KOCM

46-50

Chapter 46

The Centennial Celebration was an important event for Huaxia's classical music industry. In fact, as early as a year ago, there was already media coverage on the anniversary. Now, in the tense month of preparation leading up to it, there were several national-level media outlets specially reporting on it, causing tremendous exposure.

The first day he came to S City, Qi Mu assured Zhu Wen Jun that three days of practice was all he needed. Since he dared to promise that, naturally he would not let Zhu Wen Jun down.

At noon on the third day, Qi Mu knocked on the conductor's door and carried in his violin case with a smile. Then, before Zhu Wen Jun's astonished eyes, he played a magnificent 《D Major》to the man's thorough approval.

Now that he had mastered both songs, the next step was to cooperate with the orchestra.

As the top orchestra in Huaxia, S City Symphony had an indisputable first-class standard, even on the world stage where the strong were like trees in a forest. The orchestra was disciplined, and each of their members were highly skilled, and their teamwork was bound together with years of experience.

Since Zhu Wen Jun became their permanent conductor eight years ago, the orchestra had undergone training and done several performances. Even when such an excellent orchestra worked with someone for the first time, they could make anyone feel that level of first-class music.

Perhaps because they so rarely practiced Min Chen's 《Violin Sonata in D major》, Zhu Wen Jun stopped at almost every movement during their first rehearsal and pointed out corrections in detail. By the end of the day, once the song was about to end, he set down his baton, and the orchestra began coordinating.

It had to be acknowledged that Min Chen's D minor was indeed tricky. When Qi Mu rehearsed the next day for 《Liang Zhu》, he had a much clearer image of things. The beautiful melody echoed in the S City Symphony Orchestra's hall and the media outlets set to work on their reports.

Within a month, media even not in the music circle made reports on it, and the Huaxia National Radio decided to broadcast the concert live that evening. So everyone could enjoy the musical feast in the comfort of their own home.

Qi Mu's rehearsal began the first few days, and Zhu Wen Jun told him he only had to take part once every two days in the afternoon. However, while things Qi Mu felt awkward with the arrangement, the orchestra was busy.

Qi Mu was only performing the last two songs, but what about Zhu Wen Jun? The S City Symphony Orchestra?

They needed to rehearse with all the musicians they invited!

Take the opening erhu musician for example. She was young, under 25, and she took first prize in the Golden Bell Award last year. She had never cooperated with such a formal orchestra before. The song she was going to play was "Er Quan Ying Yue," the most popular erhu song in Huaxia. The difficulty wasn't high, but the girl had terrible stage fright.

After all, the musicians invited to this celebration were all under the age of thirty. Most of them had yet to leave their mark on the world of classical music, so they did not have the confidence or maturity to perform so suddenly. It was understandable that they were a bit timid.

"Say, Xiao Qi, ah. . . the other day, Cheng-jie told me that you didn't have any stage fright at all. I thought it was a bit weird." Zheng Wei Qiao came to S City a week before the event. He was a freelance writer so he would never miss such an occasion. "You've performed on larger stages before, but it was in your childhood. . . this time, even the conductor's praised your fortitude."

While they talked, Qi Mu and Zheng Wei Qiao were listening to Zhu Wen Jun conduct Prokofiev's 《Piano Concerto No. 2 in E minor》 in the rehearsal hall.