This summer is seeing a non-stop carnival of music in Shanghai. As Music in the Summer Air (MISA) 2012 wraps up, the Shanghai Summer Music Week is bringing classical music and musicians from both home and abroad to The Cool Docks (Lane 505, Zhongshan Road South, Huangpu district).

This now annual, non-profit music event (jointly organized by The Cool Docks and the EOS Orchestra from China's Orchestra Academy at the Central Conservatory of Music) will last until August 18, with five more classical music concerts still to be performed.

Musical education

The concerts highlight renowned Chinese-born conductor Hu Yongyan, who is also the artistic director of the music week, and the EOS Orchestra, which was established by Hu in 2006. And Robert Blocker, the noted American pianist and the Henry and Lucy Moses Dean of Music at Yale University, has already performed and taken part in a forum on the topic of music education for youngsters.

"Music education in children should be developed. Music opens a window to the creative processes for everyone, a vital need in our technological world," said Blocker. During the forum dialogue with Hu and many local music teachers, Blocker talked about the development of Yale School of Music, as well as his opinions about the "bond between music and life."

Hu will be conducting many concerts during the music week. Graduating from the Central Conservatory of Music, Yale University and the Juilliard School, Hu has been a guest conductor for leading international symphony orchestras including the Orchestre National de France, London's Royal Philharmonic and New York's Buffalo Philharmonic. Last year he led EOS orchestra in performing eight pieces of the Mahler Symphony Circle at China's National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in Beijing.

A variety of events

As a platform for popularizing classical music, the music week is composed of a series of events in a variety of forms - music education lectures, master workshops, and outdoor concerts among them.

A number of the concerts will take place at the Waterhouse at South Bund (1 Maojiayuan Road), including a chamber music charity concert at 4 pm on August 15, performed by the EOS. The program will include works from Mendelssohn, Poulenc, Beethoven and Schubert.

Consisting of talented young students, fellowship artists and graduate students, the EOS orchestra has performed more than 40 weekend concerts and ballets at the NCPA under the baton of Hu. Its "U-Music" program at the Beijing Concert Hall, for example, aims to provide university students with a deeper appreciation of classical music.

The closing concert at 8:45 pm this Saturday will see, not only pieces from Mozart and Strauss, but will also highlight selected extracts from the Peking Opera Farewell my Concubine, arranged by Yang Nailing. Guest artist, the Shanghai-born Shi Yihong, will join hands with Hu to present this "Symphony Peking Opera," which will merge traditional Chinese opera with Western classical music. 

Free tickets can be reserved by calling 6152-6616.