Opening Concert - Chamber Music Gala

Programme
Artist
Presenter

Programme

Adaptation from Overture to Die Fledermaus	Johann Strauss Jr.
Sonata for Cello and Piano in D minor, Op. 40	Shostakovich
Movement Ⅰ
Movement Ⅱ
Cellist: QIN Liwei
Pianist: SUN Yingdi
Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49	Mendelssohn
Movement Ⅰ
China Trio (LÜ Siqing, QIN Liwei, SUN Yingdi)
Excerpt from La Traviata	Verdi
8 French Cellists

——Intermission——

Passacaille
Violinist: LÜ Siqing
Cellist: ZHAO Jing
String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, “Death and the Maiden”, D810	Franz Schubert
Movement Ⅰ
The Shanghai Quartet
Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major, Op. 81	Dvorak
Movement Ⅰ
The Shanghai Quartet, CHEN Sa
Marimba Spiritual
LI Biao Percussion Troupe
Three pieces of Astor Piazzolla
LI Biao Percussion Troupe

——Intermission——

Violin Concerto in A minor, BWV 1041	Bach
LÜ Siqing and China NCPA Orchestra
Divertimento in D Major, K. 136	Mozart
China NCPA Orchestra
Conductor: YUAN Ding

The above information, including performance times, lineups, programmes and ticket prices, are all subject to change without prior notice and for reference only.

Artist

Li-Wei QinCellist

Li-Wei Qin

“Mr. Qin has a great deal going for him, including a meltingly beautiful tone, flawless centered intonation and an ironclad technique”. (New York Times)

An exclusive Universal Music China Artist, Li-Wei Qin has appeared all over the world as a soloist and as a chamber musician. After achieving great success at the 11^th Tchaikovsky International Competition where he was awarded the Silver Medal, Li-Wei has since won the First Prize in the prestigious 2001 Naumburg Competition in New York. “A superbly stylish, raptly intuitive performer ” (Gramophone Magazine, January 2015) was the description of the cellist’s Elgar and Walton concerti recording with the London Philharmonic.

During the 15/16 season, Li-Wei made his debut with the Finnish Radio Orchestra/Lintu, the Vienna Radio symphony Orchestra/Rabl, the Malaysian Philharmonic/Ashkenazy. He also appeared with the Melbourne Symphony/Sir Andrew Davis for their residency in Shanghai as well as China Philharmonic 2016 European tour. Other engagements included returns to the Queensland Symphony, Shanghai Symphony, NCPA Symphony and Auckland Philharmonic Orchestras.

Two times soloist at the BBC Proms in London’s Royal Albert Hall, Li-Wei has enjoyed successful artistic collaborations with many of the worlds great orchestras including all the BBC symphony orchestras, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, the NDR-Sinfonierorchester Hamburg, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Basel Symphony, the Prague Symphony, the Osaka Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, China Philharmonic, the Sydney Symphony and Melbourne Symphony among many others. Leading conductors with whom he has worked include Marek Janowski, Jaap Van Zweden, Jiri Belohlavek, Jan Pascal Totelier, Hans Graf, Yu Long, the late Machello Viotti and the late Lord Menuhin. Li-Wei has also appeared with chamber orchestras such as the Kremerata Baltika, Sinfonia Vasovia, the Munich, the Zurich, the Australian Chamber Orchestras.

In recital and chamber music, Li-Wei is a regular guest at the Wigmore Hall and for the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, New York. He has appeared at the BBC Proms, the Rheinghau, the City of London, the Schlewigs-Holstein and the Mecklenburg Festivals. Li-Wei has collaborated with musicians such as Daniel Hope, Nabuko Imai, Misha Maisky, David Finckel, WU Han, Vladimir Mendelssohn and Peter Frankel, among many others.

Li-Wei’s recordings on Universal Music/Decca include the complete Beethoven Sonatas, Works of Rachmaninov with pianist Albert Tiu, Dvořàk Concerto with Singapore Symphony Orchestra and conductor Lan Shui and Elgar/Walton Concerti with the London Philharmonic. Most recently, courtesy of Universal Music, Li-Wei's 2013 live concert with the Shanghai Symphony and Maestro YU Long has been released on Sony Classical.

