尋覓春天

小瓊：5 月12 日，我在林肯中心目睹了一場(chǎng)令人感動(dòng)的全球首演，地點(diǎn)既不是在大都會(huì)歌劇院也不是在紐約愛(ài)樂(lè)樂(lè)團(tuán)音樂(lè)廳，而是在那些建筑的“前面”。該作品由大都會(huì)和紐約愛(ài)樂(lè)這些機(jī)構(gòu)的總部林肯中心委約，在著名的中央噴泉——喬西·羅伯遜廣場(chǎng)，觀眾和表演者們都站了將近一個(gè)小時(shí)。

小薇：《尋覓春天》由英國(guó)作曲家喬納森·達(dá)夫和作詞家阿拉斯代爾·米德?tīng)栴D攜手創(chuàng)作，從兒童合唱團(tuán)到社區(qū)業(yè)余歌手，來(lái)自紐約各地的800 多名歌手參與其中。沒(méi)有任何遴選過(guò)程，作品對(duì)喜歡演唱音樂(lè)的人們敞開(kāi)一扇大門(mén)！

小瓊：這場(chǎng)全球首演也對(duì)公眾開(kāi)放，所以附近的任何觀眾都可以步行前往觀看。對(duì)于社區(qū)來(lái)說(shuō)，看到某種東西的誕生的興奮感是特別寶貴的。然而，當(dāng)800 名歌手在露天環(huán)境中表演時(shí)，我們需要多名指揮，甚至需要特別助理來(lái)引導(dǎo)不同的合唱隊(duì)從一個(gè)地方移動(dòng)至另一個(gè)地方（其中包括一些舞蹈的設(shè)計(jì)）。在英國(guó)著名合唱指揮家西蒙·哈爾西的帶領(lǐng)下，從初期排練到最后的全球首演，六位紐約市的指揮家參與其中，其中就包括謝炳順。你還記得他嗎？

小薇：記得！幾年前（2020 年3 月至6 月），你在專欄中提及了他，談到了他對(duì)音樂(lè)、藝術(shù)歌曲和領(lǐng)導(dǎo)社區(qū)合唱團(tuán)的熱誠(chéng)。

小瓊：看到一位老朋友參與到這個(gè)項(xiàng)目中真是令人振奮。800 名合唱團(tuán)被分為六組（五個(gè)成人合唱團(tuán)和一個(gè)兒童合唱團(tuán)）。謝炳順帶領(lǐng)布魯克林區(qū)團(tuán)隊(duì)；其他人負(fù)責(zé)來(lái)自蘇豪區(qū)、哈萊姆區(qū)、中城區(qū)和布朗克斯區(qū)的歌手們。由孩子們組成的紐約市青年合唱團(tuán)，則由合唱團(tuán)創(chuàng)辦人弗朗西斯科·努涅斯指揮，他們的音樂(lè)截然不同。在尾聲中，年輕的合唱團(tuán)身著黃色T 恤，在大衛(wèi)·格芬大廳的陽(yáng)臺(tái)上排隊(duì)出現(xiàn)。

小薇：我看到阿拉斯代爾·米德?tīng)栴D的唱詞特別關(guān)注氣候變化和對(duì)環(huán)境的威脅。要寫(xiě)出能適應(yīng)不同水平的社區(qū)合唱團(tuán)的音樂(lè)一定很難。事實(shí)上，這個(gè)大前提向世界發(fā)出了一個(gè)關(guān)于氣候變化和我們今天生存環(huán)境面臨風(fēng)險(xiǎn)的信息。然而，它也傳遞了一個(gè)希望。

小瓊：我聽(tīng)說(shuō)，這部作品明年將在歐洲首演。它有可能會(huì)來(lái)到亞洲嗎？

Joan： On May 12， I witnessed a truly moving worldpremiere at Lincoln Center—not at the MetropolitanOpera or the New York Philharmonic， but rather infront of them. Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts，the home for those organizations， commissioned anew work. Audiences and performers alike all stood fornearly an hour at the Josie Robertson Plaza， the site ofthe famous central fountain.

Valery： Search for Spring was written by the Englishcomposer Jonathan Dove and librettist AlasdairMiddleton and involved more than 800 singers from allover New York， from children’s choruses to community，non-professional singers. There was no audition process.It was all an open gate for people to make music！

Joan： And the world premiere was open to the publicas well， so anyone in the neighborhood could just walkover. The thrill of seeing something being born—again，for the community—is precious. However， when 800singers are involved in an open-air setting， we needmultiple conductors， and even special assistants toguide different groups from one place to another （therewas some choreography involved）. With the renownedBritish choral conductor Simon Halsey at the helm，six New York City conductors were involved from early"rehearsals all the way to world premiere， includingPhilip Cheah. You remember him？

Valery： Yes！ You talked about him quite a bit a fewyears ago （March–June 2020）， about his commitment tomusic， to the art song， to leading community choruses.

Joan： It was so heartening to see a friend involved. The800 choristers were divided into six groups （five adultchoruses and one children’s chorus）. Philip led the groupfrom Brooklyn; others come from SoHo， Harlem， Midtownand the Bronx. The Young People’s Chorus of New York Cityunder the baton of founder Francisco Nu?ez representedthe children， so their music was quite different. The youngchoristers， all wearing yellow T-shirts， got to line up on thebalcony of David Geffen Hall during the finale.

Valery： I see Alasdair Middleton’s libretto specificallyconcerns climate change and the danger to ourenvironment. It must be quite tricky to write musicso accommodating to community choruses of suchdifferent abilities. Indeed， the major premise sendsa message to the world about climate change andthe dangers we face today. However， it also sends amessage of hope.

Joan： This work， I hear， will have its European premierenext year. Will it ever come to Asia？