"Since the establishment of the Music Confucius Institute (MCI), it has benefited about 10,000 students and 80,000 audiences. Copenhagen has a population of 1.5 million, 5%-10% of whom have involved in MCI." Marianne Jakobsen, Director of the MCI at Royal Danish Academy of Music (RDAM) and Head of International Relations Office of RDAM, said at the 5th International Forum on Sharing Chinese Music with the World.
The International Forum on Sharing Chinese Music with the World is a project launched by the Office of MCI of the Central Conservatory of Music(CCOM) and the Center for the Exchange and Experience of Chinese and Foreign Music Cultures in 2013, being a driving force for Chinese music’s “going global” because it aims to provide communication platforms for performing, teaching, creation, theoretical research, management and talent cultivation that are related to international education of Chinese music and to promote multidisciplinary collaboration. This year’s forum is themed on "Melodic Confucius Institute", focusing on the discussion about the unique and positive function that music performs in the construction of the Confucius Institute and the worldwide spread of Chinese culture.
In October 2011, CCOM established the Preparatory Office for the Music Confucius Institute; in June 2012, CCOM and RDCM founded the world's first Music Confucius Institute; in September 2014, CCOM and the Confucius Institute Headquarters jointly set up the Chinese language world promotion center featured in music, the only one across China: the Center for the Exchange and Experience of Chinese and Foreign Music Cultures; In June 2019, CCOM and the Ukrainian National Tchaikovsky Academy of Music worked together in the building ofthe world’s first " Music Confucius Classroom" ... MCI(Classroom) has effectively expanded the platforms for cultural exchanges, cooperation, understanding, and sharing through teaching, performances, creation, and textbook development for eight years.
In Denmark, the 7-year-old MCI has been carrying out various Chinese music education and diffusion activities to make Chinese music more familiar to Danish students and people instead of being completely strange. Chinese and Danish musicians have been collaborating in performing, creating, and recording musical works to conduct extensive and profound music communication. In Ukraine, the Music Confucius Classroom held a Chinese musical instrument promotion meeting & special concert, participated in the Ukrainian International Music Festival themed on "peace world", and formed an "eight-tone joint orchestra" made up of Chinese and Ukrainian musicians, and has been launching Chinese music culture experiencing activities in both primary and secondary schools.
"Chinese talents of music performance and creation have injected multicultural elements into the teaching of RDAM. The MCI has been conducting numerous projects, such as primary and secondary school teaching sites, community services, and distance learning to expand RDAM’s influence in Denmark, EU, and even the world, giving impetus to educational cooperation between Denmark and China. The MCI has also brought more Chinese artists to the international stage, allowing foreigners to have in-depth experience with Chinese music culture" Zhao Min said, Chairman of Guangxi Normal University Council.
According to Liu Yuening, Director of the Office of the MCI of CCOM and of the Center for the Exchange and Experience of Chinese and Foreign Music Cultures, during the 8 years that MCI (Classroom) has been in operation, 63 teachers and graduates of CCOM have volunteered to participate and benefited a lot from it, too. At the same time, CCOM has also welcomed 217 teachers and students of music major from different countries and universities to study and experience Chinese music culture there. The Confucius Institute International Music Summer Camp (Chinese Music Summer School), the Confucius Institute’stours of performances, lectures and exhibitions, the International Forum on Sharing Chinese Music with the World, the center academic activities and a series of branded projects have strongly boosted the music culture communication between China and other countries.
In March 2020, the Central Conservatory of Music Middle School will cooperate with the Chetham’s School of Music to establish the world's first "Chinese Language Music Classroom" for the goal of promoting music talent cultivation and people-to-people and cultural exchanges between Chinese and British youth. "I hope that MCI (Classroom) will make more contributions to removing cultural barriers and advancing the development of cultural diversities and deepening the friendship between Chinese and foreign people by taking music as a bridge and bond," said Yu Feng, President of CCOM. (cited from Confucius Institute Headquarters, source: People’s Daily Overseas Edition, Story by Zheng Na)
