Chinese artists perform on the stage during Denver International Electronic Music Festival in Denver, the United States, Feb. 18, 2018. The first annual Denver International Electronic Music Festival concluded on Sunday in the capital city of Colorado, featuring Chinese music, dances and artists while trying to form a multi-cultural mosaic of visual arts and sounds with the help of digital science. (Xinhua/Yang Chenglin)
DENVER, the United States, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- The first annual Denver International Electronic Music Festival concluded on Sunday in the capital city of Colorado, featuring Chinese music, dances and artists while trying to form a multi-cultural mosaic of visual arts and sounds with the help of digital science.
The four-day festival, held on the University of Denver campus, featured two performances, one electronic music competition as well as several master classes and workshops.
The two major performances, "War and Peace" and "Kung Fu Organ," featured Chinese music, dance and visual images representing China or created by Chinese artists.
For "War and Peace," paintings by Xie Xiaoze were used in a video backdrop for a new composition by composer Zhou Jiaojiao. The concert combined Western and Chinese musical instruments, fine artworks and a spectacular form of Chinese classical dance using extra-long silk sleeves.
For "Kung Fu Organ" featuring the Electone Electronic Organ performed by Chinese musician Pang Bo, paintings from the Denver Art Museum collection were used as a mixed media video projection for the modern rendition of the world-famous "Butterfly Lovers' Concerto."
"It's a tremendous experience," said David Hector, a math professor with the University of Colorado who attended Saturday's "Kung Fu Organ" performance with his wife Peggy.
Speaking at the performance on Saturday, Yu Peng, Chinese deputy consul general in Chicago, extended his best wishes on the launching of the festival.
He said that these productions combined artistic elements from the East and West, from tradition and the present, and produced stunning results.
"The world today is faced with great diversity and huge challenges," he added, calling for joint efforts by the United States and China to "create immense possibilities not only for our two countries, but also for the world at large."
The festival is held in association with inaugural events and concerts for the University of Denver's Joseph and Loretta Law Institute of Arts and Technology, which was created in October 2017 through a 20-million-dollar endowment from Dr. Dennis Law, a retired Chinese American surgeon in Denver.
"My interest in Chinese culture explains why this opening festival contains materials that are predominantly Chinese," said Law.
The organizers said the festival will try to cover more entertainment-related films, television and game music, and will incorporate other diverse arts and technology so as to promote a richer mosaic of multi-cultural aesthetic experience in the future.
"This music festival promises to engage audiences and performers from around the globe for decades to come," said Rebecca Chopp, chancellor of the University of Denver.
