Parents rejoice! The Beijing International Music Festival (BMF) is in town and offering a full day’s worth of free kid-centric performances this Saturday, Oct 23, at the Red House in Sanlitun’s Taikooli, as well as the Concert Hall in Zhongshan Park (perhaps better known as the Forbidden City Park Concert Hall).
Over at the Red House, The Adventure of Mimilu, the Wandering Cat tells the tale of a blossoming friendship between a piano teacher’s cat who loves music and a lonely piano student. This multimedia performance mixes iconic music such as Mozart’s Twinkle Twinkle Little Star with images and videos to fully engage all of the senses. Acclaimed pianist Song Siheng uses the performance to tell a heartwarming story of love and companionship. It also provides the perfect opportunity for children who are new to music culture to enter the wonderful world of music through both sight and sound. The Adventure of Mimilu, the Wandering Cat. The Red House, Taikooli. 11am and 2pm. Free.
The performances continue later that afternoon at the Zhongshan Park Concert Hall, where the young award-winning conductor Jin Yukuang will team up with the neoclassical chamber orchestra for Charles-Camille Saint-Saën’s masterpiece Animal Carnival. This piece was specially chosen to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the French composer’s passing. Saint-Saëns was known for using beautiful and agile musical language to paint a vivid picture of the animals named in this piece, from turtles to elephants and most famously, swans. A Carnival of Animals, Poems, and Music. Zhongshang Park Concert Hall. 3pm and 6pm. Free.
This year marks the 24th edition of the Beijing Music Festival, which presents free, high-quality educational events every year to cultivate the next generation’s love of art and music. There are no tickets, so just show up to the venue beforehand and secure a spot to enjoy the performance. It is also worth mentioning that the four young performers in the two concerts were selected through open auditions and interviews for the Beijing International Music Festival. The youngest is barely 1.2m and in elementary school.
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Images: Unsplash, courtesy of Beijing Music Festival
