Springing to life

Ms. Manners, with backup (May 28)

Superstar violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter is notorious for having verbally scolded a noisy audience member –from the stage –during a Beijing performance in 2004. Was it the city’s politeness committee that helped sponsor her return trip? She’s not only performing, but also conducting an energetic Norwegian chamber orchestra, the Trondheim Soloists, with whom she has worked extensively in the last few years. Behave yourself!

After...and before (May 29, May 31-June 1)

If you want even more orchestral music with slightly edgy programming, a few international visits are playing cleanup this month. The BBC Scottish Symphony –one of the more dynamic orchestras in Europe –makes a strong case that programming, audience building, and energy matter more than perfect playing. The provincial groups should stick around to listen and learn; it could serve as an excellent model.

The Juilliard Orchestra –from the famous school that has been signing up increasing numbers of mainland students in recent years –will be here for two performances. One concert features master teacher Yang Hongnian’s children’s chorus, which points toward an optimistic future for music in China.

Overall, it’s a clever win-win formula that the NCPA seems to be adopting: keeping its handlers happy, while probing distinctive programming directions. Perhaps it’s catching on to the fact that it needs to lead, and not just think big, in order to fill the tall order of serving as a meeting ground for a budding national musical identity.

Will other halls with less oversight and more creative wiggle room decide to follow down this path? Keep this question in mind as you revisit one of the truly epic events of recent arts exchange history: the Philadelphia Orchestra’s 25th anniversary of their groundbreaking 1973 tour. They’re due in town in June on the heels of everything above –not at the NCPA, but rather at a few of their old haunts, giving us a chance to see just how far we’ve all come. Stay tuned for a feature next month.