Born in Shanghai, Li-Wei moved to Australia at the age of 13, before accepting scholarships to study with Ralph Kirshbaum at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester and with David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. He was invited to join the BBC “New Generations” scheme in 2001 and in 2002, Li-Wei received the Young Australian of the Year Award. Other major invitations included appearances at both the 2008 Beijing Olympics (New Zealand Symphony), 2012 London Olympics and the Davos World Economics Forum (Basel Symphony Orchestra).

Prior to teaching at the YST Conservatory, Li-Wei was a professor of cello at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester. He is also a guest professor at Shanghai and Central Conservatory of Music in China. Li-Wei plays a 1780 Joseph Guadagnini cello, generously loaned by Dr. and Mrs. Wilson Goh.

SUN YingdiPianist

SUN Yingdi

SUN Yingdi won the First Prize in the 7^th International Franz Liszt Piano Competition held in Utrecht, the Netherlands in April 2005, becoming the first Chinese pianist to win this prestigious competition. Yingdi’s outstanding interpretation of Liszt has been praised by major media reports as “Liszt in primary colours.” In February 2017, Yingdi became the jury member of the international selection rounds of the 11^th International Franz Liszt Piano Competition.

In recent years, Yingdi has been an active pianist both in China and worldwide, touring over countries including France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Finland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Spain, the United Kingdom, Russia, Indonesia, China, Japan, Korea, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. He has frequented to those great venues, including Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw, Wigmore Hall in London, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Konzerthaus in Berlin, Tonhalle in Zurich, and Musikverein in Vienna. Yingdi Sun has performed with many renowned orchestras, including Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, North Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Mariinsky Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Slovenia Philharmonic, Israel Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand National Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Macao Orchestra, China National Symphony Orchestra, Beijing Symphony Orchestra, China NCPA Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, among others. He has enjoyed collaborations with some of the world-famous conductors, including Valery Gergiev, Myung-Whun Chung, Michel Plasson, Petr Altrichter, James Judd, Edo de Waart, Ronald Zollmann, George Pehlivanian, Zoltan Kocsis, Michel Tabachnik, Andreas Ligeti, Jean-Bernard Pommier, Daniel Raiskin, Stephane Dénève, David Stern, Andrew Grams, YU Long, TANG Muhai, CHEN Zuohuang, LÜ Jia, Tsung Yeh, TAN Lihua, CHEN Xieyang, ZHANG Guoyong, and LI Xincao, among others.

In 2009, Brilliant Classics, a Dutch record company, released Yingdi’s debut album.

SUN Yingdi has always been an avid chamber musician. He has toured in Europe and North America with German violinist Augustin Hadelich. At the end of 2011, Yingdi joined with violinist LÜ Siqing and cellist Li-Wei Qin to formed the China Trio.

Apart from delving into the study of the traditional classical repertoire, Yingdi is also an active exponent of modern and contemporary music. He has had many close collaborations with TAN Dun, premiering this famous Chinese composer’s piano concertos The Fire and The Banquet. In the 2006 Shanghai Spring International Music Festival, Yingdi performed Benjamin Britten’s piano concerto to standing ovation from musicologist Donald Mitchell, once a colleague and a friend of Benjamin Britten. In 2010, Yingdi participated in the creation of the second part of the opening gala of Shanghai World Expo. In the 2012 Shanghai Spring International Music Festival, Yingdi successfully performed the piano concerto Mountain Forest by Chinese composer liu Dunnan.

Since 2006, SUN Yingdi has taught in the piano department of Shanghai Conservatory. In 2011 and 2014, he was twice invited to be a jury member in the second and final rounds of the second CCTV Piano and Violin Competition. In 2012, CCTV named him one of the Ten Chinese Young Pianists.

SUN Yingdi was born in 1980 in Shanghai, China. He started piano lessons at an early age in Shanghai Conservatory under ZHANG Chongfang, LUO Xiao, CHEN Yanxin, and SHENG Yiqi. He has also participated in master classes by the French master pianists Philippe Entremont and Dominique Merlet, the Liszt expert Leslie Howard as well as Fou Ts’ong and ZHONG Xu.

