{"id":16523,"date":"2021-07-08T16:44:04","date_gmt":"2021-07-08T23:44:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/?p=16523"},"modified":"2021-07-08T16:45:00","modified_gmt":"2021-07-08T23:45:00","slug":"changsha-winner-huaicong-mu-plays-regondis-bellini-variations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/changsha-winner-huaicong-mu-plays-regondis-bellini-variations\/","title":{"rendered":"Classical Guitar Video Pick: Changsha Winner Huaicong Mu Plays Regondi’s Bellini Variations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I was honored to be a judge for the virtual December 2020 Changsha International Guitar Festival<\/a> competition, which has evolved into one of the biggest guitar events in Asia. All the finalists were very<\/em> impressive, but no one could argue that the eventual winner, Chinese guitarist Huaicong Mu<\/a>, was anything but deserving of the crown! His varied program included S\u00e9rgio Assad’s Eli’s Portrait<\/em>, the required Bagatelles with Fantasies<\/em> by Stephen Goss, Alexandre Tansman’s Variations on a Theme by Scriabin<\/em>, and, to close it out, a thrilling take on Giulio Regondi’s Air vari\u00e9 de l\u2019 opera de Bellini ‘I Montecchi e Capuletti’<\/em> (themes from Vincenzo Bellini’s popular 1830 operatic telling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some may recall that Huaicong Mu was previously a winner of both the Junior and Senior Divisions at the Guitar Foundation of America’s International Youth Competition (in 2010 and 2012, respectively), so the word has been out (somewhat) about his talent for a number of years. He currently lives in Cologne, Germany, and is studying at the Hochschule f\u00fcr Musik und Tanz K\u00f6ln<\/a>. In any event, if you haven’t seen or heard him before, here’s your chance: A version of the Regondi\/Bellini piece from July 2020. And if you’d like to check out his entire winning Changsha finals performance , you’ll find that here<\/a>. \u2014Blair Jackson<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Report from 7th Changsha International Guitar Festival: Xuefei Yang, Xavier Jara, Duo Melis, A New Piece from Brouwer, and More<\/a><\/blockquote>