Cao Peng (; born December 1925) is a Chinese
conductor
Conductor or conduction may refer to:
Music
* Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra.
* ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas
* Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...
.
Background and early career
Cao Peng was born into one of the most influential families in the once thriving trading centre of
Jiangyin
Jiangyin (, Jiangyin dialect: ) is a county-level city on the southern bank of the Yangtze River, and is administered by Wuxi, Jiangsu province. Jiangyin is one of the most important transport hubs on the Yangtze River, it is also one of the m ...
, related both to
Cao Yuyuan Cao or CAO may refer to:
Mythology
*Cao (bull), a legendary bull in Meitei mythology
Companies or organizations
*Air China Cargo, ICAO airline designator CAO
* CA Oradea, Romanian football club
* CA Osasuna, Spanish football club
* Canadian Ass ...
, the famous court censor of the late Qing, and more distantly to the great Cao family (of which the most famous scion was
Cao Xueqin
Cáo Xuěqín ( ; ); (4 April 1710 — 10 June 1765)Briggs, Asa (ed.) (1989) ''The Longman Encyclopedia'', Longman, was a Chinese writer during the Qing dynasty. He is best known as the author of ''Dream of the Red Chamber'', one of the Four G ...
) that had risen in the world from the 18th century. Though the Chinese economy flirted with depression in his early years, and no region remain unaffected by the
Guomindang-CCP conflicts, and later the
war against Japan, Cao was able to enjoy a happy upbringing and a solid education in his hometown.
Cao Peng showed early promise as a musician, winning first place at his local high school. He is an alumnus of the Nanjing () Middle School in Jiangyin, set up by the reformer
Huang Tifang Huang or Hwang may refer to:
Location
* Huang County, former county in Shandong, China, current Longkou City
* Yellow River, or Huang River, in China
* Huangshan, mountain range in Anhui, China
* Huang (state), state in ancient China.
* Hwan ...
in the 1880s.
Cao Peng stayed in the institution until 1945, working for the final three years as an underground member of the Chinese Communist Party, into which role he was first employed by a violinist friend.
It was not until June, 1945 that Cao went open about his involvement with the party, enrolling in the Cultural Work Division of the
New Fourth Army
The New Fourth Army () was a unit of the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China established in 1937. In contrast to most of the National Revolutionary Army, it was controlled by the Chinese Communist Party and not by the ruling Ku ...
. Following the Communist victory of 1949, he was enrolled at the
Huazhong Construction University
Central China () is a geographical and a loosely defined cultural region that includes the provinces of China, provinces of Henan, Hubei and Hunan. Jiangxi is sometimes also regarded to be part of this region. Central China is now officially p ...
, before later moving to the arts faculty of
Shandong University
Shandong University (, abbreviated as Shanda, , English abbreviation SDU) is a public research comprehensive university in Jinan, Shandong with one campus in Weihai, Shandong and one campus in Qingdao, Shandong and is supported directly by t ...
to study conducting.
Upon graduation, Cao conducted the music for over ten early Communist films, including an adaptation into film of Lao She's
Longxu Gulley
Longxu District (; za, Lungzhih Gih) is a district of the prefecture-level city of Wuzhou in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. It was created in March 2013 by splitting off four towns from Cangwu County. It is named after the district ...
. It was not until 1955, however, that what he would later describe as a turning point in his career would occur, when Cao Peng won a scholarship to study at the
Gnessin State Musical College
The Gnessin State Musical College (russian: link=no, Государственный музыкальный колледж имени Гнесиных) and Gnesins Russian Academy of Music (russian: Российская академия музык� ...
. He would study here for five and a half eventful years.
Moscow and the Mao years
During his stay in Moscow, Cao Peng attended conducting masterclasses given by
Leo Ginzburg, and began conducting the resident orchestra on regular occasions. In 1960, he gave the maiden overseas performance of the
Butterfly Lovers' Violin Concerto
''The Butterfly Lovers' Violin Concerto'' (), along with the Yellow River Piano Concerto, is one of the most famous Chinese works of orchestral music. It is an adaptation of an ancient legend, the ''Butterfly Lovers''. Written for a Western-style ...
, as part of the celebrations for the 10th anniversary of the establishment of government by the Communist party.
In August, 1961, Cao returned to China, where he was appointed permanent conductor in residence for the
Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. He has remained based in Shanghai for the past fifty years, taking on a number of new positions and professorships as the city continued to open up beyond the Mao years.
The years before 1976 were not entirely inactive for Cao, however. In many respects, the classical music scene in Shanghai should remembered for its liveliness in the late Mao years, with pioneer conductors including
Huang Yijun
Huang Yijun (; 4 May 1915 – 11 October 1995; pen name: 元之; pinyin: Yuán Zhī) was a Chinese conductor and composer.
Born in Suzhou into a musical family, Huang exhibited great musical talent from a young age. His father, a strict man, ta ...
