Athens hosts Chinese music concert

Yang Jing, Chinese player of the traditional musical instrument pipa, shakes hands with Greek conductor Eleftherios Kalkanis in a concert entitled Melody from Beijing in Athens on March 20. Liu Yongqiu / Xinhua

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Two renowned virtuosos of traditional Chinese musical instruments, Zhou Wei and Yang Jing, performed with the City of Athens Symphony Orchestra in the Greek capital on Thursday evening.

The first meeting of the Chinese and Greek artists in a concert, entitled Melody from Beijing, was warmly received by a full house at the Athens Concert Hall.

Zhou, accompanied by Chinese pianist Qu Dawei, introduced Greeks to the magic of erhu (two-stringed fiddle) performing works such as The Grapes Are Ripe, while Yang won applause for her performance of pipa (four-stringed plucked instrument) solos such as The Swan.

The two artists also performed other famous Chinese music pieces, including Moonlight on the Pond and Nostalgic Dreams of Beijing.

The event, organized by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development in cooperation with the Athens city government and the Chinese embassy in Greece, included traditional and modern Chinese music as well as transcriptions of famous Western works.

The artists from China and Greece created a bridge which for two hours connected Athens to Beijing, showing the Greek audience classic and modern aspects of China.

Thursday's concert was the first in a series of cultural events planned to bring the two peoples closer, organizers say.