“520 Love Expression Day” – IUEStings and Guotai Art Center Celebrate Love in Chongqing Through Music

On the evening of May 20, 2018, the Guotai Art Center Concert Hall came alive for “520 Love Expression Day” with the opening piano solo of Mozart’s Piano Sonata in C Major, First Movement, kicking off the 2018 Guotai Art Center • IUEStings • Chasing Dreams Early Summer 520 Concert. Hosted by Chongqing Guotai Art Center Management Company and Chongqing IUEStings Cultural Communication Group, the concert drew hundreds of Chongqing residents, including a family from Guizhou who traveled with their two children specifically to attend.

Music brings freedom and strength, and if any art comes closest to the divine, it is poetry and music. This year, 33 beloved classical pieces were performed by talented young musicians aged 4 to 13. Solo and ensemble performances on piano, violin, cello, and clarinet spanned Chinese-inspired works such as The North Wind Blows and The Horse Song, Gabriel Faure’s Après un Rêve, Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, and the iconic Radetzky March. With sincerity, finesse, and youthful energy, the young performers transported the audience as if enjoying a serenade on a gentle evening in Naples’ Santa Lucia.

The concert was artistically directed by Professor Wang Hong, a member of the Chinese Musicians Association, Honorary Professor at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Leader of the Chongqing Youth Symphony Orchestra, and Chair of the Performance Department at Southwest University’s Music School. Under Professor Wang’s guidance, the Chongqing Xinmu Cello Orchestra delivered a breathtaking finale, performing the 007 James Bond Theme, Ravel’s Pavane, Piazzolla’s Libertango, the theme from Over the Rainbow, and Shostakovich’s Waltz No. 2, leaving the audience spellbound.

Throughout the concert, the young musicians expressed their love for Chongqing with lively keystrokes and tenderly plucked strings. The music alternated between grand and majestic, elegant and lyrical, each piece a heartfelt tribute to the mountain city.

As Mendelssohn said, “True music can pour a thousand kinds of beauty into our hearts, surpassing all language.” That night’s performances will remain a treasured memory for the young musicians, and music will surely accompany them as a source of strength and inspiration throughout their lives.