Concert featuring new compositions by Wang Ying and Zhao Yiran

Organizer: KlangForum (external link), Confucius Institute (external link) at Heidelberg University & the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (State Academy of Baden-Württemberg) 

November 23 and 24, 2024

The concert is taking place as part of the “Freedom” Year of Science, sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, and as part of the “PERSPEKTIVE: FREEDOM” organized by the Union of German Academies of Sciences and Humanities. The Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (State Academy of Baden-Württemberg), in collaboration with member Prof. Dr. Barbara Mittler, is organizing a series of events under the title “From the Will to Freedom—China in a Global Context.” The concert is a collaboration between the Klangforum Heidelberg, Heidelberg University, its Confucius Institute, and the Heidelberg Academy.

The two composers, Ying WANG and Yiran ZHAO, explore what freedom actually means in China following the “liberation” by the Communist Party. WANG Ying draws inspiration from the ballet “The White-Haired Girl” (“Baimao nü” 白毛女), which gained particular popularity during the Cultural Revolution as a so-called “model play” (yangbanxi 样板戏)—and thus as prescribed (and the only officially authorized) propaganda music—gained particular popularity. The eponymous heroine from the model play, however, is liberated twice: She flees from an abusive landowner and hides in a temple, where she subsists on the offerings of the villagers, who regard her as a ghost because her hair has turned white due to malnutrition. The People’s Liberation Army rescues her from the constraints of “feudal society” and its superstitions, restoring her to a life as a human being (no longer a ghost). In WANG’s new composition, she is now paired with another well-known “white-haired girl”: Elsa, whom Walt Disney Pictures successfully marketed worldwide in 2013 with the film “Frozen.” “Frozen” tells the story of the awakening of the main character Elsa’s previously hidden talent for turning things and people into ice. Shaken by her uncontrollable—and freedom-robbing—powers, Elsa, as the white-haired ice queen, goes into self-imposed exile. In *Interview with the White-Haired Girl* (world premiere), the title heroines of the two “propaganda pieces” meet and critically examine their respective understandings of freedom.

Yiran ZHAO’s commissioned composition recalls another questionable moment of liberation—a call for “free speech” from China’s recent past that quickly turned into its opposite: In 1956, Mao Zedong encouraged the so-called “Hundred Flowers Movement,” which, under the slogan “Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend” (bai hua qifang, bai jia zhengming 百花齊放,百家爭鳴 / 百花齐放,百家争鸣), a competition of ideas in which criticism of the prevailing conditions was also encouraged. When Mao’s government realized, in the course of the experiment, just how fierce this criticism would become, the movement and the solicitation of criticism “from below” were abruptly halted: the Anti-Rightist Campaign not only condemned those who had voiced criticism; countless people (including Wang Xilin) were punished, sent to the countryside, or banished to labor camps.

Barbara Mittler

Notes:

The current Athene Magazine (internal link), which was published in June on the topic of “Freedom,” features a detailed article on the exhibition as well as on the Academy’s other events taking place as part of the Year of Science. 

"From the Will to Freedom – China in a Global Context" – China School Academy Outreach Program (PDF) (internal link)

The Science Years (external link) are an initiative of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (external link) in collaboration with Science in Dialogue (external link). The Union (of the Academies) (external link) and its member academies regularly participate in the Science Years through various engagement formats.

Further information:

• About the 2024 Year of Science "Freedom" (external link)
• Additional events organized by the science academies (external link) for the Year of Science “Freedom”