ZHANG Guoyong is a renowned Chinese conductor and music educator. He graduated from the Conducting Department of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 1983 and was awarded the doctorate in music by the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory in 1997. He successively studied with the Chinese conductor and music educator Prof. HUANG Xiaotong and the world-renowned master conductor Rozhdestvensky. He is Professor and Head of the Conducting Department of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Principal Conductor of the Shanghai Opera House and Music Director of the Qingdao Symphony Orchestra.

During ZHANG’s many years of artistic career, he has conducted classical works covering operas, ballets, and symphonic choruses in cooperation with many famous opera houses and symphony orchestras at home and abroad. He is particularly adept at conducting Russian works. He is recognized as one of the best interpreters of Shostakovich’s symphonies in China.

ZHANG’s conducting style is clean, natural and soulful with a passion complemented by a profound rationality, resulting in a strong artistic tension appealing to the audiences. With his keen ear, excellent skills, effective rehearsal methods and comprehensive grasp of the structure of the works, he impresses orchestras and audiences every time he appears on the stage.

In recent years, he has acted as China’s cultural ambassador in many major international cultural exchange events, representing the country in the Year of Culture activities co-hosted with the U.S., Russia, Germany, Italy, France and Latin America.

In 2014, ZHANG conducted the critically acclaimed HD opera film Carmen and Rickshaw Boy produced by the NCPA. In 2015, he was invited by the NCPA to participate in the Italian tour of Chinese operas. In the next year, he conducted the China Philharmonic Orchestra in its successful Russian debut, receiving wide acclaim.

In 2016, he was invited to be a member of the jury of the 8^th Cadaqués Orchestra International Conducting Competition in Spain.

ZHANG’s mentor Rozhdestvensky once told music critics excitedly, “I gave ZHANG Guoyong the highest marks ever awarded by the conducting department of Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory. He could find his place in any orchestra in the world.”

ZHANG is Vice-Chairman of the Shanghai Musicians Association and Vice-Chairman of the China Musicians Association.

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, Daniele Gatti, 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, Víkingur Ólafsson, 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 70 NCPA opera productions, including classical repertoires such as Das Rheingold, 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. In 2019, the orchestra’s recording of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 was awarded "Best Orchestral Album" at the 2018 Chinese Audiophile Vinyl Award. In 2021, the NCPAO released Beethoven’s Egmont becoming the first Chinese orchestra to record this masterpiece. In celebration of the decade tenure of its Music Director LÜ Jia, the orchestra released a selection of live recordings conducted by LÜ Jia in 2022. 2024 sees the NCPAO release the recordings of Bruckner’s complete numbered symphonies.

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, ZHAO Jiping, Michael Gordon, Kalevi Aho, HUANG Ruo, Bright Sheng, Bernd Richard Deutch, 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 cities in Sydney, Singapore, Seoul, Daegu, Abu Dhabi, Taipei and Macao. 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”. In 2021, they appeared in "See Me: A Global Concert" along with world-wide artists, orchestras and choirs as part of the Opening Ceremony of the World Economic Forum’s Davos Agenda virtual event. In 2022, the orchestra recorded for the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, accompanying billions of viewers to witness the lighting of the Olympic flame. In April 2023, musicians from the orchestra visited South America performing joint concerts with Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra in Brazil and Instituto Superior de Arte de Teatro Colon in Argentina.

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 2020, the orchestra launched an online concert series drawing an average audience of 30 million viewers. In 2024, the Beijing Youth Orchestra, operated by the NCPAO, participated in World Orchestra Week and made its international debut at Carnegie Hall. April 2021 saw the orchestra complete their first six-city national tour, which Music Weekly praised as "a series of sophisticated programmes in concerts that blew the roof off,” followed by the second national tour in March 2023.

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. In 2022, SUN Yifan and LAI Jiajing were appointed as assistant conductors.

