Live ping-pong takes center stage at New York Philharmonic concert
It was the first time a ping-pong table had taken center stage at the David Geffen Hall in New York, as two US national table tennis champions played each other live as part of the New York Philharmonic's Chinese New Year annual concert at the Lincoln Center on Feb 20.
Ariel Hsing and Michael Landers, the youngest-ever US women's singles champion and US men's singles champion respectively, were featured as the ping-pong-playing soloists in Andy Akiho's energetic concerto, Ricochet, Concerto for Ping Pong, Violin, Percussion and Orchestra, under the baton of Chinese conductor Yu Long.
The performance used the sounds from an intense table tennis match alongside a full symphony orchestra, which saw the ping-pong players elevated at the back of the stage, like opera singers performing above an orchestra pit.
