Strings sing online in spring

The NCPA Orchestra is livestreaming its seasonal concert series amid the outbreak, Chen Nan reports.

The NCPA Orchestra launched its Spring Online Concerts series on April 11 and is livestreaming the performances on major Chinese social media platforms, such as Youku and iQiyi, as well as on the National Center for the Performing Arts' Sina Weibo and WeChat accounts.

Ludwig van Beethoven's arrangement of his Quintet in E Flat Major, Op 16 for piano, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn was selected as the opening piece and performed by a quintet from the NCPA Orchestra.

The work was completed in the summer of 1796 and first performed in Vienna the following year. The virtuoso's first string-quartet composition, String Quartet in C Minor, Op 18, No 4, was also performed by an NCPA Orchestra string quartet during the concert, which has been viewed over 27 million times online.

"To me, these two pieces by Beethoven invoke the feeling of spring, which is very special this year," says Yang Xiaozhou, a diehard classical-music fan and Chinese Academy of Sciences' math-and-physics institute professor.

"We've been going through the outbreak together, which enables us to be close to one another. I look forward to going to more live concerts when the epidemic ends. I believe people will gain a different perspective on life after the pandemic."