China NCPA Chorus was established on December 8, 2009. It is the resident chorus of the China National Centre for the Performing Arts. 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 in China, 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.

As one of China’s leading choruses both in the opera and concert, the NCPA Chorus has participated in more than 60 Chinese and foreign operas produced by the NCPA such as Xishi, The Ballad of Canal, The Red Guards on Honghu Lake, Visitors on the Snow Mountain, FANG Zhimin, The Long March, The Daughter of the Party, Turandot, Carmen, La Traviata, Der Fliegende Holländer, and Aida. The chorus has also planned and performed in many large-scale vocal works and theme concerts including Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Mahler’s Eighth Symphonies, Verdi’s Requiem, and Concert to Commemorate the 110^th Anniversary of HUANG Zi’s Birth, opera concerts such as William Tell, Don Juan and so on. By means of the concerts, the chorus have get high appraisals by the high artistic standard. 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”; the world famous tenor Domingo once said, “I am honoured to cooperate with these gifted young artists”.

In addition, they were invited to participate in the Opening ceremony of the XXIV Winter Olympic Games music recording, The National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference 2024 New Year Tea Party Performance and other major national cultural activities. The chorus has actively demonstrated their mission and responsibility.

The NCPA Chorus has made unremitting efforts and continuous pursuit in art, and has accumulated a series of representative songs with distinctive artistic style like Take the Lead, The Moon Rises above the Island and so on. They have commissioned the creation and adaptation of The Sky-like Alashan, Crescent Moon and other works have been loved and widely praised by the audience.

The journey of music is full of beauty and joy. The NCPA Chorus has gone through a glorious history of 15 years. The artists of the chorus devote their most vigorous and dynamic youth to the cause of opera and chorus. Looking forward to a new journey, the NCPA Chorus will continue to sing without forgetting the original intention.

The Beijing Philharmonic Choir was founded in 1983 by the famous conductor and educator YANG Hongnian, professor at the Central Conservatory of Music. YANG Li, professor at the Department of Conducting, Central Conservatory of Music, is Permanent Conductor of the Choir.

Over the past 30 years, the Choir has trained thousands of children with a passion for music, accumulating a repertoire of more than a thousand Chinese and foreign choral works, and giving about one thousand performances. It has visited many European, American and Asian countries and regions including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. It has won more than 40 grand awards in international and domestic competitions, released 32 sets of audiovisual works including CDs and DVDs, and published seven children’s chorus albums.

The Choir conveys friendship with singing. In 1987, the Choir was invited to the Third International Children’s Chorus Festival in Washington, US, and was awarded the “Highest Appreciation Certificate” signed by Mr. Reagan, the then President of the US; In August 2008, the Choir sang the permanent Olympic anthem Olympic Hymn at the opening ceremony of the 29^th Olympic Games in Beijing; in 2017 and 2019, the Choir gave a performance twice at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation; from 2016 to 2019, the Choir appeared at the “Ode to Peace” world tour organised by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), and gave performances in Palestine, Israel, Santa Claus Village Finland, North Korea and Peacekeeping Force Headquarters Lebanon to call for peace with the world.

The Choir’s artistic pursuit under high standards has enabled them to win awards in many international chorus competitions. In 1996, the Choir visited Italy to participate in the 44^th International Guido d’Arezzo Polyphonic Contest, and won four awards; in 2010, the Choir participated in the 24^th Béla Bartók International Choir Competition, Hungary, winning First Prize in the teenager group and Second Prize in the youth group; in July 2015, the Choir won Second Place in the finals and other four important awards in the 54^th International Choir Competition in Gorizia, Italy. In August 2017, the Choir went to Italy again to participate in the 65^th International Guido d’Arezzo Polyphonic Contest, and won the championship, with the National Anthem of China played for the first time on a European top chorus arena.

Adhering to the tenet of “love and dedication”, the Choir participates in charity performances and popular concerts, sharing beauty and love with their voices.