"Sharing Ideas in Music Theory: A Continuing Colloquy" kicks off in Beijing

Wang Liguang, Chairman of Global Music Education League and President of China Conservatory of Music, delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of “Sharing Ideas in Music Theory: A Continuing Colloquy” at China Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China, on March 17. (Photo provided by China Conservatory of Music)

BEIJING, March 19 (Guangming Online)—“I hope that we can achieve mutual benefits and common progress via in-depth exchanges on advanced teaching methods and achievements as well as each country’s fine musical traditions at this event so as to build a better music theory together,” said Wang Liguang, Chairman of Global Music Education League and President of China Conservatory of Music, at the opening ceremony of “Sharing Ideas in Music Theory: A Continuing Colloquy” at China Conservatory of Music in Beijing on March 17.

Following the “Global Leadership Network on Higher Music Education” and the establishment of “Global Music Education League” last September, this event, launched by Professor Wang Liguang and organized by Ren Jinping, Director of Composition Department of China Conservatory of Music, is another major international exchange activity highlighting teaching practice and academic research in music field as well as a major move aimed at facilitating cooperation in global music education taken by the college, which serves as the headquarters of the Global Music Education League, and at the same time the league chairman’s home school.

Severine Neff, Eugene Falk Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said that it is her great honor to attend such an authoritative music event featuring outstanding global scholars of music theory, and that she is very excited to share her academic views with Chinese musicians and scholars. Speaking of Chinese traditional music, she said it has already attracted international music theory scholars’ attention, and she looks forward to the two concerts by China Conservatory of Music during the event.

Gerold Gruber, head of exil.arte and professor at the Institute for Musicology of the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, Austria, also said that he is privileged to attend this historic international music event. He said that “Music as Witness: A Concert of the Exiled Western Teachers and Their Chinese Students”, jointly planed by China Conservatory of Music and exil.arte of the Institute for Musicology of the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, will witness the exchange and cooperation on music between China and Austria.

Ren Jinping, Director of Composition Department of China Conservatory of Music, pointed out that this event, aiming at deliberating on and addressing theoretical problems in the course reform of music composition techniques and theories, is a significant part of corresponding reforms at China Conservatory of Music.

Experts and scholars from the United States, Germany, Austria, Finland, Israel, Australia and China will discuss and exchange views on teaching, inheritance and development of 21st century music composition techniques and theories as well as their application in different musical cultures at the five-day gathering.

In 2018, starting with this exchange season, China Conservatory of Music will establish partnerships of strategic cooperation with members of the Global Music Education League and other Chinese and foreign music colleges so as to complement each other’s advantages, conduct international collaboration of various forms and themes, formulate “3+1” and “2+2”joint training programs and promote mutual recognition of academic credentials, explore scientific models of higher music personnel training in the age of globalization, and speed up the construction of world-class disciplines.