The Well-Tempered Ear

How popular is Western classical music in China?

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By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear has written before about how Western classical music continues to expand its hold on Asia, especially in China and South Korea but also in Japan and other countries.

The observation has usually been within the context of the amazing amount of music students, contestants and winners of international music competitions — especially in piano competitions but also in string, voice and chamber music competitions — and in the training that homes, conservatories and music schools in Asia are providing.

It is all the more admirable in a country where, during Mao’s Cultural Revolution, playing or listening to Beethoven could land you in prison or get you executed.

Here is an older post:

Take a look at the picture below.

This is no rock concert drawing what looks like an audience big enough to fill a sports arena or stadium.

This is an open-air classical concert that is held as part of festival, now 12 years old, in Shanghai. This year the festival has featured the music Tchaikovsky and Puccini and will end on Sunday.

You have to make allowances for the same kind of boosterism that arts writing often exhibits in the U.S. But here is the full story with lots of details about programs and performers on the media website of China Daily:

https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202405/31/WS665977daa31082fc043ca429.html

The Ear suspects only the BBC Proms — billed as the biggest classical music event in the world and held every summer in Great Britain — can compete.

Can anyone name an American or European classical event that draws such a crowd?

Has anyone heard Western classical music performed in China by Chinese artists? What did you think?

The Ear wants to hear.