LÜ SiqingViolinist

LÜ Siqing

LÜ Siqing was the first Asian violinist to win the first prize in the prestigious Paganini International Violin Competition in Italy, 1987. Hailed by Strad as “an outstanding talent”, Siqing (pronounced See-Ching) has given performances in more than 40 countries throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia and South Africa. Those performances have taken him to some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls, including Musikverein in Vienna, Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York City, Hollywood Bowl Theatre in Los Angeles, Southam Hall at National Arts Centre in Ottaw, Maison Symphonique and Place des Arts in Montreal, Royal Opera House and Wigmore Hall in London, Theatre Des Champs Elysees and Louis XIV Opera House at Palace of Versailles in Paris, The Great Hall in Moscow, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Hamer Hall at the Arts Centre in Melbourne, Esplanade in Singapore, and National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. LÜ Siqing has shared stages with many of the world’s esteemed musicians, including Lorin Maazel, Valery Gergiev, Edo de Waart, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Lawrence Foster, Jaap van Zweden, Osmo Vänskä, as well as leading Chinese musicians such as YU Long, LÜ Jia, TANG Muhai, Shao-Jia Lü, Wen-Bin Jian, Chao-Liang Lin, Yujia Wang, WANG Jian, and Oscar winner TAN Dun, with whom Siqing premiered his violin concerto Hero in Poland in 2011.

LÜ Siqing has performed with some of today’s leading orchestras such as the Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Halle Orchestra, Bilbao Symphony, Salzburg Chamber Orchestra, Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony, Russia National Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Symphony Orchestra of the NCPA, China Philharmonic Orchestra, China National Symphony Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, among others. Furthermore, LÜ Siqing has been regularly featured as guest artist at many of the world’s most renowned music festivals. He was appointed the Music Director of the May International Festival of National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing in 2015, and has been invited to serve as a distinguished juror for many international violin competitions including the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin International Youth Violin Competition. In fall 2016, he founded LÜ Siqing Shenzhen Futian International String Festival, inviting several internationally recognized string performers and professors to create this high-level classical music festival in China. Apart from an active soloist on stage globally, LÜ Siqing is also dedicated to chamber music. In 2012, he founded the China Trio with two other renowned musicians: cellist Li-Wei Qin and pianist SUN Yingdi. The trio has quickly become the most well-known chamber group in China.

LÜ Siqing has released over 20 CDs and video recordings under such labels as Philips, Naxos, Marco Polo, and BIS. His interpretation of Butterfly Lovers violin concerto has been widely considered the best among more than 40 available recordings of this work.

Over the past decades, LÜ Siqing has received numerous international honours due to his prominent artistic achievement and extensive social influence, including Honorary Certificate from the United States House of Representatives, New Jersey's Outstanding Arts Achievement award for Asian, California Senate Honorary Certificate, Honorary Certificate from the California Executive Committee of the House on multiple occasions, the Montblanc Outstanding Artist Award, China Youth Magazine's “The 100 Most Influential Young People of the 21^st Century in China” award, etc. The City of Millbrae in California passed a legislation to have the date September 16^th of 2006 designated as LÜ Siqing Day in honour of LÜ Siqing's achievements. Over the years, Siqing has also been invited on numerous occasions to play for Heads of the state from many countries.

LÜ Siqing was born in 1969 in Qingdao, China. He began to study violin at the age of four. As an eight-year-old child, he became the youngest student ever to be admitted by the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing as a special talented student and studied with Prof. WANG Zhenshan. At the age of 11, Lord Yehudi Menuhin chose Siqing to study at his school in London. In 1984 he returned to China for advanced studies at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Five years later, he went to the Juilliard School and studied with Dorothy DeLay and Hyo Kang. In addition to the Paganini First Prize, LÜ Siqing was a winner of numerous international competitions, including those in Beijing, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

ZHAO JingCellist

ZHAO Jing

ZHAO Jing won the 1^st prize of the prestigious ARD International Competition in Munich in 2005 and went on to receive the 2009 Exxon Mobil Music award in Japan. The Great Seiji Ozawa chose her as soloist, together with the violinist Vadim Repin, the pianist Lang Lang and the Singer Kathleen Battle, for the opening new-year concert of the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. He had already been instrumental in helping her move to Berlin where she studied at the Karajan Academy, as well as studying privately with Yo-Yo Ma and Maestro Rostropovich.

