During this special period, we have been flooded with COVID-19-related information, which made no one’s life easy. Enterprises have been weighed down with mounting operating pressure. Many overseas Chinese students found themselves stranded abroad. The start of schools in mainland China continued to be put off. In the face of the disaster, we naturally felt powerless, depressed and anxious. “Thank goodness, we can still seek comfort in classical music,” said Ms. Tian Yimiao. With the magic of healing the body and mind, music enables us to regain composure and forge ahead in the times of adversity. The year 2020 marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of Beethoven. On April 23, the first session of CEIBS Online Art Classroom will kick off. Tian Yimiao, Associate Professor of the Composition Department, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, will take CEIBS alumni and students into the world of classical music to recapture its soul-stirring power.

Guest speaker: Tian Yimiao, Associate Professor of the Composition Department, Shanghai Conservatory of Music

Time: 19:00-20:30, April 23, 2020 (Thursday)

Participants: CEIBS alumni and students

Language: Chinese with English interpretation

With 20 years of teaching experience, Ms. Tian Yimiao is hailed as a chief lecturer in the Classical Music course in China. She served as a judge at variety shows like Singer. She received the Wenhua Award for excellent music works from the Ministry of Culture. Her salon lecture series “Listen to Classical Music in a T-shirt” are popular with the literary youth. In 2016, she rolled out a paid course “Classical Music Isn’t Complicated” on Himalaya app, which garnered over 10 million views. In 2017, her courses “Decoding World-Renowned Music” and “Classical Music Course for Children” were launched on more than 20 online platforms, including zhihu.com and open.163.com, and received wide acclaims.

Many people want to listen to classical music, but they find it too “high-brow” to understand. Ms. Tian has a unique teaching method that can kindle our interest in classical music. She neither elaborates on musical technique or theory, nor looks back on the complex history of music. Instead, she introduces the composers’ life and a large amount of relevant knowledge, and interprets classic music pieces in simple terms.

In this session of CEIBS Online Art Classroom, Ms. Tian will take us back to the hometown of Beethoven, Bonn in Germany, of 250 years ago to delve into what made him such a distinguished musician and how he rose to fame in Vienna and fought against fate heroically. In her words, Beethoven was not only the “hero” who seized fate by the throat in 1804, but also an obstinate, skeptical and unapproachable man who made 25 house moves. Ms. Tian will interpret Beethoven’s sonatas and symphonies in simple terms, and introduce the musicians in a vivid way that may give us an illusion of seeing not lifeless portraits, but our old friends, who have a distinctive voice, temperament and personality. With the soul-stirring power, classical music is like rays of sunshine that will dispel the gloom and light up the way forward for us.

Ms. Tian reckons that music is a gift of life. As long as you listen to music attentively, you can always derive pleasure from it. Let us meet at the CEIBS Online Art Classroom on April 23 to appreciate the music works that may inspire you all your life!

Next Session:           

The next session will be hosted on May 21. We are looking forward to meeting you at the Art Classroom to listen to classical music.