Sounds Across the World: ZHANG Yi,
CHEN Yue and NCPAO

Early autumn promises great enjoyment as musicians ranging from Baroque masters to contemporary Chinese composers gather. Music brings to us how the composers see this wonderful world. On August 8, Zhang Yi, music director of the National Ballet of China Orchestra, and bamboo flutist Chen Yue, together with China NCPA Orchestra, will take the audience on a journey across the East and the West and over time.  

Chaconne in D minor is one of Johann Sebastian Bach’s works that have been most often rearranged and orchestrated by later generations. In a letter to Clara Schumann, Johannes Brahms praised the piece: “On one stave, for a small instrument, the man writes a whole world of the deepest thoughts and most powerful feelings.”

In 1901, Edvard Grieg, a representative of Norwegian nationalist composers, selected three from his earlier published piano pieces. He simplified and orchestrated these three pieces and turned them into the Lyric Suite. Both Bedrich Smetana’s “Vltava” and Julian Yu’s Concerto on Chinese Themes are pieces saturated with the composers’ deep love for their motherland and great affections for the hometown. The concert will reach its climax with soul-stirring music of a symphonic arrangement of composer Liu Chi’s widely known song My Motherland and Shi Wanchun’s Long Live the People, composed for the film The Birth of New China.

By Gao Jie

Yi Zhang

Director of the China National Symphony Orchestra

Artistic Director or Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra

As an influential conductor in China, Yi Zhang devoted himself in hundreds of concerts, operas and ballets. During the past two decades, he has cooperated with orchestras home and abroad, including China National Symphony Orchestra, China Philharmonic Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Macau Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Württemberg Chamber Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, Cuba Symphony Orchestra, Kungliga Operan and etc. In his performances around European, American, Australian and Asian countries, Yi Zhang collaborated with numerous artists such as Leonidas Kavakos, Emmanuel Pahud, Wenzel Fuchs, Renaud Capucon, Jean-YvesThibaudet, Myung Wha Chung, Sarah Chang, Lang Lang etc. During his tour in Malaysia, Yi Zhang received great acclaim in local news media, describing him as “a brilliant, incredible charming young conductor”. 

As an influential conductor in China, Yi Zhang devoted himself in hundreds of concerts, operas and ballets. During the past two decades, he has cooperated with orchestras home and abroad, including China National Symphony Orchestra, China Philharmonic Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Macau Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Württemberg Chamber Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, Cuba Symphony Orchestra, Kungliga Operan and etc. In his performances around European, American, Australian and Asian countries, Yi Zhang collaborated with numerous artists such as Leonidas Kavakos, Emmanuel Pahud, Wenzel Fuchs, Renaud Capucon, Jean-YvesThibaudet, Myung Wha Chung, Sarah Chang, Lang Lang etc. During his tour in Malaysia, Yi Zhang received great acclaim in local news media, describing him as “a brilliant, incredible charming young conductor”.

As an influential conductor in China, Yi Zhang devoted himself in hundreds of concerts, operas and ballets. During the past two decades, he has cooperated with orchestras home and abroad, including China National Symphony Orchestra, China Philharmonic Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Macau Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Württemberg Chamber Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, Cuba Symphony Orchestra, Kungliga Operan and etc. In his performances around European, American, Australian and Asian countries, Yi Zhang collaborated with numerous artists such as Leonidas Kavakos, Emmanuel Pahud, Wenzel Fuchs, Renaud Capucon, Jean-YvesThibaudet, Myung Wha Chung, Sarah Chang, Lang Lang etc. During his tour in Malaysia, Yi Zhang received great acclaim in local news media, describing him as “a brilliant, incredible charming young conductor”. 

Learning to play the violin at the age of five, Yi Zhang was recommended to Central Conservatory of Music in 1990. He learned conducting under the guidance of Prof. Xu Xin and Prof. Ji Ruikai. From 2000 to 2003, he pursued further education in the Saarbrücken Hochschule für Musik Saar, where he finished the graduate course for conducting with Prof. Max Pommer, a renowned German conductor.

CHEN Yue

CHEN Yue was born in April in 1978, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province in China. She began her playing the traditional Chinese bamboo flute (dizi) as a child, receiving her earliest instruction from her father. At the age of 12 she was already a well-known local performer and was sent to study privately with the master teacher, Zhao Songting. In 1993 she entered the Middle School of the China Conservatory of Music, where she was admitted as an undergraduate in 1996. The next year she was invited by China Central Television to participate in the national celebration of Hong Kong’s return to China. In 2000 CHEN graduated from the China Conservatory of Music and was the first woman to receive a Master’s degree in traditional Chinese flute performance. While at the China Conservatory, she studied with such modern flute masters as ZHANG Weiliang and JIANG Guoji. Following graduation CHEN began teaching flute at the China Conservatory.

In addition to her teaching, CHEN Yue is much in-demand as a musician, performing several times on the annual Chinese Spring Festival broadcast—the most watched television broadcast in the world. She was guest artist at the Special Olympics theme performance of the Beijing Culture Festival in Moscow in 2001, a featured performer at the 2003 “Year of China” in France and was selected as one of the official musical representatives of China for the Beijing Week of the Chinese Culture Festival in Washington D.C. in 2005. That same year, CHEN began her long-standing collaboration with pianist Richard Clayderman, touring with him all over the world. In May 2006, she joined the China National Symphony Orchestra on their US tour and in 2007 was one of the featured performers at one of the music industry’s largest international trade performances, the MIDEM exposition in Cannes, France. Later in 2007 she was invited to Denmark where she had the opportunity to meet the Danish Royal Family and performed a series of successful concerts with guitarist Lars Hannibal and Michala Petri as part of the “East Meets West” project.

