Online concert healing hearts and fighting the epidemic with musical notes
On April 1, young musicians and foreign students from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music presented a concert called "We Are the World: Healing Together, Go Shanghai" with different styles of music and songs like "I Love You, China" and "We are the World" performed. The performers used music to convey their love and confidence, and express their determination to overcome the epidemic together.
Under the co-guidance of the Shanghai Women's Federation and the Shanghai People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, sponsored by the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and the Shanghai Model Women's Association, the concert was co-organized by the International Education Division and the Department of Modern Instrumental Music and Percussion of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.
The concert opened with a jazz piece titled "Reunion", presenting the audience a vista of the post-pandemic future and their long-awaited reunion with family and friends.
Vibraphone Solo “Blues for Gilbert”
For one hour, performers demonstrated programs of different styles with the same excitement: Jazz piece "The Girl from Ipanema", Bayan Duet "The Train Heading for Shaoshan", Brahm’s four-handed (two pianists) piano work "Hungarian Dances No.5", and Vibraphone Solo “Blues for Gilbert”. The audience was delighted with the high-quality "musical feast".
The concert came to a close with a chorus of "We are the World" by the Voice of the World Choir of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.
Justin, a foreign friend in Shanghai, watched the concert with his daughter
Narantsatsral Khongorzul, a Mongolian student from Fudan University, watched the online concert
More than 20,000 people watched the concert online, and over 4,000 people left comments, making it one of the warmest and most touching online concerts during the current situation of COVID-19 in Shanghai, which helped to heal many people."That’s quite a lot of viewers. Not bad for a concert during the lunch hour on a Friday!" said Justin O'Jack, chief representative of the University of Virginia China Office, who has been a year-round resident in Shanghai since 2003. Tadashi Fukushima, music lover and director & CEO of Mitsubishi Electric Air-conditioning＆Visual Information Systems (Shanghai) Ltd., said he was very fortunate to hear such a wonderful concert online at this difficult time. Narantsatsral Khongorzul, a Mongolian student from Fudan University, said,"I hope that after listening to this online concert, which conveys the power of fighting the epidemic, we can draw the powerful force of ‘together to the future’.”
It is worth mentioning that when the chorus "We are the World" was performed in the finale of the concert, it made many netizens cry and feel the "peace and strength in the midst of uncertainty" at the same time.
"‘We are the World’ gave me a lot of courage, and also made me feel the power of unity," said Takashi Nishimura, president of Asahi Beer (China) Investment Company.
"I had tears in my eyes while listening to the song 'We are the World'," Yeseul Jeon, a Korean student who is a member of the Fudan University String Orchestra, said with deep feelings when talking about the concert.
The Voice of the World Choir of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, which performed "We are the World", is a multicultural choir composed of Chinese and international students from various countries. By editing the audios and videos recorded by its members in different parts of the world, the choir performed a choral performance across space and time.
“In this video, we are from 13 different countries. This is our message of love, unity and solidarity, and this is the voice of the world," said Montealegre Carvajal Edwin Roberto from Costa Rica. He is also the director and conductor of the Voice of the World Choir.“Seeing the reaction of people listening to concert, I think people have appreciated it," he said.