China NCPA Orchestra
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, ZHANG Xian, Rudolf Buchbinder, Stephen Kovacevich, Khatia Buniatishvili, Lang Lang, Yuja Wang, ZHANG Haochen, Kyung-Wha Chung, Vadim Repin, Siqing Lu, NING Feng, WANG Jian, 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, Le nozze di 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 CHEN Qigang, 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.
Alongside its concert series, the orchestra has received widespread praise for its international appearances at the Kissingen Summer Music Festival and the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival and concerts in many cities in Germany, as well as in other countries and regions such as Sydney, Singapore, Seoul, Daegu, Abu Dhabi, Taipei and Macau. In 2014, the orchestra undertook its first North American tour and returned in 2017, where it performed at Carnegie Hall, Chicago Symphony Center, Davies Symphony Hall and other major venues in the US and Canada, under the baton of LÜ Jia. Musical America praised its "joyful confidence and youthful strength". Concerto Net described it as "a polished, first rate ensemble".
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 with specially selected programmes at 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, ZHANG Haochen and many other artists in presenting online concert series over five 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, KONG Jianing, DU Tianqi, and CHEN Yue. Highlights of the season also include the returns of ZHANG Guoyong, YUAN Ding, SONG Yuanming, YANG Xuefei, 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 CHEN Zuohuang, 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.
China NCPA Chorus
China NCPA Chorus is the resident chorus of National Centre for the Performing Arts.
China NCPA Chorus was established on December 8th, 2009. WU Lingfen, the famous conductor, serves as its chorus master. As the professional artistic performing group that belongs to the highest palace of performing arts, the chorus adheres to the NCPA's guiding principle of "for the people, for art, for the world" and is recognized as a vigorous professional chorus with infinite potential.
During the process of its growth, names of many most outstanding artistic masters in today's world have been observed, including famous directors Francesca Zambello, Giancarlo del Monaco, Hugo de Ana, CHEN Xinyi, CAO Qijing, LIAO Xianghong, WANG Xiaoying, YI Liming, LI Liuyi, TIAN Qinxin and YANG Xiaoyang; famous conductors Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Daniel Oren, Myung-whun Chung, Jaap van Zweden, Antonio Pappano, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, YAN Liangkun, YANG Hongnian, LÜ Jia, ZHANG Guoyong, LI Xincao, ZHENG Jian and YANG Li; famous singers Plácido Domingo, Leo Nucci, Inva Mula, Juan Pons, Brandon Jovanovich, Francesco Meli, YAN Weiwen, DAI Yuqiang, WEI Song, Warren Mok, YUAN Chenye, LIAO Changyong, ZHANG Yalun, ZHANG Liping, Dilbèr, SUN Xiuwei, HE Hui, YANG Guang and XiaoLiang LI. The masters have given high appraisals to the chorus. The world famous tenor Domingo once said, "I am honoured to cooperate with these gifted young artists"; the late conductor Lorin Maazel said, "It is a Chorus of passion"; conductor Daniel Oren, who was excited after rehearsal, said, "This is the chorus that has the best sound I have ever heard. Young as they are, they are better than many of the choruses in Europe"; conductor Antonio Pappano said, "This is a youthful and passionate chorus that has been well trained to sound wonderful and harmonious".