She has performed with noted conductors such as Seiji Ozawa, Lorin Maazel, Ricardo Muti, Andris Nelsons, Myung-Whun Chung, TANG Muhai, Mikhael Pletnev, Yuri Bashmet,Kenichiro Kobayashi, Jean Fournet and Eliahu Inbal among others. Orchestras that have invited her include NHK Symphony, New Japan Philharmonic, Beijing Symphony, Bayerische Rundfunk Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, KBS Philharmonic in Seoul, NDR Symphony orchestra, Philharmonica della Scala, Sydney Symphony and the Singapore Symphony.

While in Berlin, ZHAO Jing became a very sought after chamber music partner, collaborating with artists such Emmanuel Pahud, Guy Braustein, Daishin Kashimoto, Paul Meyer, Boris Berezovsky, Eric le sage, Antoine Tamestit, Konstantin Lifschitz and Trevor Pinnock. She toured in Asia with Myung-Whun Chung, where they were invited to perform together with H I H Crown Prince Nahurito of Japan.

The great pianist Martha Argerich has chosen to perform and record the Tchaikowsky trio with ZHAO Jing and Dora Schwartzberg during her festival in Lugano, where she is now a regular guest. Other festivals where she performs include the celebrated Jerusalem festival, Zagreb festival, Roland’s Ecke in Bonn WH, Bad Kissingen, Istanbul International festival, Argerich’s Beppu Festival, Folles Journees, etc.

ZHAO Jing was born in Beijing, and while studying in the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing with SONG Tao, was discovered by the Japanese cellist Ryosuke Hori who brought her to Japan for further studies at the Tokyo College of Music, under an exceptional Scholarship programme. While living in Berlin she also participated in the Masterclasses of Mario Brunello and Georg Faust, at the Academia Chingiana in Sienna.

ZHAO Jing has recorded five CDs for Victor Entertainment in Japan.

She plays on a Dominicus Montagnana cello from 1739 on generous loan to her from a private Foundation.

CHEN SaPianist

CHEN Sa

Over the past decade, CHEN Sa has established herself as one of the most charismatic pianists of her generation. She earned critical acclaims at the International Chopin Piano Competition in 2000 and the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2005 which began her professional performing career, bringing her evocative performances to audience around the world.

In recent years, CHEN has performed with many prestigious orchestras, some of which are the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, WDR Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, NHK Symphony Orchestra, China Philharmonic Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, and with renowned conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Myung-Whun Chung, Semyon Bychkov, Fabio Luisi, Vasily Petrenko, YU Long among many others.

As an enthusiastic chamber musician, CHEN frequently collaborates with many great musicians. She appeared with Gidon Kremer and Natalie Gutman on many tours and music festivals including the prestigious Schleswig Holstein Festival, the Rurl Piano Festival in Germany, the Lockenhaus Music Festival in Austria and the Aix-en-Provence Festival in France.

CHEN recorded her first studio album Chopin Impression for JVC in 2001, and later the Chopin Complete Waltzes for IMC in Japan in 2006. Harmonia Mundi released her live performance recording from the Van Cliburn competition worldwide in 2005. Her albums with PENTATONE include Chopin: The 2 Piano Concertos and Russian Solo Compositions released in 2008 and 2009 respectively. Classical FM selected her Chopin Album as the "Best CD of the Month" for her "soulful performance". The concerto album, Rachmaninov's Concerto No. 2 and Grieg's Piano Concerto was released in 2011. Her latest album Memories Lost featuring modern Chinese compositions has been released worldwide by BIS record in January 2015, described as "the most interesting and successful recording of new Chinese music..." by BBC Music Magazine.

CHEN is a Steinway Artist. She has been nominated for the esteemed Tokyo series "The 100 Greatest Pianists" and as the cover artist of the launching issue of Gramophone magazine Chinese edition. In 2009 CHEN was named by the French magazine L'OFFICIEL as one of the "Top ten Chinese Artists". In 2010, the Polish Government honored the Chopin Art Passport to CHEN, appreciating her unique interpretation and achievement in Chopin's music.

Aside from her performance schedule, Sa engages herself in charity work too. In 2007, she was invited by the World Bank and the Norwegian government to premiere the multimedia piano concerto Green Call with the China National Symphony Orchestra in Beijing as part of the environmental protection educational program. She also visits and performs for the students who almost lost their ability to hear at local Special schools in China and on 22^nd April 2015, she gave performance in Washington as part of the "Global Citizen 2015 Earth Day" event.

