Boost for young musicians

Jiang Yicheng performs at the gala concert in Beijing. [Photo by Zou Hong/China Daily]

The China Youth Music Competition, launched in 2015, is based on the German Music Council's renowned Jugend Musiziert, the most well-known music competition for young performers in Germany, started in 1963.

At the concert gala, young German musicians, who were winners at this year's Jugend Musiziert youth competition, shared the stage with young Chinese musicians.

Munich-based pianist Clara Isabella Siegle, 17, played Johann Sebastian Bach's Flute Sonata in B Minor, BWV 1030, along with Chinese flutist Dong Danlin.

Speaking about her performance, Siegle says: "It was a spontaneous performance. Dong was supposed to perform with another pianist, who couldn't come, so I just stepped in. We did a rehearsal this morning. This is my first time in China and it's really exciting and fun to do this."

According to Zhang Yong, the founder of the China Youth Music Competition, eight winners at the 2017 China Youth Music Competition did a weeklong training and performance tour of Germany in September.

There, they joined the winners of the Jugend Musiziert to take part in four days of master classes in Bonn.

The young musicians from both countries then attended three concerts－one at the Chinese embassy in Bonn, the second at Beethoven House also in Bonn, and one at the city hall in Bad Honnef.

"The competition aims to promote amateur music education, so applicants should not be in full-time music training institutes or professional practice," Zhang says, adding that the China edition of the contest required applicants not to be older than 23.