ORF-E
English
1 x 52 min / 1 x 74 min
Worldwide

“Visit from China” relates the life stories of Ferdinand Adler, an Austrian violinist, and Mingliang Sheng, a Chinese violin student, who meet in China in 1946. Adler had escaped from the Nazis in 1939 and settled in Shanghai, were he established himself as a musician and teacher. Sheng escaped the Nanjing Massacre in 1937 and learned to play the violin in Chongqing, eventually studying under Adler. The stories of the two musicians are related through the eyes of their children, Christina Adler and Fang Sheng, when they join forces to produce a radio documentary. The film shows how Adler influenced classical music in China and ends with a tribute arranged by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra to mark his 120th birthday. Comprehensive archive materials help to bring this compelling, unique story to life. Soon after his arrival in Shanghai, Ferdinand Adler became a well-known musician. He performed as a soloist, chamber, and orchestra violinist, and in coffee houses and nightclubs that had been opened by European refugees. Eventually he became concert master of the Shanghai Municipal Orchestra (today Shanghai Symphony Orchestra), and Professor of violin at the music conservatories in Changzhou, Nanjing and Shanghai. Mingliang Sheng fled Nanjing to the Chinese war capital Chongqing with his father and brothers. Sheng and his brothers were soon orphaned when their father died. Sheng applied to and was accepted into the junior program of the music conservatory in Chongqing, where he got free room and board, and was assigned to learn the violin. In 1946, Adler and Sheng first met. The music conservatory’s junior program had been re-established in Changzhou, near Shanghai, and Ferdinand Adler became Mingliang Sheng’s violin teacher. In the film, Christina Adler — Ferdinand’s daughter – who was born in Shanghai in 1945, meets Mingliang Sheng via video chat, as he recalls his life-changing time with Adler more than 70 years ago. In his time in China – together with other European musicians – Adler had a long-lasting impact on Chinese classical music through his teaching of young Chinese musicians. After his return to Vienna in 1947, Ferdinand Adler resumed his musical career and became concertmaster of Vienna’s State Opera Orchestra. He died in 1952 unexpectedly during a rehearsal at the age of 48. In May of 1952, Mingliang Sheng travelled to Vienna – on a world tour with young Chinese artists – just months after his former teacher had passed away. Mingliang Sheng ultimately became a founding member of the Central Philharmonic Orchestra of China. The film opens in a shop where Ferdinand Adler’s violin is being restored for an exhibition in the Jewish Museum in Vienna. The story ends on May 6, 2023, on the occasion of Ferdinand Adler’s 120th birthday, when the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra commemorates him on the streets of Shanghai. Concert Master Ming Liu plays Hebraic Melody by Joseph Achron in honor of her predecessor. Outstanding archival materials (film, photo, text and music) bring this unusual story to life. The languages spoken in the film are German, English and Chinese.