Breaking down boundaries through music

As the country's first large-scale modern Chinese orchestra founded in 1952, the SHCO has been a pioneer in the modernization of traditional music in China. In recent years, the company has dedicated itself to "presenting Chinese music with an international vision and a contemporary style," says Luo.

"We have read about imperial orchestras comprising 100 people in the Tang dynasty (618-907), but we know nothing about how they performed or were structured," he says.

"We have to create new forms and acoustic presentations of Chinese music relevant to the age we live in."

To achieve this goal, the SHCO has been commissioning compositions from international artists. For example, the SHCO premiered German composer Christian Jost's symphony production Shanghai Odyssey in 2017. Meanwhile, Li Bochan was commissioned to create Hero, a Chinese symphony based on characters in Chinese mythology. The symphony premiered in December.

Among the most successful repertoires of the SHCO is a production named New Oriental Chinese Music Scene which was created in 2016. The production consists of commissioned pieces from renowned artists such as Tan Dun and Zhao Jiping, as well as young local composers like Huang Lei and Han Wenhe.

The concert embarked on a 20-day tour of Europe last year, covering the United Kingdom, France, Belgium and Germany. It also traveled to Mexico where it was praised for having "an extraordinary level of interpretation" and an elegant style by local audiences.

Later this year, a chamber music arrangement of New Oriental will be performed at the Chinese embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel, to celebrate China's 70th National Day.

As well as the SHCO, other performing groups from Shanghai have also completed successful international tours.

In 2016, the Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe staged a series of productions called Four Dreams by Tang Xianzu (1550-1616) to mark the 400th anniversary of his death. That year, the troupe held 60 performances all over the world.

In 2018, the productions toured Austria and Russia and even participated in the Performing Arts Festival in Berlin, Germany, winning high praise from audiences and critics alike. The productions also received a special Magnolia Award earlier this year. The organizers of the award praised the performers for "promoting Chinese culture overseas and introducing to the global theater world the unique charm of traditional Chinese opera".

While the SHCO and the Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe introduced traditional and folk performing art forms to international audiences, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and Shanghai Ballet have presented their creations to the West in ways that are already familiar to local audiences.

In January 2020, the Shanghai Ballet will make its debut at the Lincoln Center in New York city, performing four shows of Swan Lake, which features the world's largest ensemble of 48 performers dressed as swans. There will be live music accompaniment by the orchestra of New York City Ballet.

"Our successful performances will help to introduce the cultural brand of Shanghai to the mainstream theater world," says Xin Lili, director of the Shanghai Ballet.

Originally known as the Shanghai Public Band, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra was the first orchestra set up in China. Its first documented performance took place in Shanghai's Lyceum Theatre in 1879.

Throughout its history, the orchestra has hosted many maestro musicians and conductors. Since the appointment of Yu Long as music director in 2009 and the launch of the SSO's new concert hall in 2014, the orchestra has taken further steps in the international music scene, building long-term strategic relationships with some of the best-known music institutions in the world, such as the New York Philharmonic. The Lucerne Festival Orchestra also made its premiere in Shanghai at the SSO Hall during the China Shanghai Arts Festival.

Last year, Yu Long and the SSO signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon to become the first Chinese conductor and orchestra to join the world's oldest and most renowned classical music label.

This August, to mark its 140th anniversary, the SSO will embark on a global tour which will take the 100-strong orchestra to the United States, Switzerland, Germany and the UK, where it will make its debut at the BBC Proms. The program includes pieces by Mozart, Prokofiev, Dvorak and contemporary Chinese composer Chen Qigang's work Wu Xing (The Five Elements).

"When the company makes plans for international projects, it does so with the mantra that quality is better than quantity," says Wang Xiaoting, the program manager of the SSO.

"We only want to make international collaborations of great influence."