Glows from Within｜2021/2022

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Since the 2019/20 concert season, Mr. Zhu Wei has served as Guest‑Invited Painter for the China NCPA Orchestra and China NCPA Chorus. Over more than two years, leveraging his distinctive vision and masterful brushwork, he has built a compelling bridge between music and visual art. His body of work includes the Cadenza series (2019/20), large‑scale canvases 250th Anniversary of Beethoven’s Birth, String Quartet and Swan Lake (2020/21), the monumental painting Radiance Within for the current season, plus numerous sketches and studies — all tangible outcomes of his artistic exploration.

Painters possess extraordinary perceptiveness toward the world around them. Immersing in a specific theme can bring rich creative rewards, yet it also represents an artistic adventure, requiring immense investment of time, emotion and energy. We deeply admire Zhu Wei’s dedication over these years and take great pride in his achievements.

Sound sits at the core of musicians’ practice, yet it is not everything. Centred on sound, composers, performers, audiences and generations of listeners connect through live performances and quiet emotional resonance, forming the expansive realm we call “musical life”. Passionate performances, varied audience reactions, emotions stirred by music, and the vibrant energy of concert halls‑‑all are vivid moments within this world. Zhu Wei’s paintings capture these experiences from a visual angle. More importantly, they free us from the limits of sound and invite us to understand musical life in broader terms.

Radiance Within, his new monumental work for this season, functions as a collective portrait of the China NCPA Orchestra. Portraying an orchestra demands great courage: it is challenging to depict over a hundred musicians’ diverse personalities, and even harder to convey an ensemble’s power purely on canvas. Still, this painting reveals the invisible bond uniting musicians and audiences. Like an unseen giant hand, it unites every figure, gaze, and the bright moon‑‑whether celestial or spiritual‑‑into one cohesive force and temperament. This spirit embodies our collective identity. When we perform onstage, this energy merges with our music, generating powerful unity and resonance. It flows into the audience and fills the hall with shared feeling. Sorrow, longing, doubt, joy, hope and inspiration converge into universal empathy that transcends all divides.

As Romain Rolland wrote: “The great mission of art is to reveal humanity’s true feelings, private inner lives and passionate worlds — realities long accumulated and fermented within us before rising to the surface.” Thanks to Zhu Wei’s exceptional sensitivity, musicians’ inner emotions and passions are preserved in visual form, bringing our inner world to broader audiences. This enables us to reflect anew on the value of our work and strengthens our professional commitment. We are grateful to Zhu Wei for his brilliant artistry, sharp insight, and for the inspiration brought by this collective portrait.

This is one core purpose of our multi‑year Guest‑Invited Artist Programme. Through his paintings, Mr. Zhu Wei preserves the most touching moments of theatre life as lasting visual memories, helping audiences appreciate art’s value beyond sound. We thank him and look forward to more outstanding works that lead us into the profound world of artistic experience.

Ren Xiaolong

General Manager, China NCPA Orchestra