Born in China, CHEN grew up in a musical family. Her mother is a professional dancer and her father is a French horn player. She received her first violin lesson from her father at the age of six and started her piano lessons with Prof. DAN Zhaoyi at age of nine. She appeared as the youngest contestant at the age of 16 at the 12^th Leeds International Piano Competition and won the fourth prize. The year after, she received a full scholarship to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Prof. Joan Havill in London and received her Master’s Degree in Performance. In 2000, she placed Fourth and the Best Polonaise Performance Award at the 14th International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw and received the Crystal Award at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in the year of 2005. CHEN graduated from Arie Vardi's Solo Class at the Hannover Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Germany in 2007, received her PhD in Performance.

In the 2015/16 season, CHEN maintained an intensive schedule, including a 22-recital tour in Germany, a 13-recital tour in China, concerto performances with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, debut recital at the Prague Spring Festival, recital at Sala Verdi in Milan and chamber performances at the Bad Kissingen Festival in Germany and the Le French May Festival in Hong Kong.

LI BiaoPercussionist

LI Biao

LI Biao began appearing on the stage as a conductor in 2011. Maestro Christoph Eschenbach and Lawrence Foster have given him great inspiration and support at the beginning of his conductor career. In 2012, Beijing Symphony Orchestra named LI Biao the Artist-in-Residence and Principal Guest Conductor. In 2014, LI Biao has been appointed Music Director and Principal Conductor of China National Opera & Dance Drama Theater Orchestra.

As conductor, he has worked with more than 20 orchestras in Europe and China from 2011, such as Brandenburg Symphony Orchestra, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini Philharmonic Orchestra, Marseille Opera Orchestra, Philharmonie der Nord-Westfalen, Neue-Brandenburg Philharmonie, Orchestra Dell‘Opera Di Parma, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Loh-Orchester Sonders Sondershausen, and many of China's famous symphony orchestras.

In 2013, LI was invited to conduct Arturo Toscanini Philharmonic Orchestra for the opening concert in the 200^th anniversary of Verdi's music festival. As the first Chinese conductor, he successfully conducted all Verdi's works in the whole concert, and received Italian media critical acclaim. In April 2014, LI Biao worked together with Central Conservatory of Music School opera centre, completed the Opera production of Aida in Beijing Poly Theatre with great success.

From May to June of 2014, LI Biao percussion group made debut tour to South America. The group has performed three weeks throughout the most prestigious venue in South America such as Teatro Solis (Montevideo, Uruguay), Teatro Municipal De Santiago (Santiago, Chile), Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro (Rio, Brazil), Teatro Colon (Buenos Aires, Argentina), Sociedade de Cultura Artística and Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo (Bogota, Columbia). The tour was a huge success and at the end of the tour, the presenters have invited the group back for a 2016 tour. Due to the successful debut in South America, LI Biao percussion group has also received the invitation to tour Mexico in 2015. LI Biao percussion group then continued tour in China in July, 2014. At the end of 2014, LI Biao also performed as soloist with Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.
Apart from many engagements with percussion soloist and ensemble, LI Biao also had many conducting concerts. He conducted the Macao Orchestra in 2^nd half of 2014 and continued conducting European orchestras. He has also orchestras such as Brasileira Sinfonica Orquestra, Argentina symphony orchestras, etc.

YUAN DingConductor

YUAN Ding

In February 2013, YUAN Ding was appointed the assistant conductor of China NCPA Orchestra. His following season with NCPA features new productions of Swan Lake, Otello, Die fliegende Hollander, Le Nozze di Figaro, and Un ballo in Maschera.

As the first prize graduate of the China Central Conservatory of Music, YUAN Ding continued his conducting study under the guidance of Ulrich Windfuhr at the Hochschule fur Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" in Leipzig, during which, he also won the praise from Jorma Panula and Seiji Ozawa. YUAN Ding has gained an excellent operatic reputation in China with a broad range of repertoire, including La Traviata, Rigoletto, Lohengrin, Tannhauser, Madama Butterfly, Tosca and Chinese opera Wilderness and Soong Chingling. His previous orchestra engagements include MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, Philharmonie Sudwestfalen, Oper Leipzig, Jenaer Philharmonie, the orchestra and chorus of Hochschule fur Musik und Theater Leipzig, Korea National Opera and Macao Orchestra.

