From March 3^rd to 16^th, the China NCPA Orchestra will bring the Schubert series of concerts to the audience in five performances. Conductors LÜ Jia and LÜ Shao-Chia, pianist SUN Yingdi, violinist YANG Tianwa and other soloists will join in to share with the audience the beautiful melody of the German composer Schubert.

Conductors LÜ Jia & China NCPA Orchestra

On March 3^rd, LÜ Jia, Artistic Director of Music of NCPA, will lead the China NCPA Orchestra to kick off the March Schubert series. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 36 and Schubert’s famous Symphony No. 8 in B Minor, D. 759 will be presented. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 was created in 1802, and Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 was created in 1822. The 20-year interval witnessed the turning points of the two composers while the two composers created so much vitality in their music. The Symphony No. 2 contains the revolutionary energy, which started the rapid evolution of symphony as a musical genre. Although Symphony No. 8 is an unfinished work with only two chapters, it has re-acquainted people with the rich expressive power of the symphony along with the grand orchestration and melody. On the evening of March 3^rd, the two works will be unveiled. The two music giants will have a spiritual dialogue with the audience through music, talking about their thoughts about the turning points in the life.

Conductor LÜ Shao-Chia

From March 8^th to 9^th, the conductor LÜ Jia and the China NCPA Orchestra will perform Mozart’s Concerto for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra in C Major, Piano Concert No. 12 in A Major and Schubert’s Symphony No. 5 in B-flat Major and Symphony No. 6 in C Major in two concerts. The Concerto for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra in C Major will be presented by the performers YE Yireng and HUANG Liya from the China NCPA Orchestra. The Piano Concert No. 12 in A Major will be performed by pianist SUN Yingdi. In these two works of Mozart , the audience will once again taste the noble and childlike aura of his music. In the Symphony No. 5 in B-flat Major and Symphony No.6 in C Major, the audience will witness Schubert’s image as a diligent and practical art creator. He extended the composer’s tactics to compose a symphony in the classic period and had striven to surpass the peaks of the three giants Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Every phrase in the works promotes the arrival of the romantic era.

Pianist SUN Yingdi & violinist YANG Tianwa

From March 15^th to 16^th, conductor LÜ Shao-Chia will join hands with violinist YANG Tianwa to present two wonderful concerts featuring the classic works of the three composers Mozart, Schubert and Rachmaninoff. Both concerts will start with Rosamunde, D. 797: Entr’actes No. 3. This short interlude has long surpassed the vitality of the original drama and became one of the most classic and familiar works of Schubert. This refined work will also end the NCPA Orchestra’s Schubert series. In these two concerts, LÜ Shao-Chia and the orchestra will also cooperate in Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise and Symphonic Dances, Op. 45. Interestingly, in the era of Schubert, music critics commented that Schubert’s works couldn’t get out of the shadow of classicism and were not fluent enough. In the era of Rachmaninoff, the music critics commented that Rachmaninoff’s work were too romantic and only considered to be pleasant to hear. From Schubert to Rachmaninoff, the composers explored the possibilities of “melody” on the stave, and romanticism finally came to its fullness from the early days.

In addition, YANG Tianwa will perform Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Major, K. 207 and Violin Concerto No. 2 in D Major, K. 211 in two concerts with the NCPA Orchestra. Both works were created in 1775, when Mozart was only 18 years old. Nonetheless, it has come to the maturity of creation. These two concerto works are of distinctive Mozart imprint in both skill and melodies, and there is no lack of energy and passion in the elegant melody.