Sir Simon Rattle returns to Beijing with London Symphony Orchestra

NCPA October/04/2019

On October 3^rd, maestro Sir Simon Rattle and London Symphony Orchestra performed at the NCPA—the last stop of their China tour—together with piano virtuoso Emanuel Ax.

Sir Simon Rattle returns to Beijing with London Symphony Orchestra.

London Symphony Orchestra has been to the NCPA for four times, and the last time when maestro Sir Simon Rattle was in Beijing was in 2011, with Berliner Philharmoniker. This was maestro’s NCPA debut with London Symphony Orchestra after he took position as its Music Director.

Piano Virtuoso Emanuel Ax joined the orchestra in the first half.

On the first half, piano virtuoso Emanuel Ax joined the orchestra in the interpretation of Brahms’Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 83. On the second half, the orchestra performed Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 27 under Sir Simon Rattle’s baton. Last, the orchestra gave an very impressive performance of the Chinese traditional music Good News from Beijing Spreads Borderland as the encore.

NCPA Music Director LÜ Jia had an in-depth dialogue with maestro Sir Simon Rattle.

Ahead of the concert, maestro Sir Simon Rattle commented on the fast development of classical music in China, “Every time I come to China, the audience seems to make about 50 years of development between every 5 years. This has been really interesting, to see how much closer the audiences are”.