Ana Rucner achieved another significant international success with her performance at the prestigious CMG Mid-Autumn Festival Gala, a major television spectacular by China Media Group, the Chinese national media house, which is broadcast throughout China and the world on the occasion of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Previous editions of this television event have recorded audiences measured in hundreds of millions of viewers.
This year’s Gala was filmed in Huainan, in China’s Anhui province, and the worldwide broadcast was scheduled for September 25. Rucner performed alongside one of China’s most renowned pipa virtuosos, Fang Jinlong, and German pianist Oskar Roman Jezior, performing Clair de Lune and May We All Be Blessed with Longevity (Dan Yuan Ren Chang Jiu). Among the international stars of this year’s program is Sarah Brightman, who performs with Chinese singer Zhou Shen.
“The music we performed was so beautiful that I couldn’t stop playing even after everything was finished. For me, this is a great success and I am immensely proud of my team with whom I create in China. We dreamed of this, and today it came true. Everything happened incredibly fast. The invitation arrived last month and it was a big undertaking to rehearse everything in just a few days, travel to China, record the performance, and return to Croatia to continue my engagements here. I barely made my flight because the evening before I was still performing at an event in Dubrovnik”, says Ana Rucner.
The Croatian artist’s performance on one of the most-watched Chinese television programs is another important step in her years-long work in China, as well as an opportunity to present Croatia through music to a million-strong international audience.