Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra brings maestro classics for new performance season

The Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra's new performance season will include 25 concerts featuring maestro classics, Chinese compositions and chamber music. Some shows will be making their world or China debuts.

The season opener at the Shangyin Opera House was joined by famed violinist Huang Mengla. He performed Aram Khatchaturian's demanding violin concerto as a tribute to the Soviet American composer's 120th anniversary.

Under the baton of conductor Zhang Liang, the orchestra also presented György Ligeti's "Atmosphères," and Tchaikovsky's "Suite No. 3 in G Major."

The opening concert with the same program, will be performed again at Hangzhou's Grand Canal Theater on September 8.

To commemorate the 150th anniversary of Rachmaninoff's birth and the 80th anniversary of his death, Zhang will lead the orchestra in the Russian composer's "Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor" at the Shanghai Symphony Hall on October 13. Pianist Kong Xiangdong will join the performance. Béla Viktor János Bartók's "The Miraculous Mandarin" will also be performed during the concert.

On October 28, the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra will join hands with inner Mongolian rock band Hanggai for a "Rock the Symphony'n Roll" concert under the baton of world-fame conductor and composer Tan Dun at the Nine Trees Future Art Center.

Coming to November, Japanese conductor Maiku Shibata will lead the orchestra for an opera duo concert commemorating the 210th anniversary of Verdi's and Wagner's birth.

In a concert entitled "Fantastic Symphony" on November 23, composer Liu Hao's Guzheng Concerto "Great Land" will also be making its world premiere at the Shanghai Symphony Hall.

Ti Gong

Other compositions, by international composers, that will be making China premieres during the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra's performance season include Florent Schmitt's "8 Pieces for Little Orchestra," and Hans Erich Pfitzner's "Das Käthchen von Heilbronn."

International conductors to collaborate with the orchestra in Shanghai during the new season include Max Pommer and Hubert Soudant.

As for the chamber music series, conductor Ouyang Wangjian will lead the SPO String Orchestra for Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons," and Piazzolla's "Four Seasons of Buenos Aires" at the Lyceum Theater on September 1.

A chamber concert "Music From Woodwind and Brass" has been scheduled on November 5 at Lyceum Theater.

Music lovers can follow the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra's official website www.shphilharmonic.com or Wechat account "SPO2006" for more information on the performances.

The season closing concert is on July 21 at the Shangyin Opera House, featuring Mozart and Bruckner's works. German pianist Gerhard Oppitz will join the performance.