Although there are examples in south China of traditional polyphonic vocal music supposedly more than 2,000 years old, choral music following the western classical harmony standards has a short history of less than 100 years in China. After a short historical overview, the presentation will mainly focus in choral music based on Chinese choral folk songs from different cultures and on contemporary choral compositions by Chinese and Foreigner composers, that settle the current trends in Chinese choral music. With Shanghai having currently more than 3,000 choirs, the complexity of the current choral environment in China is also introduced, including examples of cross-cultural influence and the introduction of Western Choral Music in the cosmopolitan Shanghai. The presentation will be accompanied by a live performance of few examples sung by the Shanghai Youth Choir, as well as numerous examples of recordings and videos of the topics introduced.

BIO

Wang Jin, Born into a musical family of Chinese Opera composers and musicologists, Wang Jin began to play the piano at the age of six. Sheobtainedherbachelor’s degree in choral conducting at the China Conservatory of Music under Professor Wu Lingfen and received her master’s degree in choral conducting at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music under Professor Ma Geshun. Later she studied with Professor Peter Erdei and Professor Eva Rozgonyi in Hungary and with Dr. Betsy Cook Weber in Houston-TX. Wang Jin founded Shanghai BG Choir (2005) and was a founding member of The Shanghai International Festival Chorus-IFC (2003) and the Shanghai International Choral League-SICL (2011). Currently, Wang Jin has been a lecturer and jury member of several national and international choral competitions, an Associate Professor of Choral Conducting at Shanghai Normal University's Music College and lecturer at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. She has been the artistic director and conductor of the Shanghai Opera Chorus, the Wen Zhou Great Theater Philharmonic Choir as well as Shanghai BG choir. She also is a board member of the China Chorus Association, and Vice-President of the Shanghai Choral Association.

Jordi B. Paradis, born into a musical family with a grandfather who was a luthier and parents who were experienced lifetime singers, Jordi started to sing in a children's choir at the age of three. Apart from his Ph.D. in Chemistry and an MBA, Jordi studied Harmony, Piano and Vocal from the Liceu Conservatory in Barcelona and studying conducting with M. Cabero at the FCEC training courses.Jordi has more than 40 years of choral experience as a member of several amateur and semi-professional choirs in Spain and China, singing also as soloist (e.g. main baritone solos at Haydn's Creation and Faure's Requiem and minor ones at Wagner's Lohengrin) and being selected for the 3rd & 4th World Youth Choir editions. Jordi has also been invited as an international competition jury member (BICF’13-Indonesia) as well as a conductor of several choirs in Spain and China, such as Shanghai Baroque Singers, BG Chamber Choir and founding member, President and rehearsal conductor of SICL-Shanghai International Choral League project (2011), together with his wife Wang Jin.