During the National Day holidays, Jinji Lake of SIP is pervaded with a fervent artistic atmosphere amid festive happiness. iSING!Suzhou International Young Artist Festival of 2021 kicks off here and 25 young singers from such seven countries as China, the US, Italy, Russia, Nicaragua, Colombia and Serbia have gathered in Suzhou. They will undergo intensive learning and rehearsal.

iSING!Suzhou International Young Artist Festival is the first international vocal music art festival of this kind ever been organized in China, and it is also a project sponsored by Jiangsu provincial and Suzhou municipal governmental departments aiming to boost Sino-foreign cultural exchanges and spread Chinese language worldwide. The festival is held annually since 2014 and has attracted music talent globally, who will undergo intensive learning, performing, composing and an immersive experience of Chinese culture before they are able to present an excellent performance combining Chinese and Western elements.

It is reported that iSING!Suzhou of this year will focus on the celebration of centenary of Chinese Communist Party as well as Jiangnan-style culture thematically. To this end, a concert entitled “Beautiful Jiangnan in the special year marking the centenary of CPC” will be organized during the festival and a series of traditional and revolutionary musical works will be staged including “Mooring by Maple Bridge at night”, “Ode to the Yellow River”, “Waves chasing one after another in Honghu River”(symbolizing the rising tides of revolutionary movement in the past “red” era),  “Revolutionaries are optimists forever”, “Young friends come together to rejuvenate our motherland”. The theme of patriotism and ode to this new era will run through the whole concert in the hope that more foreign friends will love China and its culture. With Tian Haojiang, the Chinese opera artist, acting as the concert’s director, and Xu Zhong, the famous pianist and conductor, serving as its conductor, the concert is scheduled for October 15 at Suzhou Culture and Arts Center, and it is also one of the featured programs during the third Jiangnan Culture and Arts﹠International Tourism Festival hosted by Suzhou, China.      

“This is a fantastic experience, by which I have learned Chinese language and culture and even reaped friendship,” said Jovana Curovic, a music teacher from Serbia. She lived in Shenzhen before she came to Suzhou for the concert and it is the first time for her to attend iSING!Suzhou.“I’ve heard about iSING!Suzhou from my friends and it’s a pleasure to be one of its singers. I am now studying the songs ‘I love you ，China！’, ‘Husband and wife happily return home together’,  ‘Let's bend to the oars’. This is the first time I have tried to learn Chinese songs with the help from a teacher. Though a little difficult for me, I’m sure I will do a good job at it.” For Jovana Curovic, Suzhou is a city with overwhelming charm while iSING! is a platform where foreign friends can access Chinese culture through music. Jovana Curovic hopes to understand more about Chinese culture and singing art, as well as enrich her experience in stage performance by this platform.     

So far, iSING!Suzhou has continued its success story for eight consecutive years, and accumulatively 328 outstanding young singers from 45 countries have cooperated with it. Among the participants of this year, besides the freshmen, people can also see some old faces. Jose Rubio is from the US and he loves iSING! so much that he has already attended the annual event four times. “Covid-19 pandemic has made cross-border travel not as easy as before. It’s really encouraging that iSING!Suzhou takes place in spite of difficulties. I feel very happy to be able to attend it once again. As an opera singer, I often travel around the world for my performance and iSING! is an important destination on my itinerary. iSING! has provided me valuable chances of learning a different singing culture and I can get new knowledge and experience from it every year. I like Suzhou very much, especially her architecture and gardens. Now, I am even considering the possibility of integrating the elements unique to Suzhou style architecture into my house in the US,” said Jose Rubio, smiling happily.