On July 18^th to 29^th, the annual “Roam About the Classics” will be held at the NCPA. Themed “Classic Plus”, this year’s “Roam About the Classics” will be attended by famous symphony orchestras from home and abroad, of which the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America will perform at the opening and closing concerts to refresh audience with “classical+rock” and “classical+jazz”.

This year’s “Roam About the Classics” will be attended by famous symphony orchestras from home and abroad

Liverpool is well-known for the Beatles, a great band, but in this small city in Northwest England, there is Britain’s oldest symphony orchestra—the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Founded in 1840, the orchestra has a history of over 170 years. In homage to its “brother band” the Beatles, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra has adapted many songs by the Beatles into symphonies and toured the world with them. This July, Music Director and famous conductor Vasily Petrenko will lead the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra to China for a third tour in this country, and will present to concerts totally different in style to kick off the NCPA “Roam About the Classics” on 18^th and 19^th. On 18^th, they will appear with “the Beatles’ classic songs” and perform its most representative hit songs such as Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields Forever and Yesterday. 2018 marks the 50^th anniversary of the release of Hey Jude, and it will be performed as the finale at the concert. On 19^th, the orchestra will give a concert of “pure classical” and join hands with pianist Boris Giltburg to perform masterpieces by classical composers, such as Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F minor.

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra

 

On July 29^th, Thomas and National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America will give an American-style closing performance. The National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America comes from the Talent Development Programme established by the Carnegie Hall. Every spring, the Carnegie Hall calls excellent young musicians (aged 16-19) together from across the USA, and forms a National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America of musicians strictly singled out and trained. Then the passionate young musicians make a world tour in the summer.

Conductor Vasily Petrenko

This year, the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America is composed of 106 young elite musicians from across the USA. During their tour, they will give performances with famous pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet in five Asian cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, Seoul and Taejon, under the leadership of Music Director and famous conductor Michael Tilson Thomas.

National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America

The concerts will kick off with Brass Nails, a new work composed by Ted Herne and commissioned by the Carnegie Hall. The title is derived from an American slang, which means “cut to the chase”. Herne introduced, “The rackety dance music is light, lively and vigorous. Its composition is inspired by the southern American rap music full of rhythmic vitality and dance culture.” American composer George Gershwin combined the American jazz with classical, composing works with outstanding American characteristics, e.g., his masterpiece Piano Concerto in F major is a mix of multi-elements such as blues, ragtime, pop and classical, which constitute a romantic rhapsody that is romantic and elegant, fanatical and glorious. At the concerts, pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet will play the Piano Concerto in F major with the orchestra to show audience the charm of the jazz symphony composed by Gershwin.