Silk Road symphony to debut to capital audience

On Friday evening, the symphony Silk Road Across Hanhai (Endless Desert) will make its debut at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing.

The symphony was created by brothers Zheng Junsheng and Zheng Junli and commissioned by the government of Hami city in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Led by famous young conductor Li Haoran and performed by the Beijing Symphony Orchestra, "the symphony aims to use the language of music to tell the story of Xinjiang within the grand context of the Belt and Road Initiative", Hu Dongming, vice-mayor of Hami city, said at a news conference on Wednesday in Beijing.

Hami is located at the eastern gateway of Xinjiang on the Silk Road Economic Belt and is surrounded by the Gobi Desert. It boasts a profound historical and cultural heritage, making it a hub of "hanhai culture", Hu said.

The roughly 70-minute symphony is presented in a suite format, consisting of five movements with a total of 15 musical pieces, said Zheng Junsheng. The composer said the first movement uses deep brass and string instruments to slowly depict the solitude of the desert and the rhythmic pulse of life, guiding the audience through history to revisit the legendary and vibrant land of hanhai.

The second movement portrays the fantastical landscapes and cultural splendor of the desert in Hami, "showcasing the vastness of hanhai and humanity's resilience and pursuit in the face of nature".

The third movement tries to showcase the brilliance and cultural fusion of the Silk Road, while the fourth depicts the modern hanhai landscape and vitality, extolling the spirit of the Silk Road from ancient times to the present, narrating humanity's pursuit of light and the collective dream of shaping the future.

The final movement portrays the grand vision of the Silk Road connecting the world and building a community of shared destiny through majestic music.

During the performance, the Hami government will set up a "Meet Hami" cultural market and photo exhibition outside the National Centre for the Performing Arts, fully showcasing Hami's diverse historical culture and rich tourism resources.

"With the strong support of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, the National Centre for the Performing Arts and the Beijing Symphony Orchestra, the concert and promotion in this world-class arts venue will help showcase Hami's unique charm as an important node on the ancient Silk Road," Hu said.

It will help vividly display Xinjiang's image, stimulate artistic creation related to Xinjiang, tap into the cultural resources of the region and boost the local tourism industry, he added.

Hami, the only prefecture in Xinjiang that spans the Tianshan Mountains and neighboring Gansu province to the east, has been known as the "gateway to the western regions" since ancient times. The region boasts unique and diverse natural landscapes, with oases dotting the Gobi Desert to the south of the eastern Tianshan Mountains, and forests and grasslands sprawling across the northern slope of the mountain range.

The Hami Pterosaur-Yardang National Geopark, located on the ancient Silk Road, is one of the world's largest and most spectacular Yardang landform groupings, with the largest concentration of pterosaur fossils.

Last year, Hami received nearly 15 percent more tourists than in 2023, achieving tourism revenue of 13.2 billion yuan ($1.83 billion).

Hami city is striving to transform itself into a cultural hub, with original works continuously emerging. The large-scale fusion stage drama Zuo Gong Liu, a 2024 National Art Fund-supported project, is also scheduled to be performed in Beijing in the near future.

chenliang@chinadaily.com.cn