Apart from that, Mr. YUAN was also invited as a guest and assistant conductor of China NCPA Opera Festival, Eutiner Oper Festspiele and Macao International Music Festival. YUAN is known as the exclusive assistant conductor for LI Xincao (the Principal Conductor of CNSO) and LÜ Jia (the Music Director and Principal Conductor of Arena di Verona, Macao Orchestra and NCPA Orchestra) for many years. The past seasons highlight his successful work on Tosca during the Macao International Music Festival in 2012.

Presenter

China NCPA Octet

China NCPA Octet

As resident chamber music ensemble of NCPA, China NCPA Octet crystallizes Chinese musicians' fiery love for music and broad artistic platform of NCPA. These eight excellent musicians not only include excellent performers of China NCPA Orchestra, but also leading figures among the Chinese musicians. They will make powerful combination on the NCPA stage, present superb artistry and tacit friendship, and give birth to China's first-ever permanent octet ensemble. With a view to future concert plans, these eight musicians will be tolerant to diversity, uphold spirit of openness, help audiences set sail in vast classical music ocean, and enjoy the lingering elegant emotions for centuries. They will guide audiences to appreciate meaningful oriental rhythm in popular Chinese melody and understand the endless creativity of the era under a new crossover chapter beyond time and space. The Octet will not only arrange for various tracks for audiences to demonstrate the infinite musical creativity and exquisite and harmonious ensemble beauty, but also create a brand-new life experience for the majority of Chinese classical music fans.

LÜ Siqing, Li-Wei Qin, SUN Yingdi - China Trio

LÜ Siqing, Li-Wei Qin, SUN Yingdi - China Trio

China Trio consists of three outstanding Chinese musicians: Violinist LÜ Siqing, Cellist Li-Wei Qin, and Pianist SUN Yingdi. Each of the three musicians won top awards from Paganini International Violin Competition (LÜ Siqing), International Tchaikovsky Competition (Li-Wei Qin), and International Franz Liszt Piano Competition (SUN Yingdi), which brought them high reputations around the world. They share not only similar experiences in professional music performance, but also the same life style and career goal, making them close friends of each other and well-collaborated partners on stage. With the love to chamber music and the willingness to promote chamber music, three musicians have founded the China Trio.

Violinist LÜ Siqing is the first Asian violinist to win the first prize at the prestigious Paganini International Violin Competition in Italy in 1987. He has performed in some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls in more than 40 countries, under the baton of numerous great conductors with best orchestras across continents. Cellist Li-Wei Qin achieved a great success at the 11^th Tchaikovsky International Competition where he was awarded the Silver Medal, and he also won the First Prize in the prestigious 2001 Naumburg Competition in New York. Li-Wei has appeared all over the world as both a soloist and a chamber musician, and has attended the Royal Albert Hall, London twice during the celebrated Promenade Concert (known as The Proms) as a soloist. The New York Times has spoken highly of Li-Wei, say that “Mr. Qin has a great deal going for him, including a meltingly beautiful tone, flawless centered intonation and an ironclad technique”. Pianist SUN Yingdi won the First Prize in the 7^th International Franz Liszt Piano Competition held in Utrecht, the Netherlands in April 2005, making him the first Chinese pianist to win this prestigious competition. Yingdi’s outstanding interpretation of Liszt is praised by major media reports as the “Liszt in primary colours.” Recently, Yingdi has been an active solo and collaborative pianist, touring in many countries and performing with various musicians and conductors in concert halls worldwide.

Since its establishment in 2011, China Trio has been giving concerts in China and overseas successfully. In the past five years, the Trio has been continuously invited by the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) to perform in its renowned NCPA May Festival. The Trio has also been invited to the Great Hall of the People to perform in a banquet held for the head of foreign state. Their repertoire includes chamber masterworks by Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Dvořák, Smetana, Arensky, Sarasate, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich, Piazzolla, and HU Yao, showing brilliant skills and harmonious cooperation in the performances. Besides chamber performances, China Trio has also collaborated with NCPA Orchestra for Beethoven's Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Piano in C major, also known as Triple Concerto. Each of the three musicians has performed TAN Dun’s “Martial Arts Tetralogy”, including violin concerto Hero, cello concerto Crouching Tiger, piano concerto Banquet, and triple concerto Resurrection.

