The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS), as one of the top chamber music associations in the United States, is also one of the eleven constituents of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the largest performing arts complex in the world. Alongside renowned organizations such as the New York Philharmonic, New York City Ballet, Lincoln Center Theater, and the Metropolitan Opera, CMS holds performances throughout its concert season at its New York City residence, Alice Tully Hall, which is the world’s finest chamber music hall. It also embarks on nationwide and international tours. Through numerous live performances, educational initiatives, recordings in audio and video formats, online streaming, as well as broadcasts on radio and television channels, CMS brings the experience of extraordinary chamber music to a broader audience than any other organization of its kind.

 

Under the artistic direction of pianist Wu Han and cellist David Finckel, who have served as CMS Artistic Directors since 2004, CMS upholds a reputation for exceptional performances. Wu Han is the only Chinese female musician to receive this honor in over half a century, and she holds the distinction of being the only Chinese Artistic Director at Lincoln Center. David Finckel, the cellist of the Emerson String Quartet for 34 years, is a nine-time Grammy Award winner and is highly esteemed in the American chamber music community. CMS is known for its exceptional performance level, inspired programming, and as a global benchmark for chamber music. The BBC Music Channel stated that "The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center has an incredibly high reputation." Every season, CMS assembles over 130 artists, forming a diverse and international roster of the world's finest chamber musicians. This enables CMS to present chamber music of every instrumentation, style, and historical period. Critics have acclaimed CMS as "an exploding star in the musical firmament" (Wall Street Journal). In every touring performance, CMS consistently demonstrates a hallmark of artistic excellence. The touring programmes presented to concert organizers are meticulously crafted and performed under the interpretation of world-renowned musicians, showcasing the pinnacle of chamber music expertise.

 

CMS continuously strives to promote, educate, and cultivate a love and appreciation for chamber music. Its digital presence allows CMS to reach hundreds of thousands of viewers and listeners globally each year. This includes an ever-growing array of livestreamed programmes, over 1,000 hours of performances and educational videos available for free viewing on its website, public broadcasting and television series nationwide in the United States, as well as broadcast programmes in China. The NY-Emmy-nominated documentary "Transcending: The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Celebrates 50 Years" and performance recordings are also featured on platforms like Medici.tv, Tencent, and SiriusXM. Thousands of children, teens, and adults discover the joys of chamber music and deepen their knowledge and appreciation of this beautiful art form through CMS education and community engagement programmes. CMS offers an extraordinary number of learning formats and experiences to engage and inform listeners of all ages, backgrounds, and levels of musical knowledge. This includes school-based programmes for elementary school students, family concerts in both traditional and casual and accessible formats, teen-centered programmes, master classes throughout the United States and internationally, pre-concert composer chats, and insightful lectures for adults on the season’s repertoire.

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.