Strings with wings

Chu Yibing's Super Cello workshops and master classes draw a crowd of youngsters and their parents last year.[Photo provided to China Daily]

As a child, music gave Chu Yibing the power to soar like a bird. The famous cellist says he's eager to share that sensation in the upcoming Super Cello festival, Chen Nan reports.

Cellist Chu Yibing celebrated his 50th birthday with an audience of thousands including his musician friends in Beijing with a two-day event featuring recitals, workshops and movies in February 2016.

"I was exhausted at the end of the day. But it was a fabulous birthday," recalls the cellist.

"From breakfast to dinner, we were surrounded by music. It was all about communication. Everyone had a great time."

This year, Chu will bring the festival back to Beijing and extend the two-day event into four days. Titled Super Cello, the event will be held from April 28 to May 1 at the National Library Arts Center, with 13 recitals, 12 master classes, workshops and exhibitions presented by 21 cellists from 14 countries.

"There is no first class, second class or third class. Audiences just come and sit, or stand anywhere they want," says Chu.

"It's like an amusement park. You can leave and return at any time as long as you show your ticket."

The guest musicians include Israeli-born and Germany-based cellist Gavriel Lipkind, who attended the Super Cello festival last year; French cellists (and father and son) Roland Pidoux and Raphael Pidoux, who are both professors of Paris Conservatoire, where Chu graduated; and Swiss cellist Wen-Sinn Yang, who is a professor at the Academy of Music and Theater in Munich.

Other highlights over the four days will be the Brussels Chamber Orchestra, the Golden Buddha Jazz Band (led by Kong Hongwei, Chu's classmate from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing) and the China National Symphony Orchestra, which will give the closing performance under the baton of French conductor Philippe de Chalendar.

Chu is regarded as one of the greatest cellists of his generation.

He was born in Beijing to musicians Zhu Yongning and Wang Yaoling, both teachers at the capital's Central Conservatory of Music.

Six years later, he became the principal cellist of Switzerland's Basel Symphony Orchestra.

After nearly two decades of living and working in the West, he returned to China in 2004 as the head cello teacher for the Central Conservatory of Music.

"I hope to do something for Chinese music students. Their teamwork skills are as bad as those of Chinese football players," says Chu.