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Before Chu Yi-bing led his cello ensemble in a concert on a recent rainy night in Beijing to celebrate the emsemble's 10th anniversary, he presented a bowl of soup to each member of the audience first.
The soup was made of red bean and dried tangerine peel, simmered for over two hours. While ladling out soup for everyone, Chu, the 48-year-old former principal cellist in the Basel Symphony Orchestra and now head of the Central Conservatory of Music's cello department, says that the music of his ensemble - Chu Yi-bing Cello Ensemble - is just like soup.
"It must be cooking day and night, whether guests are coming or not," he says.
The concert also witnessed the release of the ensemble's third album, The Bicentenary of Richard Wagner, in which Chu offers what he hopes is a different interpretation of the German composer's works.
"We spent 13 hours finishing the recording in a small studio in Beijing on the last day of 2013, when his 200th birth anniversary was celebrated," recalls Chu.
Compared with grand orchestras and star-like soloists, chamber music in China has long been considered a barren land in classical music. However, since Chu returned to China in 2004 after decades of study in Europe, he gathered his students to establish the cello ensemble and has since been dedicated to chamber music education in China.
"Ten years ago, China didn't know anything about cello ensembles and there were no chamber music faculties," Chu says. "No one understood why I was doing the ensemble."
He describes the members of his ensemble as soldiers, who brave through the tough environment and stick to their mission. The depiction is also captured in a photo, which has become the concert poster and shows all the members in Chinese military clothing, carrying their instruments and standing on a rocky loess slope.
"I don't want to sit there and whine about how poor the situation of chamber music is. I cannot wait for chamber music to become popular among audiences. I have to go out there and plant the seed," he says.
The ensemble, which started with six members and now numbers 40, has won recognition after touring around the country with more than 300 performances. Since 2010, the ensemble has traveled around the world, collaborating with renowned orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam.
One of the most memorable performances his ensemble gave in Beijing was a concert held inside the Forbidden City in 2012. As a part of the charity programs of the National Center for the Performing Arts that year, Chu led his students to play works adapted from the music of the 1987 version of the TV production, Dream of The Red Chamber, composed by musician Wang Liping.
"There were several big sound amplifiers near the stage, which I didn't like because they distorted the sound of our instruments, he says, adding that the audience should be able to "savor not only the skill of the musicians but also the sound of the 100-year-old instrument".
After embarking on a musical journey at age 8 under the influence of his father, established Chinese cellist Zhu Yongning, Beijing native Chu released his first solo album when he was 13.
Chu's commitment to chamber music is derived from decades of performing in Europe since 1983. In 1987, he graduated from the Conservatoire de Paris with the award Premier Prix, the first Chinese to win the top honor since 1949.
One of the beneficiaries of Chu's chamber music education is Li Cheng, a member of his ensemble.
"We went to really remote towns and played full-length recitals. We had conversations with kids and presented music they had never listened to before, which was wonderful," says Li. "Chu always quotes from his French teacher, who said that if the music touches your heart, it will resonate after the sound stops. When we perform together, I can feel how the music still lingers on, even though the sound is gone."
chennan@chinadaily.com.cn
