The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, recognized as Australia's best orchestra, will perform at Beijing's Century Theatre tomorrow and Sunday nights under the baton of its chief conductor and artistic director Markus Stenz.
The performance is part of the 4th Shanghai International Arts Festival which began November 1 and runs through December 1.
The concerts at the Shanghai Grand Theatre on November 16 and 17 will be the keynote event during the Australia Week cultural promotion during the festival. After performing in Beijing, the orchestra will play in Tianjin and Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu Province, before visiting Shanghai.
The orchestra's history dates back to 1888. Its reputation for excellence, versatility and innovation has been enhanced through performances with artists such as Igor Stravinsky, Mariss Jansons, Isaac Stern, Yehudi Menuhin, Jessye Norman, Artur Rubenstein, Mstislav Rostropovich and Hakan Hagegard.
German-born conductor Markus Stenz was appointed chief conductor and artistic director of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in 1998.
Besides his orchestra work, Stenz has also established a considerable international reputation as a fine opera conductor.
At tomorrow's concert, audiences will be treated to Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D (arranged for piano), "Willow and Wattle" scored by Yu Jingjun, an Australian-Chinese composer, and Dvorak's Symphony No 9 "From the New World."
"Willow and Wattle" features both Chinese and Western musical elements as well as the cultural background of the two countries.
The willow tree is often a symbol of beauty in ancient Chinese poetry and also represents sadness at parting. The pronunciation of the Chinese word for willow, liu, is the same as the word for "to stay longer," so in ancient times, people would give a branch of willow as a gift and a token of enduring friendship to a good friend who was leaving.
Wattle, with its green leaves and golden flowers, is the floral emblem of Australia.
Yu scored two movements. The first part develops from a light and delicate beginning into long lyrical melodies played on erhu, a Chinese two-stringed fiddle.
Derived from an aria from Peking Opera, the second movement sounds more lively and rhythmic. The whole piece ends with the bright timber of jinghu, a fiddle used in Peking Opera.
The Australian-Chinese erhu player Feng Zhihao will star in Willow and Wattle. Born in Nanjing in 1957, Feng started to learn to play erhu at age eight and received professional training at the Central Conservatory of Music.
He now is an active concert performer in Australia and plays at many events such as the Sydney Music Festival and the Melbourne Arts Festival.
(China Daily November 8, 2002)