As one of China's leading choruses both in the orchestra pit and concert hall, the NCPA Chorus brings to life fresh and vivid operatic characters one after another with their lavishly expressive singing and passionate theatrical performance, playing an active role in pushing forward the artistic production of National Centre for the Performing Arts. Since its establishment, it has participated in more than 50 operas by NCPA such as opera commissions Xishi, A Village Teacher, The Chinese Orphan, The Beautiful Blue Danube, The Ballad of Canal, Rickshaw Boy, Visitors on the Snow Mountain, Sunrise, The Dawns Here Are Quiet, FANG Zhimin, The Long March, Jinsha River, LAN Huahua and Effendi, and Chinese and foreign classic operas such as The White-Haired Girl, The Red Guards on Honghu Lake, Turandot, Carmen, La Traviata, L'Elisir d'Amore, Tosca, Die Fledermaus, Der Fliegende Holländer, Un Ballo in Maschera, Lohengrin, Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Otello, Nabucco, Le Nozze di Figaro, L'Italiana in Algeri, Il Trovatore, Cavalleria Rusticana & I Pagliacci, Norma, Don Pasquale, Aida, Rigoletto, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Eugene Onegin, Andrea Chenier, Der Rosenkavalier, Simon Boccanegra, Samson et Dalilah, La Gioconda, Tannhäuser, Macbeth, Rusalka, Lucia di Lammermoor, Tristan und Isolde, Falstaff, Thais, La Figlia del Regimento, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Romeo and Juliet, La sonnambula, Don Giovanni, La fanciulla del West, Les Pecheurs de Peries. Its artistic attainments have won favourable comments from the insiders and audiences.
Apart from operas, the chorus has also planned and performed in many large-scale vocal works and theme concerts including Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Mahler's Second, Third and Eighth Symphonies, Verdi's Requiem, and Concert to Commemorate the 110th Anniversary of HUANG Zi's Birth, the opera concerts such as William Tell, Don Juan and many politically significant state level shows including large-scale music and dance epic Road to Rejuvenation, Victory and Peace – Evening Gala to Commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Victory of the World Anti-fascist War and the Counter-Japanese War of the Chinese People, Evening Gala for the G20 Hangzhou Summit, the Gala Commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the Victory of the Long March, the gala "Millennial Road" for the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation and the National Day Celebration Performance Go for the Better, The Sons and Daughters of the Chinese Nation. By means of the concerts, the chorus makes more audiences to understand more of its charm and the artistic spirit of its unremitting efforts.
As the singing envoy of zeitgeist, the chorus has always been paying attention to fostering audience, supporting and participating in the artistic education and popularization activities of NCPA. It actively plans and participates in NCPA's Weekend Concert series, Classic Art Lectures series, and appears in more than 40 public benefit events held in schools, communities, enterprises, militar camps and hospitals every year to help popularize elegant art, so as to improve people's aesthetic taste. Meanwhile, the chorus commits itself to introducing NCPA's artistic productions and outstanding classic works to audiences at home and abroad. It participated in the tour of NCPA's opera Visitors on the Snow Mountain in seven provinces and municipalities across China, opera commission FANG Zhimin's tour in Jiangxi Province, opera The Long March’s tour in Nanjing as part of the 3rd China Opera Festival and has visited foreign countries like Singapore, South Korea, Japan and China’s Hong Kong and Macao for exchanges. The chorus's performances have been critically acclaimed by the audiences and local counterparts. Especially in 2015, the chorus went with NCPA to Italy for a 17-day tour of the opera Rickshaw Boy to a great success, demonstrating the rich musical expression of the chorus.
Beijing, in the new century, is full of the prosperous atmosphere of elegant art. The young artists of the chorus devote their most vigorous and dynamic youth to the cause of China's opera, and strive for dream and art!
Bolshoi Orchestra
The Bolshoi Orchestra is the oldest orchestra in Russia and one of the world’s largest symphony orchestras. It was founded in 1776 when the Company, which put a start to the future Bolshoi Theatre, was formed. According to a decree of Catherine II, the opera orchestra was to incorporate 35 musicians.
It was made up of serf musicians bought by the Treasury from their landowner-masters, and of foreigners and other free people. The Orchestra took part in all the Theatre’s musical dramas and opera productions.
Gradually its repertoire was expanded: following operas and ballets by Alyabiev, Verstovsky and Varlamov, the works of Glinka, later by Serov, Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov were staged at the Bolshoi and played by its Orchestra. From the 1830s, the Orchestra began to give performances of well-known European operas by Mozart, Cherubini, Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, Weber, later by Verdi, Wagner, Bizet, Gounod and Puccini.
