With the Grammy Award winner Time for Three presenting a special outdoor concert, the 2024 Hongqiao Grassland Music Festival kicked off Saturday at Shanghai Zoo in the city's Changning district.

Hosted by Changning district's administration of culture and tourism, the music festival will run through Oct 13, featuring six free performances at five landmarks across the district including the Shanghai Zoo, Hongqiao Park and Zhongshan Park.

As its name indicates, the music festival will turn the district's parks and green lands into art spaces, which will stage diverse shows for residents coming from all ages and levels with various themes such as jazz, families, nursery rhymes and pets.

"We have picked green lands in different sizes and music in various types for the audiences, hoping to make them feel the magic of music and the charm of life," said Ye Xiaoying, director of the district's center of culture and tourism management affairs.

Ye explained that they chose Time for Three as the performer for the festival's first show for several reasons. In addition to their reputable music works and performing skills, the trio was expected to be a perfect match with nature, audiences and the animals at the Shanghai Zoo with their tender and softly blended music.

Time for Three is a classically-trained, genre-crossing string trio comprising violinist Nick Kendall, Charles Yang and double-bassist Ranaan Meyer. They are also known for sharing vocals in the performances. The trio won the Grammy Award in 2023 for Best Classical Instrumental Solo for Letters for the Future with The Philadelphia Orchestra and conductor Xian Zhang.

This show marked the trio's first performance in the Chinese mainland. Performing in a zoo was also an unprecedented experience for them, which inspired them to specifically put many animal and Chinese elements in the program arrangements, such as the swan, the elephant and the celebrated Chinese melody Butterfly Lovers.

"We are very lucky to be here. This is not only the first time for Time for Three in Shanghai, but also the first time at a zoo ever, so it is very special. It is really wonderful to be in nature and let our music breathe, and let the people that might not come to the concert hall experience it in the open air," said the trio. "Without a doubt this experience of coming here for the first time has left such a feeling of inspiration to the art that we will create."

The American-born-Chinese Charles Yang in the trio was feeling even more connected to the audience and the city. His mother, who is also a violinist, studied at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

"We have traveled and played at a lot of places around the world, and every culture is different. But here, being an American-born-Chinese, I just feel like it's home. The audience is so cooperative and spontaneous. We can feel them and feel the love, through the same language of music," said Yang.