,
Chen Chuanxi and
Wang Yongji
Wang may refer to:
Names
* Wang (surname) (王), a common Chinese surname
* Wāng (汪), a less common Chinese surname
* Titles in Chinese nobility
* A title in Korean nobility
* A title in Mongolian nobility
Places
* Wang River in Thailand ...
coming to the peaks of their respective careers. In 1962, Cao Peng collaborated with the Shanghai Opera House to give a performance of Puccini's
Madama Butterfly
''Madama Butterfly'' (; ''Madame Butterfly'') is an opera in three acts (originally two) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa.
It is based on the short story " Madame Butterfly" (1898) by John L ...
, followed by later collaborations for performances of Manuel Da Falla's
The Three-Cornered Hat and Delibes'
Coppélia
''Coppélia'' (sometimes subtitled: ''La Fille aux Yeux d'Émail'' (The Girl with the Enamel Eyes)) is a comic ballet from 1870 originally choreographed by Arthur Saint-Léon to the music of Léo Delibes, with libretto by Charles-Louis-� ...
. In the shifting Shanghai of 1975, Cao was able to take his orchestra on an international tour, visiting and performing in Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong.
Professorships and charitable work, 1980s to present
A number of professorships were made available to Cao during the 1980s, including an appointment as professor in residence at the
Shanghai Conservatory of Music
The Shanghai Conservatory of Music () was founded on November 27, 1927, as the first music institution of higher education in China. Its teachers and students have won awards at home and abroad, thus earning the conservatory the name "the crad ...
and
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU; ) is a Public university, public research university in Shanghai, Shanghai, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Ministry of Education of China ...
.
At the same time as he was beginning the turn to teaching, and passing along the invaluable experiences of Moscow and beyond to the younger generation, so was he increasingly involved in a classical music scene in transition. Cao gave a countless number of performances in the 1980s, which took him not only further abroad, but to places unvisited within China, where he was able to cultivate and promote people's awareness of classical music. In 1986, a year when he was recognised by his adopted city Shanghai for his achievements with the city award for "Achievements in the Culture and Arts", Cao also accepted an invitation to conduct over 30 performances of classical music in southern China's
Fujian
Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its c ...
province.
Similar success followed in the 1990s, when Cao, now in his sixties, took on responsibilities for the burgeoning
orchestral music
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families.
There are typically four main sections of instruments:
* bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...
scene in Shanghai, conducting the
Shanghai People's Orchestra
Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...
() from 1992, later also the orchestra of the
Nanyang Middle School. In 1993, at the age of 68, Cao was employed by the Hong Kong record label HNH to record a 50-CD anthology of modern Chinese classical music.
Cao was also an early pioneer in the relaxing of tensions and building of cross-straits ties in the 1990s, heading the first classical music delegation to perform in
Kaohsiung and other places throughout Taiwan in 1995, where he, incidentally, conducted publicly for the first time his daughter, the violinist Xia Xiaocao ().
Though he no longer keeps a schedule as demanding as that he kept in the 1990s, Cao has remained involved in a number of orchestras into the new millennium. He still regularly takes delegations abroad to perform, notably in France and Japan, and has set up two other, pathbreaking orchestras under the
Cao Peng Music Center Cao or CAO may refer to:
Mythology
*Cao (bull), a legendary bull in Meitei mythology
Companies or organizations
*Air China Cargo, ICAO airline designator CAO
* CA Oradea, Romanian football club
* CA Osasuna, Spanish football club
* Canadian Ass ...
, established in 2005 - the
Shanghai Student Orchestra
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
and the
Sound of Angel Salon
In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid.
In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by ...
, the latter of which trains autistic children to engage with their surroundings through music.
[http://www.shcpmc.com.cn/profile/conductor.htm] He has also continued to conduct film scores, totalling over 100 over the course of his career.
Awards
Cao has received many awards for his services to classical music and education inside China, including:
“Prize for Outstanding Contribution to Musical Performance”, awarded by the State Council.
“Prize for Pioneer Work Done in the Service of Chinese Culture”, awarded by the Central Affairs Committee.
The inaugural prize for “Arts and Literature” awarded by the Shanghai city Cultural Union.
“Prize for Outstanding Work in the Service of Education in Shanghai”, awarded by the Shanghai Educational Bureau.
An honorary prize awarded by Baogang steel.
Honorary prize on various occasions for services to the high arts.
Shanghai City Model Elderly Citizen Top Ten Award.
Double Personal Award for Contribution after Retirement to the Service of Society (Shanghai and National award).
In addition, concerts were held in his honour marking 40, 50, and most recently 60 years of conducting.
See also
*
Shanghai City Symphonic Orchestra
The Shanghai City Symphony Orchestra () is China’s only non-profit amateur orchestra, a member of thWorld Federation of Amateur Orchestras(WFAO). The orchestra was established in 2005 by octogenarian conductor Cao Peng, under the supervision of ...
References
External links
Brief Biop, with more on Cao Peng's training in Moscow, 1955 - 1961 (Chinese)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cao, Peng
1925 births
Living people
Chinese conductors (music)
People's Republic of China musicians
Musicians from Wuxi
21st-century conductors (music)