From the end of the last century, the Orchestra started to give symphony concerts and these were to play a major role in the development of its professional skills. The two years – 1904–1906 – that Rachmaninov was conductor of the Bolshoi Orchestra saw considerable reorganization of the Orchestra. Rachmaninov’s activities resulted in a re-assessment of the role and place of the orchestra in opera and ballet productions and the key importance of the Orchestra in musical theatre came to be acknowledged.
The twenties and thirties of the century witnessed a new stage in the creative evolution of the Bolshoi Orchestra. Over this period, the best players in the country joined the Orchestra which became the Soviet Union’s most important collective of performing musicians and the center of the capital’s musical life.
Many outstanding Russian conductors have worked with the Bolshoi Orchestra: Rachmaninov, Suk, Golovanov, Pazovsky, Samosud, Melik-Pashaev, Haykin, Svetlanov, Rozhdestvensky, Simonov, Lazarev and Ermler. When appearing with the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra, the distinguished foreign conductors – Bruno Walter, Oscar Fried, Albert Coates, Fritz Stiedry, Zdenek Khalabala, Hermann Abendroth, Riccardo Muti – never failed to remark on the Orchestra’s high professional level.
The Bolshoi Orchestra has made numerous recordings of operas, ballets and symphonic works, many of which have received international recognition and high awards. In 1989, the Bolshoi Orchestra was awarded Italy’s highest music prize, the “Golden Viotti” medal, as the best orchestra of the year.
Today, the Bolshoi Orchestra includes more than 250 members. Its musicians often perform as soloists and members of ensembles in concert halls in Russia and abroad. Among them many are international competition prize-winners and People’s or Merited Artists of Russia. Many of the older generation of musicians are professors at the Moscow Conservatoire and the Gnessin Academy of Music, and many younger players in the Orchestra are their former students. Their style is distinguished by the striking, full-blooded sound of the string quintet, the filigree work of the wood-wind and the brilliance and power of the brass.
Over the years, the Bolshoi Orchestra has won international acclaim due to its participation in Bolshoi Ballet and Opera Company tours as well as to its appearances on the concert platform.
In 2014 Tugan Sokhiev was appointed Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Bolshoi Theatre. Under his leadership, the Bolshoi Orchestra has given numerous symphonic concerts, performing works by Mahler, Verdi, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Rachmaninov.
Bolshoi Theatre Chorus
While forming part of the Opera Company, the Bolshoi Theatre Chorus is a creative entity in its own right and occupies a page of its own in Bolshoi history. In the 80’s of the 19th century, Ulrich Avranek was appointed Chief Chorus Master and second conductor of the Theatre’s orchestra. Under his leadership, the Chorus attained a very high performance level and became known throughout Russia. Many composers wrote music specially for it. At the beginning of the last century, the Bolshoi Theatre Chorus took part in Sergei Diaghilev’s Russian Seasons in Paris. As the art of staging opera developed, the Chorus became an active participant in all the Theatre’s opera productions. First-class musicians, the Bolshoi Theatre conductors and chorus masters developed the artistic traditions of choral singing and enhanced the beauty, power and expressiveness of its sound.
Today, the Chorus has a vast concert repertoire, including works for chorus by Sergei Taneyev, Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky, Sergei Rachmaninov, Sergei Prokofiev, and religious music. Since 2003, the Chorus has been led by Merited Artist of Russia Valery Borisov.
The Chorus took part in concert programs led by outstanding conductors, amongst them Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Vladimir Fedoseev, Alberto Zedda, Jiří Bělohlávek, Vassily Sinaisky.
In 2005 the Bolshoi Theatre Chorus was awarded with Special Prize of The Golden Mask for its works for Macbeth and Der Fliegende Holländer. In 2019, the Chorus was awarded the International Opera Awards.