Salon | Echoes of Love and Pain: How Can We Understand Schumann’s Art Songs?

Echoes of Love and Pain: How Can We Understand Schumann’s Art Songs?
August 21, 2025 (Thursday) | 20:00  
Mountian View Theater  
 

When people repeatedly seek the meaning of life, they often find that no matter how much wealth they possess, what ultimately heals the heart is the warmth and love between human beings.  
In the poetry and melodies of Romanticism, love was once depicted as passionate, profound, painful, and tender.  
Two hundred years later, we can still hear echoes of our own hearts within them.  

Three artists will guide you into the secrets of love and music.  
This salon is divided into three parts:  
- Starting with Poetry: In the works of Romantic poets, love is both a soft whisper and a profound echo. Under the guidance of this session’s lecturer, Wenhao Mou, conductor of the Shenzhen Opera and Dance Theatre, even if we do not understand German, we can still sense the tenderness and fervor flowing through the rhythm of the words.  
- When Poetry Meets Music: When composers entrust verses to melodies, they are given wings to soar. Thus, art songs were born, becoming the most delicate cultural trend of the 19th century. In a dialogue between lecturer Wenhao Mou, tenor Zhuohan Sun, and pianist Gauthier Michel, we will experience a heartfelt embrace of literature and music.  
- Listening to Schumann: Zhuohan Sun and Gauthier Michel will perform together. Through song and piano, the love between Schumann and Clara will no longer be just a fragment of history but will transform into a living echo of the soul. What we listen to is not only their story but also the deepest longings and redemptions within our own hearts.  

Featured Guests  
- Wenhao Mou: Young conductor, resident conductor of the Shenzhen Opera and Dance Theatre, and Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting from the Eastman School of Music. In 2024, he won the gold medal at the Austria "Brahms International Conducting Competition" and is also a seasoned scholar and music critic who has frequently guided concert audiences.  
- Zhuohan Sun: An acclaimed tenor who has achieved numerous awards in domestic and international competitions. In 2024, he won the gold medal at the Schumann International Vocal Competition with his unique timbre and precise interpretation of Schumann’s works, becoming the first Chinese gold medalist in this prestigious competition. European media praised him: "All listeners were astonished by such a beautiful voice and exemplary German pronunciation... His ability to interpret musical layers is extraordinary, forcing the audience to remember this tenor’s name."  
- Gauthier Michel: French pianist, not only a winner of the 2019 Gabriel Fauré International Piano Competition but also the collaborative pianist who stood alongside Zhuohan Sun at the Schumann Competition.