China Trio is a group with outstanding musicians to present the most beautiful music. “Great musicians together present the aesthetic of music” has become the motto of China Trio. The Trio dedicates to present to the world the highest level of chamber music from China.

French Ensemble of Eight Cellos

French Ensemble of Eight Cellos

Eight contemporary French cellists (Roland Pidoux, Raphaël Pidoux, Anne Gastinel, Emmanuel Gaugué, Tristan Cornut, Nadine Pierre, Yan Levionnois, édouardSapey-Triomphe) get together for the love of chamber music and the worship of the cello. Their cohesion is a kind of cheering and catharsis to the great cello tradition, and the beautiful melody flows under their fingertips when they play various music pieces from Claudio Monteverdi to Wagner. At the same time, they expressed emotions through their superb skills in cello performance, and create a strong, elegant, fantastic and chic voice together. They were cheered by the audience when they had the first performance in 2006. Their first album was made in 2009, and since then they have toured in music festivals around the world.

Shanghai Quartet

Shanghai Quartet

First Violin: LI Weigang
Second Violin: JIANG Yiwen
Viola: LI Honggang
Cello: Nicholas Tzavaras

The Shanghai Quartet is a string quartet that formed in 1983. The quartet is made up of four members: first violinist LI Weigang, second violinist JIANG Yiwen, violist LI Honggang, and cellist Nicholas Tzavaras.

The group's tours have included North America, South America, Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. They have appeared frequently at New York's Carnegie Hall, and their travels have taken them from London, Vienna and Prague, to Australia's Sydney Opera House. Among their performances, the Shanghai Quartet has developed a long list of performance collaborators including Yo-Yo Ma, David Soyer, Eugenia Zukerman, Sharon Isbin, Ruth Laredo, Arnold Steinhardt, and Chanticleer. Its vast repertory covers many works by Asian-born composers like Bright Sheng, Toru Takemitsu, ZHOU Long, WANG Jienhong, XUE Chengqian, and ZHANG Jingping, as well as a mixture of 20^th century works by composers like Tippett, Maxwell Davies, Reich, Roberto Sierra, Penderecki, Hovhaness, Ginastera, and jazz artist Dick Hyman. But it has also embraced much of the standard repertory, playing large chunks of the outputs of J.S. Bach and Beethoven and works by Mendelssohn, Brahms, Dvorák, Ravel, and many others. The Shanghai Quartet's concert schedule typically includes a geographical mixture of locales across Asia, Europe, the Americas, Australia, and New Zealand. It has made more than 20 recordings for a variety of labels, including Delos, BIS, Camerata Records, and New Albion.

The Quartet is the "Ensemble-in-Residence" at Montclair State University. They also serve as visiting professors at the Shanghai Conservatory and the Central Conservatory in China.

China NCPA Orchestra

China NCPA Orchestra

China NCPA Orchestra is the resident orchestra of National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), Beijing. Established in March 2010, the Orchestra consists of highly accomplished musicians from around the world, who have performed in more than a dozen opera productions presented by the Orchestra’s home venue each year, as well as in ballets and regular orchestral concerts in its own season. With a notably busy schedule, the young ensemble has fast established itself as one of the most adventurous and dynamic orchestras in the country. LÜ Jia took up the post of Chief Conductor in February 2012, succeeding CHEN Zuohuang, the current Conductor Laureate and also one of the founders of the Orchestra. LÜ Jia has been appointed as NCPA’s Artistic Director of Music and Music Director of China NCPA Orchestra since 2017. YUAN Ding was named as Assistant Conductor in 2012.

The NCPA Orchestra demonstrates an abiding commitment to the highest level of artistic excellence and takes pride in its long-term collaborations with the finest musicians of our time. Artists associated with the Orchestra in the past two years have included Zubin Mehta, Valery Gergiev, Myung-Whun Chung, Christoph Eschenbach, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Gunter Herbig, Leif Segerstam, Shao-Chia Lü, TANG Muhai, ZHANG Xian, Gilbert Varga, Lang Lang, Stephen Kovacevich, Leo Nucci, WANG Jian, Gautier Capucon, Yuja Wang and Han-Na Chang, among many others. Maestro Lorin Maazel had worked closely with the Orchestra before his passing, and he praised the musicians for their “amazing professionalism and great passion for music”. After working with the Orchestra in a series of concerts and the NCPA’s new production of La Traviata in June 2010, Maestro Christoph Eschenbach also declared it “one of the finestorchestras in Asia”.

