‘Beethoven in Beijing’ Screening, Discussion Touches on 50 Years of Cultural Diplomacy through Classical Music
May 11, 2023UNC Global Affairs

Alison Friedman, executive director of Carolina Performing Arts, explains cultural diplomacy and why it matters. (Photo by Eleazar Yisrael for Carolina Performing Arts)
For the final event in Carolina’s second annual Diplomacy Week, the Office of the Vice Provost for Global Affairs partnered with Carolina Performing Arts to screen the documentary film “Beethoven in Beijing” followed by a Q&A with the film’s producer and co-director. The 2020 film shows the role that cultural diplomacy played in breaking through decades of U.S.-China isolation.
After President Richard Nixon’s historic visit to China in 1972, he secured an invitation for the Philadelphia Orchestra to visit its capital, Peking (now called Beijing). “The Philadelphia Orchestra’s 1973 tour was a tentative gesture of cultural diplomacy that resonates yet today, when China produces millions of musicians, erects dozens of new concert halls and fills chairs in orchestras around the world,” according to the filmmakers. Prior to the Orchestra’s visit, contact between the U.S. and China was strictly limited. China’s Cultural Revolution (1966-76) prohibited western culture, including classical music and instruments.
Through a series of scenes filmed in 2016 as well as historic footage of the 1973 tour, the 90-minute film depicts person-to-person moments that have endured over the decades: an oboist from the Philadelphia Orchestra gifted some reeds to someone he met in China, and those reeds have become family heirlooms for the recipient. As a result of the Orchestra’s visit, many children in China who grew up steeped in learning classical music became principal musicians, conductors and composers, including Tan Dun, who earned an Academy Award for his score of the 2000 film “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”

Barbara Stephenson, Carolina’s vice provost for global affairs and chief global officer, welcomed the audience to the Nelson Mandela Auditorium on Friday, April 21. “During my 34 years as an American diplomat, I saw the power of cultural diplomacy over and over again,” she said. “When relations were good, cultural diplomacy strengthened them. When relations were tense, or close to non-existent—as when the Philadelphia Orchestra took Beethoven to Beijing in 1973, or, one might well argue, now—cultural diplomacy provided vital connections, giving us a chance to see and experience each other as fully human.”
A key part of the Diplomacy Initiative, Stephenson said, is partnerships with leaders and experts right here at UNC-Chapel Hill. Before the film began, Stephenson asked Alison Friedman, executive director of Carolina Performing Arts, to give a brief explanation on cultural diplomacy and why it matters.
Friedman, who spent many years in China and Hong Kong, began her remarks speaking Mandarin before switching to English. She talked about the arts being great teachers of empathy, a key part of cultural diplomacy. She encouraged those in attendance to cultivate empathy in their everyday lives by “well-hopping” – jumping into others’ lived experiences. “Being open-minded is not a one-and-done act,” she said. “It’s about making sure we are always hopping into different wells to experience life from different perspectives. The wells can be as far apart as continents, or as close as the dorm room next door to yours with a student who has a completely different experience than yours.”
After the film ended, its director Jennifer Lin fielded questions alongside Mark Katz, John P. Barker Distinguished Professor of Music. Katz, who has led cultural diplomacy efforts through the medium of hip-hop, opened the discussion by asking Lin about how the film depicted moments of diplomacy, both big and small.

“Both in my own experience overseeing diplomatic work, and in the film, what is clear to me is that some of the most important things happen in between and long after the official events,” Katz said. “So it’s not just the concert, the gala, the shaking hands, but in between and afterwards.”
Lin responded with an example from 1973 that doesn’t appear in the film but does appear in the companion book (also called “Beethoven in Beijing”) she wrote, a collection of oral histories from people who participated in the historic trip. Robert “Bobby” dePasquale, a violinist with the orchestra, had taken a walk one day during the residency and heard a boy practicing violin. Then he took out his own instrument and started playing, the boy came out, other people started gathering, and it turned into an impromptu sidewalk concert – with the violin being the only common language among those there. “Bobby said to me, ‘You know, I wish the leaders, the politicians could see this moment, because this is really what it’s all about,’” Lin said.
The Philadelphia Orchestra has maintained its connections with China and returned to perform many times over the years. The Orchestra will visit UNC-Chapel Hill and give two public performances at Memorial Hall September 20 & 21, marking the 50th anniversary of their groundbreaking visit to Beijing.