Let the music play

Updated: 2012-08-10 16:29

(China Daily)

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It will be a prolific season for the Beijing Symphony Orchestra in 2012, with a crowded program that will also see it travelling to the London Olympics,mu Qian reports.

Thiswillbetheyearof100concerts, and the busiest year in the orchestra’s history. apart from a concert in london during the Olympics, the beijing symphony Orchestra will also be performing at the antalya Music Festival in Turkey

and appear with the Kolner philharmonie and berliner philharmonie in germany in september.

On home ground,the orchestra has invited a cast of world-class musicians to visit,including maestros christoph eschenbach and Daniel barenboim. The orchestra has also invited celebrity soloists, and both Herbie Hancock and lang lang will be star attractions.

“compared with the world’s leading orchestras, we are still young,”the orchestra’s music director and principal conductor Tan lihua said.“and collaborating with world-class musicians will help us grow mature.”

behind the ambitious new season of the beijing symphony Orchestra is support from the beijing municipal government with a generous subsidy of 50 million yuan ($7.85 million). The support is mainly driven by the new appreciation forWestern music as the country develops and parents become more eager to round off their children’s education.

china now has the world’s third largest number of symphony orchestras, after the United states and germany, according to china symphony Development Foundation.

The association of chinese symphony games in 2008, a project that involved the recording of 212 works.

These recordings, approved by the international Olympic committee and its member states and regions, were played at victory ceremonies in beijing during the 2008 games and will be played again at the 2012 Olympic games in london.

The orchestra will also be in london during the Olympic games, and perform with the london philharmonic Orchestra at a special gala concert at the Royal Festival Hall of london’s southbank centre on july 29.

“The london philharmonic Orchestra is delighted to be working with the beijing symphony Orchestra for this unique collaborative gala concert to celebrate this international summer and momentous year, and the passing of the musical baton from beijing to london,” said Timothy Walker, chief executive and artistic director of the london philharmonic.

at the gala concert, the beijing symphony Orchestra will bring a gift to the london Olympic games — the specially commissioned symphonic poem lotus by chinese composer guo Wenjing.

“The easy way out was to create a magnificent piece with a lot of bugles.

i also considered using cultural symbols from the host country. in the end, i decided to compose a work

that is more lyrical and Oriental,”guo said. His work brings goodwill and best wishes to the london Olympics.

another chinese work to be performed at the concert will be Tang jianping’s sacred Fire 2008 — concerto for percussion and Orchestra, which was dedicated to the beijing Olympic games. it will feature percussionist li biao, who premiered the work with beijing symphony Orchestra in 2008.

The concert will culminate with a performance of beethoven’s symphony no 9,choral, with soprano Rebecca evans, mezzo soprano ning liang, tenor andrew Kennedy,bass Matthew Rose,and the london philharmonic choir.

“The world knows more about china’s traditional culture, such as peking Opera and kung fu,” Tan said. “We hope to show the UK audience another part of chinese culture through our concert — chinese symphonic music.”

as the program for london shows, the beijing symphony Orchestra takes chinese works as an important part of its repertoire

and it has premiered many works by chinese composers, including Wang Xilin, Xu Zhenmin and Huang anlun. Orchestras under the foundation has 58 member orchestras around the country.More than 20 were started in the last decade.

beijing alone has at least 15 professional symphony orchestras. besides the beijing symphony Orchestra under the beijing Municipal cultural bureau, there are also state-level orchestras such as the china national symphony Orchestra under the Ministry of culture, and the china philharmonic Orchestra under the state administration of Radio, Film and Television. Founded in October 1977,beijing symphony Orchestra turned professional in 1998. “Most of the first-class orchestras in the world are named after their cities. given the status of beijing as a cultural center and international metropolis, beijing symphony Orchestra should work to become one of the best orchestras in the world,” Tan said. The 96-member orchestra has 10 international musicians, recruited from germany, France, italy, switzerland and Russia. and although the orchestra has yet to visit london, many in the United Kingdom have