CHEN is currently a member of the Traditional Wind Instruments Institute of the China Musicians Association, China Traditional Wind and String Music Institute and is vice-secretary of Chinese Flute Majors’ Institute and has published several scholarly articles on the history of the Dizi. She has concertized throughout Asia, the Pacific Rim, Europe and America and has been a soloist with China National Traditional Symphony Orchestra, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the China National Traditional Orchestra, the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo City Symphony Orchestra, the Macao Orchestra and the Greek National Symphony Orchestra. She has released many albums, popular both within China and internationally, including Bamboo Love, Song without Lyrics, Colour of Flute, Red Piano Impromptu, Spirits–East Meets West and China Joy.

China NCPA Orchestra is the resident orchestra of the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), Beijing. Since its founding in 2010, the orchestra has fast established itself as one of the most adventurous and dynamic orchestras in the country and earned an international reputation through extensive performances abroad. Numerous world-renowned artists have collaborated with the orchestra, including Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Valery Gergiev, Myung-Whun Chung, Christoph Eschenbach, Fabio Luisi, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Leif Segerstam, Gunter Herbig, Shao-Chia Lu, Xian Zhang, Rudolf Buchbinder, Stephen Kovacevich, Khatia Buniatishvili, Lang Lang, Yuja Wang, Haochen Zhang, Kyung-Wha Chung, Vadim Repin, Siqing Lu, NING Feng, Jian Wang, Gautier Capucon, Alison Balsom, Sabine Meyer, Placido Domingo, Leo Nucci, Renee Fleming among many others. Lorin Maazel worked closely with the orchestra before his passing and praised the musicians for their “amazing professionalism and great passion in music”. Christoph Eschenbach also declared it as “one of the finest orchestras in Asia”. Over the years, the orchestra has gained critical acclaim for its artistic excellence in both concerts and operas. To date they have played in over 60 NCPA opera productions, including classical repertoires such as Tristan and Isolde, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Aida, Otello, Nabucco, Tosca, Turandot, The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Eugene Onegin, and newly commissioned works Rickshaw Boy, The Long March, Fang Zhimin, The Jinsha River, Visitors on the Snow Mountain and The Dawns Here Are Quiet. Their live recording of The Ring without Words with its creator, Lorin Maazel, was released on SONY Music worldwide, the only recording the great maestro ever made with an orchestra from China. The orchestra has consistently offered creative and diverse programmes through its concert season. As part of its continuous efforts to promote contemporary music, the orchestra presented the China Premieres of major works by John Adams, Toru Takemitsu et al. and gave the World Premieres of dozens of substantial new orchestral works commissioned from composers across the globe, including Qigang Chen, Bright Sheng, ZHAO Jiping, Michael Gordon, Kalevi Aho, et al. It has also played a significant role in the NCPA's Young Composers Programme, providing a unique platform nurturing the next generation of composers in China. The orchestra has consistently offered creative and diverse programmes through its concert season. As part of its continuous efforts to promote contemporary music, the orchestra presented the China Premieres of major works by John Adams, Toru Takemitsu et al. and gave the World Premieres of dozens of substantial new orchestral works commissioned from composers across the globe, including Qigang Chen, Bright Sheng, ZHAO Jiping, Michael Gordon, Kalevi Aho, et al. It has also played a significant role in the NCPA's Young Composers Programme, providing a unique platform nurturing the next generation of composers in China. With its commitment to educational and outreach activities, the orchestra has presented a series of Weekend Matinee Concerts at its home venue, providing local audience specially selected programmes and accessible ticket prices. The orchestra also frequently initiates wide-reaching educational projects in association with educational institutions across the city. In this unpredictable 2020, the NCPAO led by the Music Director LÜ Jia has collaborated with LI Xincao, CHEN Lin, LI Biao, YANG Yang, ZHANG Yi, Siqing Lu, Haochen Zhang and many other artists in presenting online concert series over 5 months period. In November, the NCPAO announced its 2020-21 season after several rounds of adjustments. The new season sees the orchestra’s performances in operas including Fang Zhimin, Visitor on the Snow Mountain, LAN Huahua, and the premiere of the NCPA’s new production of Gianni Schicchi. In celebration of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth and the 160th anniversary of Mahler’s, Music Director LÜ Jia conducts the NCPAO in Egmont with actor SUN Qiang and a series of classic symphonies and chamber works of the two great composers. The 2020-2021 season features several Chinese artists’ debuts, among them YU Feng, ZHANG Jiemin, Jinxu Xiahou, Jianing Kong, Tianqi Du, and CHEN YUE. Highlights of the season also include the returns of ZHANG Guoyong, YUAN Ding, SONG Yuanming, Xuefei Yang, ZHANG Qiang, LI Jia, and David Wang. As the Composer-in-Focus, ZHAO Jiping’s music will be performed by the NCPAO throughout the season. In February 2012, LÜ Jia took up the post of Chief Conductor, succeeding Zuohuang Chen, NCPA’s then Artistic Director of Music as well as a founder of the orchestra. In January 2017, LÜ Jia started serving as NCPA's Artistic Director of Music and the NCPA Orchestra's Music Director.