Chapter 442: Graduation Concert
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
After entering the concert hall, the two elder Fangs found their own seats. Their seats were close to the front, just behind the VIP, academic advisor and evaluation committee seats.
The HuangArt Center’s music hall was constructed in line with top standards. Practically every seat in the hall could enjoy the same sound quality. However, some areas were closer to the stage than others, so there was some difference in visuals.
Great-grandfather Fang looked around and sighed in relief when he didn’t see that figure.
The person the two elders had seen had shocked them greatly. However, they no longer had any inclination to mull over it. This was the venue of Fang Zhao’s graduation concert. People continued to show up in succession all around them. Many were celebrities they had seen on the Internet before. Great-grandfather Fang paid close attention to the entertainment circles. He wasn’t able to recall all of their names, but he could still recognize them. Those people were surely famous.
At the thought of so many reputable people in entertainment circles coming over to attend Fang Zhao’s concert, Great-grandfather Fang felt extremely proud.
As for everything else, what old friend or bare-handed droid-ripping could be more important than his own great-grandson?!
Great-grandfather Fang took the opportunity before the concert started to show off once again to his friends. The other old fogies at the retirement facility definitely never had such an experience!
As Fang Zhao was very busy today, he had Nanfeng check on the two elder Fangs after hearing that they had arrived.
Nanfeng had only stayed for a short while before he was sent back by the two elder Fangs to attend to Fang Zhao. Great-grandfather Fang reckoned that Fang Zhao would be too busy today to even drink water. Furthermore, it was easy to fall ill when stressed. Thus, Fang Zhao had to be properly taken care of!
So, Nanfeng was shooed away again. He didn’t have any complaints but was instead very excited.
He had originally thought that no matter how great Fang Zhao’s reputation was, this sort of graduation concert would only attract academics. He had never expected to see so many celebrities!
When had Fang Zhao met these people?
Furthermore, many of the newcomers to the singing industry walked a completely separate path. Why were they trying to join in the fun?
Others who had managed to snag admission tickets and take part in the excitement had the same doubts as Nanfeng. Quite a number of those rookie singers weren’t academics. They didn’t have anything in common with Fang Zhao nor did they have any intention of promoting themselves here. What were they here for?
Last but not least, there were also people interested Fang Zhao’s commercial potential. Although they appreciated music, these people were businessmen first and foremost. Perhaps they weren’t able to estimate Fang Zhao’s artistic value, but they could gauge Fang Zhao’s commercial value well. And, these sharp-witted businessmen had already learned a lot just based on who else was present.
Were all these music industry colleagues from various backgrounds necessarily here because of Fang Zhao?
Some young superstars from the continent were very well-behaved.
Putting on airs? Acting self important?
That didn’t exist.
There were too many big shots here. It would be easy to get their faces smacked.
Anna, Fang Zhao’s red carpet partner back at the film festival entered the music hall with her husband Lan Jing at this moment.
Lan Jing, a famous singer and songwriter from Huangzhou, was a talented individual and disciple of Mo Lang. No one was surprised to see Lan Jing here.
As a frequent guest at HuangArt, Lanjing was very familiar with the seating arrangements and found his seat in no time. Beside him was another recent arrival.
Lan Jing was taken aback for a moment when he saw the person beside him. He recovered quickly with a smile and greeted, “Oh, Sis Fei, what a coincidence!”
The person beside had already taken off her shades. It was Lakalinazhou superstar Fei Ying. She was a singer renowned globally and sang all kinds of genres from opera and classical to rock. In addition, she was very talented in composition and arrangement. Her emergence on the scene years ago had resulted in a bloodbath for all the big music charts of Lakalinazhou.
Anna immediately greeted “Sis Fei” as well. She was a junior and couldn’t compare with Fei Ying’s influence in the global music circles.
Fei Ying returned a smile. Then, as if she had thought of something, she shot a look of disdain at Lan Jing.
“I heard that your new song lost on the charts again? What kind of trash can’t even beat a female virtual idol?!” Fei Ying said condescendingly.
Lan Jing cried out with an exaggerated look on his face. “The heck! Do you know how hard it is to go up against a female virtual idol now?! Why don’t you try it if you are so capable?!”
Fei Ying’s main battleground was Lakalinazhou. Virtual idols didn’t enjoy the same reception in Lazhou’s music scene as compared to Huangzhou’s. Therefore, Lan Jing felt that Fei Ying was all talk.
It was publicly acknowledged that competition in Huangzhou’s music scene was intense. Those that could survive and emerge were all impressive people. Even virtual idols here had powerful groups backing them.
One loss wasn’t a big deal. What was scary was always losing.
Lan Jing had indeed encountered a bottleneck in his composition. He had come to attend Fang Zhao’s concert not because of what others thought as “fellow disciple camaraderie” but because Mo Lang had suggested it. Therefore, Lan Jing had come to this concert eager to learn. Regardless of whether he could break through the bottleneck, any gains here would be worthwhile.
While the two seemed to exchange harsh words, those words were validation that they acknowledged each other.
Many weren’t qualified for acknowledgement at all and would be entirely ignored.
Not long after, yet another familiar face called out to Lan Jing.
“Seems like you came to attend your junior brother’s concert, Lan Jing.”
