Li Huanzhi, one of China’s most revered composers

Posted on February 20, 2020

Li Huanzhi conducting a choir. The photo was taken during the founding period of the China National Traditional Orchestra in 1960. [Taken from chinaplus.cri. Photo Courtesy of Li Dakang]

We’re performing Li Huanzhi’s Spring Festival Overture on Monday, March 2, 2020, at Skyview High School and Saturday, March 7, 2020 at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.

The life of Li Huanzhi (1919-2000), one of China’s most revered composers, can be seen as a microcosm of the turbulent history of Chinese ‘art’, or ‘classical’, music across the 20th century. After his early conservatory years in the 1930s studying composing and conducting in tenuous relationship with European classical forms, in the ‘40s and ‘50s Li composed legendary patriotic workers’ songs and folk-influenced works to support the new Republic, then fell to persecution and repression during the Cultural Revolution in the ‘70s, and was finally released to a rebirth of creativity and national pride in the ‘80s and beyond.

The few sources in English that address Li’s life or work essentially echo each the same limited facts.  One prominent exception is the podcast transcription linked below, from the official website of China Radio International; the podcast is much richer and more nuanced than any other source.  For that reason, in this particular instance, we are choosing to link directly to the transcription, out of appreciation for the producers’ wide range of sources and evocative writing. Enjoy!

The photo was taken in May 1999. Li Huanzhi was invited by the orchestra to conduct the Spring Festival Overture during the rehearsal. It was the last time Li Huanzhi raised his music baton. [Taken from chinaplus.cri. Photo Courtesy of Li Dakang]

Click here to read our program notes for this piece, written by Carolyn Talarr, our Community Programs Coordinator.