(Cleawisdom.net) With the conclusion of the second round of the NTDTV Chinese International Violin Competition, eight contestants will move on to the finals. The annual competition is being held at the Kaufman Center's Merkin Concert Hall in New York.

 Contestant Ling Xianyou from Texas

Contestant Shu Cheng Yang from Canada

Contestant Zhou Ying from Texas

Contestant Zhang Songyan from Canada

Competition judge: The competition promotes traditional Chinese culture

Judge Chia-Chi Lin said, "I think the most important duty for an artist is to bring the audience to his realm and have the audience's realm elevated." To reach that level, she said that a performer must keep a peaceful and pure mind. His or her music will then move the audience.

She said, "As soon as a contestant steps up to the stage, we can see his or her character and get a sense of the musician's inner realm. Since the performers have different backgrounds, their behavior and performance are different."

Judge Lin said that classical pieces were chosen because the contest's goal is to promote traditional culture. "Classical music's inner meaning is to praise the gods, so classical composers' hearts are pure," she said. "That's different from the goal of composers today."

The music of the semi-finals included Beethoven's Romance (with piano accompaniment): Romance No. 1 G flat major, Op. 40, or No. 2 F flat major, Op. 50, as well as Bach's Sonata in A minor BWV 1003- Fugue.

Ms. Lin said "One performs violin for melody. But the music of Bach, especially Fugue, pays attention to not only melody, but also chords and presents different sounds. There are four strings in violin. It is a degree of difficulty to control them well and have the audience listen with ease."

She continued, "Each contestant performed at their levels. We hope to provide an opportunity for the contestants to exchange technical skills and experience."

 Ms. Chen engaged in voice study for many years at Shanghai Music School  

Ms. Chen who was engaged in voice study for many years at Shanghai Music School came to watch the semi-finals. She said, "Beethoven's music demands hardness and softness, as well as sentiment into the skills. The romance music needs to be played delicately. Playing Bach's unaccompanied music can show the contestants' skills. Being able to perform Beethoven and Bach music works so well, one must have solid music training. So these contestants are truly world-class players."

The competition provides a platform to promote traditional Chinese music

The music for the finals is Paganini Caprice and The Butterfly Lovers' Violin Concerto. Judge Chen Tutang said, "Butterfly Lovers is specially included in the finals since Chinese people appreciate Chinese music."

She said, "Chinese people hope to have excellent music of Chinese style. So we selected Butterfly Lovers. It is based on Shaoxing opera style in south China. Chinese people like it very much. Promoting it to the world should be welcomed."

Contestant Wu Liqiang graduated from The Royal Conservatory of Music. He said, "Traditional music has a bright future though currently it has little opportunity to spread. From this aspect, the competition provides a very good opportunity for traditional Chinese music to spread internationally.

Ms. Chen said, "Traditional culture needs to be spread. The NTDTV competitions brings traditional Chinese culture to world stage and spreads Chinese culture across the world. It has significant meaning."

The contestants entering the finals:

Number 348 contestant Yunceng Zhang
Number 324 contestant Xianyou Ling
Number 429 contestant Chenghan Cai
Number 493 contestant Shu Cheng Yang
Number 339 contestant Zhangtong Song
Number 326 contestant Shikai Lin
Number 303 contestant Ying Zhou
Number 508 contestant Pinren Lin

In addition, the organizers invited international outstanding musician Glenn Dicterow to have a Master session in the Kaufman Center to teach the three selected contestants:

Number 281 contestant Songyan Zhang
Number 324 contestant Xianyou Ling
Number 303 contestant Ying Zhou

The finals on August 30 are open to the public. The Kaufman Center is located at 129 of 67^th Street. The ticketing website is webticketcenter.com/competitions/ . The ticket hotline is 646-736-2969.