Beethoven in Beijing: Stanford scholar recreates 1922 symphonic achievement
Beethoven in Beijing: Stanford scholar recreates 1922 symphonic achievement
by Kendra Davidson
In 1922, Xiao Youmei, a Chinese scholar and composer, created the original Chinese symphony orchestra to bring the sound of Beethoven to his people for the first time.
On November 12, 2015, Jingdong Cai, associate professor of performance in the Center for East Asian Studies, recreated this historical experience with 15 musicians from the Peking University Orchestra at the Stanford Center in Beijing. “It was something like time travel,” he recalled.