A moving performance

"Compared to world-renowned symphony orchestras, some of which are more than 100 years old, the China NCPA Orchestra is very young. It has just completed its first 10 years. I would say that they found their voice in this time. They need more time to strengthen their voice and reach a higher level," Lyu Jia adds.

"All the concerts we are going to perform during this tour will be at major halls. Music lovers will take this opportunity to get to know the China NCPA Orchestra," says Ren Xiaolong, managing director of the orchestra.

Ren notes that the 2020-21 season marks the 10th season for the China NCPA Orchestra. The original plan was to have an 18-month-long session from March 2020 to August 2021. However, the orchestra had to change the programs due to COVID-19. In November, it announced the 2020-21 season at the NCPA. This features music by Ludwig van Beethoven, Gustav Mahler, among others, as well as the world premiere of works by Chinese composers.

Commissioned by the orchestra, Chinese-Australian composer Julian Yu's piece, Evolution, premiered on Dec 20. During the ongoing tour, the orchestra will perform it again.

Violin Concerto No 1 by Chinese composer Zhao Jiping is one of the most performed music works by the orchestra during the past few years. Commissioned by the NCPA, the music piece was performed when the China NCPA Orchestra toured North America in 2017.

"It's one of my favorite Chinese music works, which is very beautiful and has the sounds of China," says violinist Lyu Siqing, who will play Zhao's Violin Concerto No 1 with the China NCPA Orchestra during the tour. Zhao, 75, who is known for his film scores for Chinese director Zhang Yimou's Raise the Red Lantern (1991) and To Live (1993), as well as director Chen Kaige's Farewell My Concubine (1993), spent 10 years working on the music piece.

According to Ren, besides the nationwide tour, the orchestra will give 36 performances up to August. Last November, the orchestra recorded Beethoven's epic piece, Incidental Music to Goethe's Egmont, Op 84 under the baton of conductor Lyu Jia. Based on the translation by Li Jianming, the Chinese version of Egmont was performed by soprano Song Yuanming. On Tuesday, the recording was released.