Qigang Chen at the Beijing Olympics: official theme song
(August 2008)
Chinese composer Qigang Chen, who signed a new publishing contract with Boosey & Hawkes earlier this year, is composer of the official theme song of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.The song, entitled You and Me, was kept a closely guarded secret in the lead up to the opening ceremony, and was omitted from all three of the rehearsals in the new Bird's Nest Olympic Stadium. It was performed at the end of the ceremony on Friday 8 August by British soprano Sarah Brightman and Chinese male vocalist Liu Huan, to an estimated audience of 100,000 in the stadium, and several billion wordwide via TV.
Qigang (pronounced 'Chee-gang') Chen (b.1951) is one of the leading Chinese composers of his generation, emerging after the Cultural Revolution and winning a travel scholarship to study with Messiaen in Paris, the master's only pupil after he left his position at the Conservatoire. Qigang Chen has spent much of 2008 engaged as Director of Music for the Opening Ceremony in Beijing, devising the entire music programme for the event, commissioning other composers to create new music, and writing music himself for many sections of the ceremony, including the official theme song. Qigang Chen divides his working life between Beijing and Paris.
Chen's works include Iris dévoilée for voices and orchestra, and the ballet Raise the Red Lantern, directed by the auteur Zhang Yi-Mou and toured internationally by the National Ballet of China. Chen's plans include a second ballet, a new orchestral work for the Hong Kong Philharmonic, and a feature at Shanghai EXPO in 2010.
Sarah Brightman also sang Friends for Life, the theme to the 1992 Games in Barcelona, with Jose Carreras, and is best known for her performances in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera and her recording of the Pie Jesu in his Requiem.
Liu Huan, who sang the theme tune to the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing, is one of the most popular male singers in China, often being dubbed China's 'King of Pop', and has an active parallel career writing music for TV dramas.
For further details, please visit the official Olympics website.
Photo credit: Luo Xiaoguang/Xinhua
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