In the first six years since its establishment, China NCPA Orchestra has become one of the leading ensembles in the country both on stage and in the pit, gaining critical acclaim for its performances of NCPA’s many opera productions. To date, they have played over 30 new productions, including not only classical repertoire works such as Tosca, The Barber of Seville, Die Fledermaus, Lohengrin, Aida, Otello and Nabucco, but also newly commissioned works, includingThe Chinese Orphan, Rickshaw Boy, and Visitors on the Ice Mountain. In its own orchestral concert season, the Orchestra has consistently presented creative and diverse programmes, including a remarkable Beethoven Project under the baton of LÜ Jia in 2013. China NCPA Orchestra’s performance of the mammothRing Without Words conducted by Lorin Maazel has been released on SONY Classics worldwide, which is the only recording the great maestro ever made with a Chinese orchestra.

Another important field of work that the Orchestra has explored extensively in a short period since its establishment, is the creation and promotion of contemporary music. Having presented the Chinese premieres of major works by John Admas, Toru Takemitsu and Giya Kancheli, the Orchestra has given world premieres of more than ten substantial new orchestral works commissioned by the NCPA, written by composers from across the globe, including Michael Gordon, Augusta Read Thomas, Kalevi Aho, Joby Talbot and ZHAO Jiping. The Orchestra has also played a major role in the NCPA’s annual Young Composers Programme, providing a unique platform nurturing future Chinese composers.

The NCPA Orchestra has flexed its wings on the international stage with high-profile tours, receiving widespread international praise for its performances. From 2012 to 2015, the Orchestra was invited by Kissingen Summer Music Festival and Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, and continued its Germany tour in Nürnberg, Hamburg and Berlin. It also gave performances in Sydney, Singapore, Seoul, Daegu, Taipei and Macau. During the 2014/15 season, the Orchestra undertook its first North American tour, where it performed in seven major cities in the US and Canada, under the baton of LÜ Jia. This tour was not only a milestone for the young ensemble, but also a breakthrough for any other Chinese orchestra performing abroad. Musical America praised the Orchestra for its “joyful confidence and youthful strength”. Concerto Net described it as “a polished, first rate ensemble”.

With its commitment to education and outreach, the Orchestra has presented a series of Weekend Concerts at its home venue since its establishment. With selected programmes and accessible ticket prices, these concerts are extremely popular with audiences new to classical music. Current plan in repertoire includes a new series highlighting the Beethoven Symphony Cycle, led by Chief Conductor, LÜ Jia. In addition, the Orchestra frequently initiates wide-reaching educational projects in association with related institutions across the city.

The 16/17 season had "Music Speaks" as its central theme, featuring concerts conducted by LÜ Jia, Myung-Whun Chung, Shao-Chia Lü, Claus Peter Flor, Pavel Kogan, HannuLintu, TANG Muhai, ZHANG Yi, and LI Biao, with soloists Kyung-Wha Chung, Gautier Capucon, Henning Kraggerud, WANG Jian, WU Man, ZHANG Haochen, CHEN Sa, Li-Wei Qin, YANG Tianwa, NING Feng, WU Wei and many others. Renowned composer CHEN Qigang and pianist Yuja Wang, both as the season’s Artist-in-Residence, led a number of concerts as well as educational projects. The Orchestra has also performed in 15 NCPA opera productions including Tannhauser and Rusalka.

Note

Box officeNorth Gate of NCPA, No. 2 West Chang'an Avenue, Xicheng District, Beijing, China

Tickets collection hours9:30-19:30 (CST) on performance day
9:30-18:00 (CST) for days without performance

Booking line+86 10 6655 0000

Booking hours9:30-18:00 (CST) Monday to Friday

Seating Chart

音乐厅

戏剧场

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Opera Concert Dance & Ballet Theatre
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Box Office Hours
Performance Days 9:30 AM -19:30 PM
Gap Days 9:30 AM -18:00 PM
Tickets Info
8610-66550000

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Repertoire Films Videos Podcast

Resident Companies
China NCPA Orchestra China NCPA Chorus
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