LIU Sha is National-level A-list Conductor, Principal Conductor of the China National Traditional Orchestra, Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Macau Chinese Orchestra and Master’s Supervisor at Conducting Department of the Central Conservatory of Music. He graduated from the Conducting Department of the Central Conservatory of Music in his early years, and studied under the tutelage of Professor XU Xin. Later, he went to the N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg Conservatory for further conducting studies, where he studied under the tutelage of Professor Alexander Polishchuk, and completed the programme with top honours and was awarded a diploma in Opera-Symphony Conducting. He also attended the master classes of world-famous maestros Seiji Ozawa, Mstislav Rostropovich, Jorma Panula, Colin Metters and Gustav Meier.

For many years, as a member of the China National Traditional Orchestra, he has visited Russia, France, South Korea, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Germany, the United States and other countries. In 2010, he conducted at Concert in Celebration of the 50^th Anniversary of China National Traditional Orchestra, and was received and praised by national leaders. In 2011, he visited Europe and conducted at world-famous “Salzburg Festival (Salzburger Festspiele)”. In 2013, he performed at the Chinese New Year Concert in Hawaii. He also participated in the Pan Pacific Asia Art Festival of Stanford University in San Francisco.

LIU Sha is a visionary who has been advocating, commissioning and performing new works by young Chinese composers. The resulting achievements have thrusted him into the limelight of music circles in China and Asia. In 2016, he was the youngest conductor to be named “China’s Top Ten Conductors in Chinese Orchestral Music”.

Affiliated with the Beijing Performing Arts Group, the Beijing Chinese Orchestra was founded in September 2015. It was formerly known as the Beijing Opera and Drama Dance Theatre, one of Beijing’s municipal performing arts troupes.

The orchestra has presented large-scale Chinese music concerts, such as Echoes of Beijing, Beijing Dreams, Feelings for the Capital City, Brilliant Chinese Music and Chinese Music Festival, and produced Chinese orchestral works including Eight Scenes in Beijing and Visions of China. Meanwhile, the orchestra continues to innovate in the form of performance, creating and launching a series of stylish performances, including the multimedia concert Five Elements, percussion children’s drama Looking for the Last Drop of Water, Chinese musical A Moonlit Night on the Spring River, modern Chinese music concert Chanting of the Land, and interactive concert Zootopia.

“The New Year’s Chinese Music Concert”, “Anniversary Concert”, “Young Heroes”, and “Four Seasons in China” series concerts have been held for many years. “The Beijing Drum Festival”, a branded event created by the orchestra, has also been held for four consecutive years during the National Day holiday. “Jiuyue Chamber Ensemble” and “Jiumu Percussion Ensemble”, the orchestra’s two influential performing groups, have performed at major foreign events. The well-received repertoire of the orchestra covers chamber music pieces, such as One Night in Beijing, Summer palace, Joyance, and Quicksand, as well as percussion music pieces such as Harmonious Drumbeats, Ten Thousand Horses Gallop, Grand Music, and Drum Music for China.

In recent years, the orchestra has seen an influx of emerging talents. Young musicians SONG Yibo, DU Pengpeng, ZHENG Yang, LI Yuhan have displayed their talents in many large-scale performances.

Having its roots in Beijing, the Beijing Chinese Orchestra will produce Chinese music with Beijing characteristics for China and our world, carry forward traditional Chinese culture, make innovations and contribute to the development of Beijing as a National Cultural Centre.

With Chinese music as its basis, we walk with the youth; with the charm of traditional music, we convey the voice of China.

The Nanjing Chinese Orchestra, which was the first state-owned professional Chinese orchestra to be independently established in Jiangsu Province, is one of the professional Chinese orchestras with influence. The Orchestra was founded in the 1980s, and after decades of development, it has grown into a large-scale Chinese orchestra featuring all the four vocal parts - bowed string music, plucked string music, woodwind music and percussion music. In 2019, the Nanjing Chinese Orchestra ushered in a new opportunity after receiving strong support from the Nanjing Municipal Government and Jianye District Government. The “city and district” collaborated to restructure and expand the Orchestra, placing it under professional management. ZHANG Lie, one of China’s Top Ten orchestra conductors, was invited to become Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Orchestra. Meanwhile, the Orchestra signed a contract with the Jiangsu Centre for the Performing Arts (JSCPA), becoming the JSCPA’s first resident orchestra.

Located in a great province for folk music and an ancient capital of six dynasties, the Nanjing Chinese Orchestra, stands devoted to inheriting Chinese musical classics and carrying forward the national spirit, never stops spreading, promoting, developing and innovating Chinese music. The Orchestra is home to a group of performers well-known both at home and abroad. The Orchestra also maintains long-term close cooperation with numerous famous Chinese and international composers, conductors and performers. Their authentic Chinese musical style and up-to-date brilliant performance are highly praised by Chinese and foreign audiences, as well as artists.