“Strictly speaking, Fang Zhao isn’t my junior brother. He is Prof. Carter’s disciple, and Carter is my Senior Brother,” Lan Jing explained.
“Tsk, everyone knows Fang Zhao is learning from Old Master Mo. Isn’t this equivalent to being your junior brother? Everyone knows that Mo Lang has been guiding Fang Zhao personally. He guarded Fang Zhao very tightly in the latter half of the advanced course duration because he was afraid Fang Zhao would get distracted. It’s clear how much Old Master Mo cares about Fang Zhao from how protective he is of him.
Lan Jing didn’t deny it and laughed sheepishly. “I used to be one of master’s gems. But, after Master found this little junior brother, I have become some poor grass by the sidewalk.”
That was what he said, but Lan Jing also knew that many people could only be envious of him. As a disciple of Mo Lang, he enjoyed many benefits and had access to lots of resources that many people had no way of getting their hands on. Of course, the prerequisite was to have the ability. Without sufficient ability, he would have long been kicked out by Old Master Mo.
As this conversation carried on, another group of people entered the hall.
The music hall that was rampant with discussion suddenly quieted before stirring up once again. Although the atmosphere was more muted now, that was merely on the surface. Many people’s eyes were on those few people who had walked to the front and sat down.
The group that had just entered were HuangArt personnel, evaluation committee members, academic advisors and a few special guests.
Lan Jing became aware of others shifting their attention. Some even shot up from their seats in excitement.
“They actually came!”
“The last time I saw Teacher Yan was ten years ago.”
“Great Master Sang Jieqi actually came out of his long seclusion!”
People in the music industry all knew Yan Ye and Sang Jieqi.
Yan Ye, Da Mu and Sang Jieqi had been three globally renowned composers of epic music. Some people said that their peaks in the pop music circles were somewhat exaggerated, but it wasn’t by much. The style of their works varied from subdued to intense. Too many pop stars had found their fame from them. Back then, many singers couldn’t even get those three to produce a song for them despite willing to fork out large sums of money.
However, these three all had conflicting views with HuangArt before. Back then, some HuangArt academics had felt that HuangArt catered too much to the market and was too commercialized. However, these three didn’t feel that way. They selected their music and persevered because of their passion.
After that, the three never reconciled with HuangArt. However, in their opinion, Twelve Tones was Twelve Tones while HuangArt was HuangArt. Although there were people they loathed in Twelve Tones, their teachers and mentors of their music journeys were inside. Previously, they had attended a few Twelve Tones events but rarely the HuangArt ones.
Later on, Da Mu passed away from an accident, while Sang Jieqi went into seclusion, so his whereabouts hadn’t been well known. Yan Ye was quite old and had limited energy. He wanted to rest and only released a song once a year. Even if his current style wasn’t necessarily appreciated by the masses, the song rights were still highly sought after.
Nowadays, Yan Ye and Sang Jieqi rarely participated in Twelve Tones events. However, invitations for important events and graduation concerts were still sent to them.
Of course, there were also other composers and creators in attendance not on Yan Ye and Sang Jieqi’s level but were also considered important people in the industry. There were also pop megastars with huge backings present as well.
“Is it because of Old Master Mo?” Anna asked.
Only Mo Lang could pull off securing the attendance of these people.
Lan Jing was so sour he felt he was going to turn into a lemon.
“I never received such treatment before. Teacher actually managed to bring these people out just for junior brother! No, based on Fang Zhao’s previous works, his style is entirely different from this bunch’s… This is just promotion for little junior brother!”
It wasn’t just Lan Jing. Mo Lang’s other disciple also felt sour when they saw this.
Teacher is indeed biased!
At that moment, Great Master Mo Lang was chatting with old friends.
“I have listened to Fang Zhao’s previous works before. It is profound, yet unfolds impressively,” Yan Ye said. “I don’t really delve into the kind of musical approach you all take, but I am still able to somewhat perceive it. For instance, the first type of profundity is like reading a history book or watching a movie laden with details and insights. The other sort is like placing oneself in the annals of history as if actually experiencing it without being separated by space or time. Fang Zhao’s works belongs to the latter. Therefore, Old Mo, I haven’t come just to give you face. I’m also very interested in this young fellow’s music.
Sang Jieqi also chimed in, “The structure of Fang Zhao’s works has always been huge. However it is easy for something with a huge structure to appear empty. However, from his previous works, I can see that he has already done very well. No, I should say that he has done extremely well for his age! I just wonder what sort of pleasant surprise he will give me this time. At the same time, it will be good to have a glimpse at the current standards of the Twelve Tones Advanced Course.”
“As a student, this Fang Zhao learns really quickly.”
The academic advisors of the advanced course were all full of confidence. To be precise, they were very confident in Mo Lang. If Fang Zhao’s submitted works couldn’t satisfy Mo Lang, then this Old Master Mo wouldn’t be smiling. Mo Lang appeared solemn, but the corners of his mouth had curled upwards multiple times when he heard others praising Fang Zhao.
The few of them started inquiring from Mo Lang about stuff pertaining to this concert. As the guiding advisor, Mo Lang knew much more.
Prof. Carter sat behind in silence. It was best if he didn’t say anything at this time.
