On Saturday I was at a fabulous concert of Chinese music held in Trinity College Chapel as part of the extensive Cambridge Chinese Music & Culture festival, which is co-hosted by the Cambridge Qin Society, Cambridge University Chinese Orchestra Society and Cambridge Chinese Community Centre.
The concert lived up to its name, The Soul of Chinese Music, and it was a real pleasure to hear the wide variety of musical styles, played on instruments from the guqin, the ehru and the yangqin to the piano and flute, and I especially enjoyed the Guqin Ensemble’s performances.
My good friend and former councillor and mayor Dinah Pounds and her husband Adam were also there to perform, with a beautiful meditation on passing time composed by Adam also on the programme.
I was pleased to meet Wang Yun, Counselor of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the United Kingdom, and to catch up with old friends especially Wei Sun from the Chinese Community Centre who worked so hard to bring the event together.
And it was an honour to be able to speak at the beginning of the concert as the leader of the City Council and to welcome the many distinguished musicians and visitors as the first leader of the council with a Chinese heritage.
More details here. Events continue over the weekend and into next week. Read about About the guqin and other instruments.