The Nanjing Chinese Orchestra has toured over 40 countries and regions around the world. In active response to Nanjing City’s call for cultural exchanges and visits, they remain committed to displaying the heritage of Nanjing as a historic city and spreading Chinese national music abroad. The Orchestra is honoured as “a high-level symphony orchestra of the People’s Republic of China” and “a key orchestra for cultural exchange with foreign countries” by the Ministry of Culture (now the Ministry of Culture and Tourism). Besides, the Orchestra delivers a large number of outreach performances every year in an effort to popularise Chinese national music.

Over the years, the Nanjing Chinese Orchestra has gradually developed its own unique musical style. Based on the traditional Chinese culture and something realistic, the Orchestra carries on with inheritance, exploration and innovation, accumulating plenty of original works. In 2004, the Orchestra held a concert entitled, “Dream Quest in Nanjing—Chinese New Year of the Monkey” at the Wiener Musikverein. The concert was broadcasted live to the Chinese audience. The Orchestra made creative planning by inviting Mr. ZHAO Jiping, a famous composer, to create a large-scale national symphony, Ode to Peace, which was grandly staged at the Great Hall of the People, Beijing in 2005 to kick off the National “Celebration for the 60^th Anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the Victory of the World Anti-Fascist War”. Nowadays, Ode to Peace is played around the world every year as a musical symbol of “remembering history and cherishing peace”. The Orchestra’s commissioned symphonic works, composed by many famous composers, such as Mr. GUO Wenjing’s The Peach Blossom Fan, Mr. CUI Xin’s Charm of Jinling, Rejuvenation in Flourishing Age and You·Water Mist·Return, Mr. XU Zhibin’s KANG Senghui, Mr. ZHANG Wei’s Emancipation·1949, Mr. CHEN Si’ang, Mr. YANG Yibo and Mr. KONG Zhixuan’s Liberation: 1949, etc., have now become classic pieces in the Orchestra’s repertoire.

The Baotou Art Theatre Chinese Orchestra is the only professional Chinese orchestra of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, affiliated to the Baotou Art Theatre.

With the unremitting efforts of the Party group, the theatre and all the musicians, the Baotou Art Theatre Chinese Orchestra has grown gradually into a professional, young, fashionable and influential Chinese orchestral ensemble since 2004. Over the past 21 years, the Orchestra has successfully held the Baotou Chinese Music Concert for 21 times, and given Chinese music concerts throughout China. Famous conductors from home and abroad, including Pangka Pang, ZHANG Lie, Tay Teow Kat (Singapore), LIU Sha, LIU Jiangbin, GE Yanan, YUAN Bei, YE Erda and ZHANG Wei (in chronological order), have conducted the Orchestra on invitation. Many famous performers and singers have also shared the stage with the Orchestra at its invitation. The Orchestra has cooperated with performers including huqin artists TIAN Zaili, WANG Guiying, JIANG Kemei and SHEN Cheng, pipa artists HAO Yifan, CAO Yang, YANG Jing and WU Yuxia, dulcimer artist XU Xuedong, flutists HOU Changqing and DAI Ya, suona artist WANG Zhentong, etc., and has cooperated with singers including LI Guyi, WAN Shanhong, WU Bixia, ZHENG Xulan, LI Xiong, HUANG Huali, WANG Qingshuang, ZHANG Haiqing, WU Jing, TIE Jin, HAO Ge, WANG Erni, YUE Lu, etc.

The Orchestra has performed as a guest at the NPCA and Peking University Hall, as well as in Qingdao, Taiyuan, Zhengzhou, Nanjing, Wuxi, Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo, etc., visited Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Oman, Singapore, etc. on invitation, and attended the “2024 Nanjing Yangse River Folk Music Festival” organised by the Publicity Department of the CPC Nanjing Municipal Party Committee. In 2024, the Orchestra unveiled the First Baotou Chinese Music Season and the 21^st Chinese Music Concert, working with the China Broadcast Art Troupe (Chinese Orchestra), a national orchestra, in performing Nine Bends of the Great River, a piece of large-scale Chinese orchestral music supported by the China National Arts Fund. With the “Ω”-shaped bend of the Yellow River, a predominant geological location, as the core, the story of the Yellow River was told in music to carry forward the Yellow River culture and Northern Border culture, drawing wide attention. At the same time, the Orchestra worked with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra in performing Chinese music Predestined Love at the Victoria Concert Hall. The Orchestra also cooperated with the Beijing Chinese Orchestra in giving the Chinese music concert Night in Beijing - Ties with Grassland in Beijing, and with the Zhejiang Chinese Orchestra on Vast Waters between the Mountain and the Sea, a programme supported by the China National Arts Fund.

Committed to spreading the local ethnic culture, the Orchestra is warmly welcomed wherever they go. After continuous training and improvement, the Baotou Art Theatre Chinese Orchestra has grown into an influential cultural organisation that enjoys a good reputation both at home and abroad, making outstanding contributions to promoting the national culture and building the city into a cultural powerhouse.

