Editor's Picks

Maestro's first visit

Classical fans should not miss Sir Neville Marriner's first, and possibly last, performance in China. The renowned 90-year-old English conductor and violinist will take the baton of China Philharmonic Orchestra to perform Mozart's Symphony No 35, Beethoven's Second Symphony and English composer Sir Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations. Marriner founded the Academy of St Martin in the Fields Chamber Orchestra in 1958 and was its chairman until 1992. He holds the title of lifetime president. The chamber orchestra has toured China a couple of times but never with Marriner. Chinese fans have waited for a long time to see him perform. Li Nan, president of China Philharmonic Orchestra, says that the maestro's name is always on the top of Chinese music lovers' wish lists. "It has always been my wish and honor to invite Sir Neville Marriner to China, ever since I started to collect his recordings in the early 1980s," Li says.

7:30 pm, March 1. Forbidden City Concert Hall, inside Zhongshan Park, west of Chang'an Jie (Avenue), Xicheng district, Beijing. 010-6559-8285.