The city's annual Music in the Summer Air festival will see performances by artists from around the world, including tributes to such icons as Andy Warhol and Pink Floyd, and a special appearance by Jane Birkin. Chen Jie reports.

Summer is for music and outings. And Shanghai's annual Music in the Summer Air festival from July 2 to 15 will see performances by artists from around the world paying tribute to the "Swinging Sixties".

MISA is organized by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra but it does not only present classical concerts.

So, this year's event will see tributes to Andy Warhol and Pink Floyd.

"The idea behind MISA is to broaden the range of music on offer - to attract audiences who have a little interest in classical music but are more interested in pop culture and live performances," says Wang Xiaoting, the program director of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.

French artist Thierry Balasse and his band, Comagnie Inouie, will pay a tribute to Pink Floyd on July 5 at the Shanghai Symphony Hall.

Nine musicians will use vocals, analog instruments and a sequenced sound box to play tracks from the legendary band's hit album The Dark Side of the Moon.

The sound effects, vocals, instruments and innovative stage setup will provide a unique experience for fans to enjoy this landmark album in the history of pop-rock music.

Balasse, a master of music recording and production, began work on an electro-acoustic composition in 1995. But since 2000, he has also worked on mixing instrumental or vocal music and electroacoustic processing.

He founded Compagnie Inouie in 2003.

Among the others performing at the festival is the band Hec & Pascal set up by Japanese film director Shunji Iwai in 2013.

Iwai has a big fan base in China, and his movies Love Letter (1995), All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001) and Suwaroteiru (1996) have a large following.

Iwai, who started his career directing music videos, not only directs and writes scripts but even scores music for his movies.

Hec & Pascal features a violin, a piano, a guitar, a cello and vocals.

The band will play music from Iwai's movies on July 6 at the Shanghai Symphony Hall.

A musical tribute to Andy Warhol will be presented by pop musician Michael Dean Wareham and his wife Britta Phillips.

The work was commissioned by the Andy Warhol Museum in 2010 when Wareham and his wife were told to create an album to accompany Warhol's screen tests featuring Lou Reed, Nico and Edie Sedgwick.

Titled 13 Most Beautiful: Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests, the album consists of 21 tracks, including several remixes. It's heavily influenced by the sound of the Velvet Underground, the band Warhol managed.

The screen tests were done between 1964 and 1966, when Warhol did almost 500 of them on famous and anonymous visitors to his studio The Factory in New York.

Warhol used a stationary, silent Bolex camera loaded with 100-foot rolls of black-and-white 16-millimeter film.

Those who took the tests were instructed to sit still for about three minutes, the length it took for the roll of film to run through the camera.

Some of the tests were edited into compilation reels such as 12 Most Beautiful Women, 13 Most Beautiful Boys and 50 Fantastics.

Wareham and Phillips will do a live show with the screen tests on July 13 at the Shanghai Symphony Hall.

But, if the shows above are about today's artists paying tribute to 1960s icons, prepare to see a real 1960s star - Jane Birkin will make her China debut on July 9.

The 69-year-old was once a popular singer and actress, and the Hermes Birkin bag is named after her.

The daughter of the English actress Judy Campbell, Birkin started performing at 17 in London and married composer and conductor John Barry at 19.

At 20, she appeared in Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni's movie Blowup, which won the grand prix at the Cannes Film Festival.

Then, Birkin went to France where she auditioned for the movie Slogan.

When she got the part, she barely spoke any French and knew nothing about her co-star. But her screen test impressed Serge Gainsbourg - a famous French actor who had then just broken up with actress Brigitte Bardot.

Thus started their mythical love story, which began in Paris in 1969.

Birkin left Gainsbourg in 1983 and married director Jacques Doillon. But Gainsbourg could not forget her and dedicated an album to her before his death in March 1991.

After Gainsbourg passed away, fans of the couple urged her to sing his songs. So, she and some artists first performed Gainsbourg's songs in 1996.

In 2002, Birkin decided to introduce him to younger audiences and sing his songs at different events.

After the earthquake and the nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima in March 2011, Birkin flew to Japan to perform in a concert.

During this trip, she met Japanese composer Nobuyuki Nakajima, who later became the artistic director of her tour to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Gainsbourg's death - Jane Birkin Sings Serge Gainsbourg Via Japan.

Early this year, the Symphonic Orchestra of Montreal proposed to create a recital called the Gainsbourg Symphonic.

Birkin said yes and invited Nakajima to work with her. Philippe Lerichomme, her artistic director, then advised to make it a world tour.

On July 9, Birkin will sing Gainsbourg's songs with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, while Nakajima will play the piano at the Shanghai Symphony Hall.

Besides the pop icons, MISA is also offering world-class classical music.

For the second consecutive year, the New York Philharmonic will offer a variety of concerts, master classes and outreach events.

It will perform two concerts at the Shanghai Symphony Hall, including the opening concert on July 2 and a few outdoor performances.

A highlight is a concert featuring Charlie Chaplin's movie City Lights (1931).

In addition, the New York Symphonic will bring its project Very Young Composers to Shanghai.

Jon Deak, composer and the associate principal bassist of the New York Philharmonic, founded Very Young Composers in 1995.

They choose public school students aged 9-13 to compose music for the New York Philharmonic and other ensembles.

This time, Deak and the Shanghai Symphony have chosen six students aged 13-16 in Shanghai, who have basic training in music but no knowledge of composing.

They will work together from July 2 to 8 under the guidance of Deak and musicians from the two orchestras.

Each of them will write one chamber piece, and the piece will be performed by musicians of the two orchestras at the Shanghai Symphony Hall on July 8.

"We are honored and happy that the New York Philharmonic orchestra continues to work with us for the second year (in a row). We are gaining more experience in management and backstage, which is more than just bringing concerts here," says Zhou Ping, president of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.

"Very Young Composers is a new program that we believe can inspire us to explore more possibilities in educating and developing young audiences," she says.

Contact the writer at chenjie@chinadaily.com.cn

Shanghai's annual Music in the Summer Air festival starting from July 2 will see performances by artists from around the world, including (clockwise from top left) US violinist Gil Shaharm, Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov, Japanese film director Shunji Iwai and British singer and actress Jane Birkin. Photos Provided To China Daily

(China Daily USA 06/29/2016 page8)