Prince Kung's Palace Museum hosts 18th "Echoes of Classics" performance season

The 18th "Echoes of Classics: Prince Kung's Palace Museum Intangible Cultural Heritage Performance Season", was successfully held from June 13 to 17 at the museum's Grand Theatre, celebrating the 2025 Cultural and Natural Heritage Day.

This year's five-day event featured two Kunqu Opera performances and three guqin zither concerts. Troupes including the Jiangsu Performing Arts Group's Kunqu Theatre and the Kunshan Kunqu Opera Theatre presented classic excerpts during the two-day performances, while young performers from Kunshan's Junior Kunqu Opera Troupe showcased the vitality of living heritage through their spirited interpretations.

The guqin zither concerts featured "Listening to the Zither – A Student-Teacher Guqin Concert" by the "Lingran Yinsheng" team from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, led by Professor Dai Xiaolian, a guqin inheritor of the Guangling School. "A Guqin Concert of Masters and Classics" featured renowned artists such as Li Pengpeng who is recognized across global platforms, together with national intangible cultural heritage inheritor Yao Gongbai. The final concert commemorated the 600th anniversary of the Shenqi Mipu (Miraculous Secret Notation), with esteemed guqin masters Zhao Jiazhen, Li Fengyun, Lin Chen, Yang Chunwei, Huang Mei, and Jin Wei performing classical pieces according to the ancient scores (written notation).

Before the opening performance, Feng Nai'en, director and Party secretary of Prince Kung's Palace Museum, delivered a welcome speech, emphasizing the museum's ongoing commitment to preserving and promoting traditional Chinese culture. In a keynote address at the second performance, Tian Qing, member of the Central Research Institute of Culture and History and honorary president of the China Kunqu & Guqin Research Society, highlighted the cultural value of Kunqu Opera and guqin and encouraged all present — audiences, practitioners, and enthusiasts — to contribute to safeguarding the two UNESCO-recognized intangible heritage items.

Co-hosted by the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the museum, and organized by the China Kunqu & Guqin Research Society, the event was strongly supported by the Publicity Department of the CPC Kunshan Municipal Committee and the National Library of China.