Orchestrating success

The China Philharmonic Orchestra will open its new season with 18 concerts. Yu Long, the orchestra's artistic director, will take the baton as one of the conductors.

The opening concert will be held at the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing on Sept 12, featuring two pieces by composer Chen Qigang: Ouverture Symphonique Instants d'un Opera de Pekin and Itineraire d'une Illusion, as well as Richard Strauss' 1898 tone poem Ein Heldenleben, Op 40(A Hero's Life). Violinist Liu Rui will also perform.

It will be the first performing season for the orchestra after it celebrated its 20th year last year. The new season, planned earlier, will go on amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It's particularly difficult for us to launch a new season since musicians from around the world cannot travel to China and perform with us due to the pandemic. However, it allows Chinese musicians, especially the younger-generation musicians, to shine onstage," says Yu, adding that in its 2021-22 season, the China Philharmonic Orchestra will hold concerts on special themes.

Chinese composers and their works will be highlighted. On Oct 10, composer Guo Wenjing's music pieces will be performed by the China Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of conductor Huang Yi.

Four of Guo's works will be played, including the second movement of his piece, The Youth and Love, Death and Immortality of the Guardians, which was for the National Ballet of China's production, Dunhuang. His symphony suite Journeys for soprano and orchestra, and Riyue Mountain, passacaglia for orchestra will also be played. Soprano Song Yuanming will perform in the concert and the composer's wife, flutist Tang Junqiao, will play Guo's music piece, Bamboo Flute Concerto No 2 Wild Fire, for bamboo flute and orchestra.

On Oct 24, composer Tan Dun will conduct the orchestra in a concert on the theme "Conversation with Igor Stravinsky". Tan's music piece Erhu Concerto Fire Ritual－War and Peace will have its world premiere during the concert, featuring erhu (a two-stringed instrument) player Lu Yiwen.

Tan's another work, double concerto for pipa (a Chinese lute with four strings) and guzheng (a Chinese zither), will also be performed by pipa player Han Yan and guzheng player Su Chang. Composer Igor Stravinsky's The Firebird Suite will be played, too.

On Feb 27, Tan's music piece Buddha Passion will be performed by the China Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Yu. Inspired by the ancient city of Dunhuang and its awe-inspiring Mogao Caves, this monumental work, sung in Chinese and Sanskrit, is scored for seven soloists, choir and orchestra. During the concert, singers, Guo Sen, Zhu Huiling, Gong Linna and Wang Chuanyue will perform together. When Tan prepared for the piece, he visited Dunhuang and also tried to replicate musical instruments, especially the pipa, images of which are found on the cave walls, with the help of luthiers and experienced instrument craftspeople.

On Nov 7, composer Chen Qigang's music works: Er Huang for piano and orchestra, and Un Temps Disparu for erhu and orchestra, will be performed during a concert conducted by Yu. The concert, dedicated to Chinese and French music, will also bring French composers Claude Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun and Maurice Ravel's one-movement orchestral work Bolero. Pianist Yuan Fang and erhu player Tan Wei will perform in the concert.

Born in Shanghai in a family of intellectuals in 1951, Chen graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and studied in France in 1984, learning from the late French composer Olivier Messiaen. He was the music director for the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and composed the song You and Me.

Guo, Tan and Chen are among the best-known Chinese composers, who were the first students to be admitted to the Central Conservatory of Music in 1978, after the "cultural revolution" (1966-76). They've also built a reputation in the world with their music.

"I visited Chen Qigang several days ago when he had his 70th birthday at his home in Beijing. We had noodles and talked for a while. Those Chinese composers have made great achievements and they've created their own languages by using Western classical music to tell Chinese stories. They used traditional Chinese musical instruments in their compositions, which made their music unique and it was appreciated by Western audiences," says Yu.

In the new season, a concert, which will be held on Jan 26, at the Forbidden City Concert Hall, featuring eight top players of traditional Chinese musical instruments is highly anticipated and as Yu says, it will be the first time these musicians gather together in one concert. The musicians include erhu player Song Fei, pipa player Zhao Cong, guzheng player Ji Wei and banhu (two-stringed spike fiddle) player Jiang Kemei. Under the baton of conductor Yu, they will perform both classical and contemporary pieces written by Chinese composers.

According to Yu, besides concerts by the China Philharmonic Orchestra, two chamber music concerts will be presented during the new season, which will see young Chinese musicians perform together.

"These young musicians are very new members of China Philharmonic Orchestra but they've already made progress, which is impressive. During the pandemic, we canceled many concerts. The young musicians were informed sometimes at the last minute to be onstage and they did a great job," says Yu.

"It's always our mission to offer young people opportunities to showcase their talent and it's particularly significant under the circumstances of the pandemic."

Li Nan, president of China Philharmonic Orchestra, says: "It's quite challenging for us to launch the new season because the pandemic is still on and we have no idea when it will be over. During the last season, we canceled 13 concerts. That was devastating for us, not only financially but also a great disappointment for our audience.

"We want to keep in touch with our audience. The experience of enjoying live music at concert halls cannot be replaced by other ways of listening to music," Li says.

The construction of the new China Philharmonic Orchestra Hall is scheduled for completion on June 30, 2022. It will be the orchestra's first permanent venue, located at the south side of the Workers Stadium in downtown capital.