In their music, musicians express not only their emotions, but also their reflections on the relationship between the self and the outside world and the relationship between history and future. In the powerful current of the times from the early 20th Century when Western music was introduced to China to this age of globalization and new media, Chinese musicians have kept pursuing the definition of “Chinese music.” This season, the NCPA Orchestra will continue with the series “Sounds of China” with a focus on 16 musicians of Chinese origin, who lived in different periods of the 20th Century and in different parts of the world. Through the musicians' different perspectives, we will better understand the profound influence of Chinese culture and see the diversity of Chinese music.

In this season, we will present the orchestra’s second Composer-in-Focus. ZHAO Jiping, who will turn 75 in 2020, has great achievements in both art music and film music. He has composed in various genres and has won innumerable awards. We will present his works, including Violin Concerto No. 1 and Pipa Concerto No. 2, both commissioned by the NCPA. In a long-drawn-out dialogue with the orchestra, the violin sings about the great love of humanity. The pipa’s melodious imitation of the Suzhou pingtan, a form of ballad singing in the tuneful dialect of Southeast China, is set off by the symphonic orchestra in the background. The music is sometimes powerful without a hint of too much effort, occasionally peaceful with a refined beauty, creating a new artistic style that integrates the east and west. Upon the orchestra’s request, Zhao has also started composing the choral symphony The Story of Flowers based on the score for the dance drama Flowers.

This season also sees the world premieres of two new works commissioned by the NCPA Orchestra, Evolution and Roosters of Dawn. Julian Yu’s Evolution was composed for the tenth anniversary of the NCPA Orchestra’s founding. This piece is coherent with the composer's unique style. It borrows elements of traditional Chinese music from a thousand years ago and weaves a bright-colored texture. The musical illustration of a spirit of endless progress and evolution reflects the NCPA Orchestra’s ten-year journey full of hope and vigor. Chinese American composer Bright Sheng’s Roosters of Dawn was jointly commissioned by the NCPA Orchestra, the Carnegie Hall, and Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra. With musical images and humanistic feelings, the piece shows the encounter and integration of the eastern and western cultures.

This season also sees the world premieres of two new works commissioned by the NCPA Orchestra, Evolution and Roosters of Dawn. Julian Yu’s Evolution was composed for the tenth anniversary of the NCPA Orchestra’s founding. This piece is coherent with the composer's unique style. It borrows elements of traditional Chinese music from a thousand years ago and weaves a bright-colored texture. The musical illustration of a spirit of endless progress and evolution reflects the NCPA Orchestra’s ten-year journey full of hope and vigor. Chinese American composer Bright Sheng’s Roosters of Dawn was jointly commissioned by the NCPA Orchestra, the Carnegie Hall, and Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra. With musical images and humanistic feelings, the piece shows the encounter and integration of the eastern and western cultures.

Elements of national music play a vital role in this season. BAO Yuankai’s suite for orchestra “Chinese Sights and Songs” draws on elements from the Han people’s folk songs in six regions including Hebei, Yunnan and Shaanxi and presents vivid pictures of the local life of these regions. Drawing on elements from Loess Plateau’s folk song, Qigang Chen expresses complex feelings about parting, changes, hope and expectations in the years away from the homeland, in his orchestral work L’eloingement. Julian Yu’s “Concerto on Chinese Themes” contains elements from various regional music dramas, and presents the beauty of Chinese folk songs with Chinese bamboo flute’s unique sound.

“The People and Heroes” is another major theme of the Chinese works in this season, and an important footnote for the year 2020. With powerful artistic imagination, XIAN Xinghai and GUANG Weiran illustrate a magnificent historical scene in the Yellow River Cantata, blowing the bugle for the battle to defend the home and the country. Inspired by the story of the Mongolian hero Gada Meilin, XIN Huguang composed the symphonic poem of the same name. With the memories of the heroic deeds he saw, QU Wei composed Monument to the People’s Heroes. The pipa concerto “Little Sisters of the Grassland” composed by the pipa master LIU Dehai in cooperation with WU Zuqiang and WANG Yanqiao is the first large-scale concerto for the pipa and the western orchestra. Ode to the Red Flag composed by LÜ Qiming in 1965, a piece that sings for the red flag as a symbol of the Chinese people’s enterprising spirit in the new historical journey, is one of the most often performed Chinese symphonic works. The symphonic version of My Motherland arranged by Julian Yu features a distinctive national style, an affectionate melody, and a magnificent refrain popular all over the country. Long Live the People, which SHI Wanchun composed for the film The Birth of New China, is a powerful and emotional piece that praises the awakening of the giant of the east.

“Sounds of China” is a guide that will help us understand how Chinese music rose in history and developed through the collision between the east and the west.