Zeitgeist｜2022/2023

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Since the 2019/20 season, Mr. Zhu Wei has served as Guest‑Invited Painter for the China NCPA Orchestra and Chorus. Over four consecutive years, he has created themed visual works that bridge music and visual art for every concert season. His previous creations include Cadenza, 250th Anniversary of Beethoven’s Birth, String Quartet, Swan Lake and Radiance Within. For this season’s keynote theme Zeitgeist, he has completed a brand-new series of 31 digital works under the same title.

A sincere admirer of music and musicians, Zhu Wei consistently blends inventive ideas and exquisite craftsmanship into music-themed creations. The theme of Zeitgeist, however, posed extraordinary creative difficulties. As a profound philosophical concept, it defies simple visual interpretation: literal representation lacks depth, while pure abstraction obscures musical attributes. It was once deemed an almost impossible creative mission, likely to bring enormous creative pressure.

Though our creative exchanges are always concise, Zhu Wei always delivers exceptional works. His succinct communication embodies acute artistic intuition, delicate perception and rich imagination, all fully embodied in his finished pieces. It reflects the poise of a seasoned artist: visionary, decisive in creation, and consistently remarkable in output.

In this new digital series, Zhu Wei reinterprets conventional orchestral instruments with contemporary digital aesthetics. These instruments are utterly familiar to music practitioners, yet his innovative re-creation prompts us to break free from ingrained cognition. Long-term familiarity easily leads to rigid thinking, complacency and hidden prejudices. Re-examining commonplace objects from fresh perspectives enables artistic breakthroughs and self-transcendence.

Striking a perfect balance between abstraction and figuration, his works retain the identifiable outlines of instruments while discarding rigid physical limitations. Fluid, intricate lines refine the spiritual essence of musical instruments, transforming tangible musical tools into spiritual symbols of sound. Heavy, solid instruments are rendered light, transparent and unrestrained, echoing the free-spirited essence of music. If music is the freedom of the soul, instruments are the vessel that holds this spirit.

This series of works offers profound enlightenment. It allows our musicians to rediscover the spiritual connotation of instruments and rethink the essential value of musical work. The flowing lines contain tremendous power that condenses into music, shapes artistic temperament, and elevates the spiritual stature of an era. This is the eternal mission of music practitioners: an orchestra gains true vitality only with soul and spiritual depth; an era achieves enduring vitality only with independent spiritual backbone and creative power.

Inspired by Zhu Wei’s creations, our orchestra will keep pursuing artistic excellence, 

inheriting, innovating and interpreting the timeless zeitgeist through musical performance.

We sincerely thank Mr. Zhu Wei for his outstanding creations and look forward to more thought-provoking works from him in the future.

Ren Xiaolong

General Manager, China NCPA Orchestra