Music Bridge

(The Hartford Chorale has taken pride in the fact that it has remained profitable throughout the 28 years since its establishment in 1972. The New York Choral has earned a well-deserved reputation as New York’s leading non-professional choir. The two choirs gave exciting performances recently in Beijing, an event that was described by the choirs’ conductor as “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity”. Our reporter Shen Ting met with the choirs and found out more about their Beijing trip in Cultural Carousel. )

On the evening of July 14, a Chinese audience was treated to a high-quality choral performance from across the Pacific Ocean. The performance was presented in collaboration with the Hartford Chorale and the New York Choral Society, both from the United States.

The Hartford Chorale was founded in 1972, and its singers come from a diverse range of occupational backgrounds. The Chorale’s Musical Director is Henley Denmead, who has held that position since the group’s establishment.

The New York Choral Society, founded in 1958, has earned a reputation as New York’s leading symphonic chorus. It has become known by audiences and critics alike for the quality of its performances and the diversity of its repertoire, which encompasses popular choral masterworks as well as many compositions rarely heard in concert halls today. Its Musical Director, John Daly Goodwin, is now in his fourteenth season in the New York Choral Society.

This was the first time for both the choral groups to come to China. For most of the singers, this musical visit to China was a unique experience.

Vincent Careri is from New York Choral Society. He has been looking forward to the trip to China for a number of years.

“The ancient Chinese culture has always been a major excitement for me. And for me actually to be here and see all the wonderful accomplishment of the Chinese people is just... I can’t explain it ‘cause I’m so excited.”

The singers were also afforded a glimpse at China’s rich cultural heritage during their trip. The music director of Hartford Chorale, Henley Denmead, was particularly impressed:

“We were just thrilled to attend a performance of Peking Opera. It was absolutely stunning. I mean I was drawn in to the costuming and the intricate way that the characters moved and the acrobatics involved in the opera. ...All of our people were really so glad that we had the opportunity to see and hear this. “

Like Mr. Denmead, the majority of the singers were fascinated by the glorious culture and civilization of China, having anticipated their visit for such a long time. But none of them could have had a stronger desire to visit China than John Daly Goodwin, the Musical Director of the New York Choral Society. He told us that his family has had strong connections with China since the 19th century.

In 1882, his great-grandfather came to China and worked as a physician here for thirty years. Six years after his great grandfather’s arrival in China, Mr. Goodwin’s great-grandmother-to-be also came to China. Not having previously known each other, the two met in China and soon got married. They also later raised their family here in China. One of their children was Mr. Goodwin’s grandfather, who was born in Ningbo in southeast China’s Zhejiang Province and lived there until he was twelve years old.

There is little doubt that Mr. Goodwin has been greatly influenced by his grandfather. Now Mr. Goodwin is in China himself. Have his first-hand experiences changed his impressions of the country?

“I thought that I was prepared for the openness, the warmth and the friendliness that I would experience from the people in China, based on what my grandfather had said on his trip. But it was greater than I had ever anticipated. I think the Chinese people are among the friendliest people I have met in all my travels and I’ve traveled to many, many places. They are also very interested in America, which makes me very happy. They are interested to know about my life in America just the way I am interested to know about their life in China.”

This great mutual curiosity that exists between the Chinese and American people reflects, in a sense, the lack of communication between these two countries. This has certainly been a concern both of Mr. Goodwin and of his grandfather. Finally, John Daly Goodwin, the fourth generation of this family who has had a strong connection with China, has got the opportunity to experience in person improvements in relationships between the two countries. He believes that nothing is more effective than music in promoting friendship and mutual understanding.

“I do think that music is a perfect way to bring people together even if they can’t speak the same language. It is a language that all people can understand.”

Like many other foreign performing groups visiting China, the chorus presented a Chinese song called “Ocean, My Hometown” to the audience as the finale to their show. Mr. Henley Denmead, the conductor for the performance, says that he really likes the song and the members of his choir made a great effort to master the lyrics.

“It’s such a beautiful piece. Our people have been really taken with beauty of the melody and the harmony and the words. I’m quite taken with the melody, and I love the words because I have the love for an attachment to the sea. I was raised in a community that was really almost surrounded by water, rivers, and near the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of the United States. We had English equivalent sounds, as much as we could, written in the singers’ part so they could master the pronunciation... But we’ve been complimented on our pronunciation and mastery of the language.”

Mr. Denmead rates his trip to China as one of the greatest experiences in his life to date. He feels that the cultural insights that he has received while on the tour, as well as the appreciation shown for the choirs’ work, made the visit extremely gratifying. Mr. Goodwin is also overjoyed by this tour to China, since he can now proudly acclaim that he has inherited a tradition handed down through the generations of his family.

In fact, it seems that every one of the performers who came to China has fulfilled a personal dream of theirs, helped by the bridge of music that has succeeded in spanning the physical and cultural ocean that exists between China and America.