Past and Present, East and West Come Together at Beijing Music Festival

On the evening of Oct. 24 at the Poly Theatre, the 24th Beijing International Music Festival concluded with a concert called Tan Dun Conducts the China Philharmonic Orchestra in a Conversation with Stravinsky. This was a reciprocal reflection on the music of Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) by Tan Dun, one of China’s foremost contemporary composers, in the context of commemorating those who have passed away accompanied by a longing for the new. The program offered the audience a “conversation between the classics, between classical and modern, and furthermore, between East and West,” as Tan put it in his introduction.