The Orchestra’s large-scale concert of Chinese music commissions, The Yellow River Flowing Through the Grassland, has received support from the China National Arts Fund and has been selected as one of the “Excellent Stage Productions of the 9 Provinces and Regions in the Yellow River Valley” by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The album The Yellow River Flowing Through the Grassland (Chinese Symphonic Tone-picture) won the “Top Ten Hit Albums Award of the Year” in 2019. Besides, the Orchestra won the Excellent Production Award at the Baotou Municipal “Five-One Project” Award for the Tenth Session of Spiritual Civilization Construction.

The Orchestra has toured the Shanxi Grand Theatre, “Taihang Castle in Runcheng, Shanxi·Dream Building in China” TCIW•2020, Zhengzhou Culture and Art Centre, Baotou Grand Theatre, etc. It also performs live on large-scale Chinese network platforms including YY Digital and Inner Mongolia Art.

In April 2023, the Baotou Art Theatre Chinese Orchestra spent half a month touring the Yangtze River Delta region, including Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuxi, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Ningbo, with The Yellow River Flowing Through the Grassland presented under the theme of “Yellow River in Dialogue with Yangtse River, Baotou Hand in Hand with Yangtze River Delta”. ZHANG Lie, GE Yanan and ZHANG Wei conducted the touring performance, respectively. After the tour, the experts present showed great appreciation for the Baotou Art Theatre Chinese Orchestra, encouraged them and expressed the hope to see a better orchestra in the future. Each time, the performance was well-accepted by the local audience and it also touched the citizens from Inner Mongolia so deeply with the long-lost accent of their native place that they were filled with tears. They were even unwilling to leave after the performance.

The Baotou Art Theatre Chinese Orchestra is artistically committed to performing Chinese classic works, promoting and inheriting the Chinese music culture, composing musical works with local features and developing special forms of Chinese music, so as to build a regional and national cultural brand of Chinese music.

Founded in 2019, the Zhuhai Chinese Orchestra, always devoted to inheriting and carrying forward the excellent Chinese culture, works hard to discover, sort out, study and develop Chinese music. Based on Cantonese music and relying on the Lingnan culture, the Orchestra has created a number of Chinese orchestral works rich in Chinese and Cantonese elements, including Music from the Great Bay, Bougainvillea and Trollius Chinensis and Dream Chasing in Linghai concerts, receiving widespread attention and praise from the industry and society. In 2022, the Orchestra launched its “Music Season”, which is on track today. The Orchestra conducts exchanges on national music culture with its counterparts in the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area and in other “Belt & Road” countries, in order to help promote cultural construction in the Greater Bay Area and strengthen cultural confidence, thereby making itself a striking “cultural landmark” of Zhuhai City.

Founded in 2020, the Wuxi Chinese Orchestra is a city-owned art ensemble. The artistic director is Mr. DENG Jiandong, an outstanding contemporary Chinese erhu artist and national first-class performer that enjoys special government allowances from the State Council. The principal conductor is Mr. SUN Peng, a young contemporary conductor and winner of the International Conducting Competition for Chinese Music. The principal guest conductor is Mr. Tsung Yeh, a renowned conductor. Famous conductor YAN Huichang is chief adviser to the Orchestra, while famous conductors Mr. GU Guanren and Mr. WANG Jianmin, as well as famous performer Ms. WU Yuxia, are consultants to the Orchestra.

Since its founding, the Orchestra, devoted to creating excellent contemporary works with the characteristics of “Wu culture, Taihu culture and Jiangnan culture”, has been striving to discover and inherit the essence of the local music culture and share art forms with unique regional features. The Orchestra has given hundreds of performances including the first concert Beautiful Melody of Liangxi, large-scale Chinese symphonic epic Marching Toward the Light, to celebrate the 100^th Anniversary of the Founding of the CPC, large-scale Chinese symphonic tone-picture Jiangnan in Dream, A Pioneer in Pursuit of Light - Commemoration of the 90^th Anniversary of LIU Tianhua’s Passing, etc. The Orchestra has commissioned lots of works including Erhu Concerto No. 2 - Taihu Lake Scenery, and Chinese orchestral music Tone Poem of Liangxi, River of Universiade, Taihu Lake in Dream, Charm of Plum Blossom, Wu-style Drum Music, etc. It was invited to the 39^th Shanghai Spring International Music Festival and the NCPA Second Spring of Traditional Chinese Music. The Orchestra has attended cultural exchange activities in Australia, Laos, Canada, Mauritius, France, Portugal, Russia, Turkey and other countries, as well as Hong Kong, Macao and other regions, receiving high praise! Its story has been reported by many mainstream media including the Xinhua News Agency, People’s Daily, CCTV, Culture & Tourism, cnr.cn, Music Weekly, etc., drawing widespread social attention. In 2023, the Orchestra launched its first theme season to offer more creative, high-quality cultural content about Chinese music.

Adhering to the concept of “high competency, high skills, high coordination, high quality” and the motto of “excellence, uniqueness, diversification, branding”, the Wuxi Chinese Orchestra will build a training-based benign mechanism with creation and performance as the core to add new colours to Chinese music!