of top and bottom. Classical music naturally exists somewhere in the middle. By encouraging audience of all types and also wholly independent projects of performance, education, and structure-building through open minded individuals and their international counterparts, it can easily expand to fill that gap.
  6. Large institutions in China still prevail. In recent years, these have all undergone some level of reform such as taking steps toward more fiscal attentiveness or a more international focus. The savviest or the best funded have been able to spin off into semi-private entities or create special focus events like festivals drawing occasional media attention. Only very recently have independent initiatives begun to make their presence felt, mostly in contemporary and experimental genres.
  7. Education is highly centralized (limited to but a handful of schools), extremely competitive, and a critical ticket toward future employment for most. It is also an emerging market, especially at the primary and secondary levels. It should be stressed that music conservatories in China are more than just education centres. They are also crucial seats of influence on official circles, more closely tied to musical organizations than in most other countries.
  8. Classical music in China seems to be guaranteed an expanded future and a widening market. As the undisputed nexus of this activity, Beijing is destined a central role in establishing in which direction it will all decide to go. Because of its global identity crisis as an art still fixated on the past, and because of a reliance on large traditional structures, classical music in Beijing has yet to be established as a vibrant, diverse municipal scene. But given the swelling numbers in the middle-class, and a population traditionally sympathetic to the arts, there is much that can be done to expand the market.