Founded in October 2011, the NCPA Resident Singers have established themselves as an essential pillar of opera at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) and across the country, bringing together exceptional vocal talents from China and beyond. Over the past decade, they have honed their craft with unwavering dedication. Driven by a deep passion for opera and a profound respect for the stage, they have risen to the forefront of the operatic field as one of the most accomplished and representative ensembles in China today.

The NCPA Resident Singers have been at the heart of over 70 NCPA productions—from original Chinese works to international classics—showcasing their artistry on stages both at home and abroad alongside some of the world’s finest artists. They have also become one of the most extensively and deeply engaged opera ensembles in China, working with world-class conductors, directors, singers, stage artists, and renowned theatres and arts institutions, and are among the few nationwide to have embraced an internationally oriented, professionally managed operating model.

United by a relentless pursuit of artistic excellence and an enterprising spirit, they have performed in Italian, French, German, Russian, Czech, and other languages, presenting many works on the Chinese stage for the first time—Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier (The Knight of the Rose), Wagner’s Lohengrin and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra, Puccini’s La fanciulla del West, Rossini’s L’italiana in Algeri, and Dvořák’s Rusalka. In co-productions with internationally acclaimed theatres, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House, the Mariinsky Theatre, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, and the Polish National Opera, the NCPA Resident Singers have earned high praise from their international peers—a testament to the strength of Chinese operas on the world stage.

Staying true to their mission and original aspiration, they give voice to Chinese stories song, championing original Chinese works and upholding the spirit of Chinese culture. They have taken leading roles in every NCPA opera commission, including The Long March, Rickshaw Boy, FANG Zhimin, and The Dawns Here Are Quiet. Tours of these Chinese operas have also taken them to Turin, Milan, Genoa, Florence, Parma, Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan, Nanchang, Ürümqi, Hotan, and among other cities.

The NCPA Resident Singers have lived up to their responsibilities, participating in numerous national-level artistic performances and international cultural exchange events, honouring their commitment to the nation’s cultural and historic mission in the new era. They shone at multiple major national events: The Eternal Promise at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation Gala; Strive, Sons and Daughters of China, the Gala Celebrating the 70^th Anniversary of the Founding of the PRC; and The Great Journey, the Gala Celebrating the 100^th Anniversary of the Founding of the CPC.

In addition to their operatic performances, they have also dedicated themselves to creating a diverse range of themed concerts, interpreting classic operatic repertoire through concert formats while exploring new possibilities for the broader dissemination of opera. Through performances, lectures, and other engagement activities, they connected with audiences beyond the opera house, reaching schools, communities, and workplaces across the country. Singing for the people, they have become a vital link in the “drip irrigation” initiative, making high-quality art more accessible and nurturing a broader audience for Chinese operas.

Unfaltering in voice, unyielding in duty, the NCPA Resident Singers stand as a living embodiment of the NCPA’s guiding principle—For the People, For the Art, and For the World. Grounded in the values of leadership, heritage, innovation, openness, and inclusivity, and drawing from the cultural spirit of the capital and the rich tapestry of Chinese tradition, they bring opera to the nation and engage the world through the universal language of art.

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.

In 2025, the orchestra, led by Myung-Whun Chung, completed its first multi-country European tour, performing at the Edinburgh International Festival, Santander International Festival, and Elbphilharmonie, receiving“immediate and unanimous (ovation)” (Bachtrack), and was hailed by the Hamburger Abendblatt as "cleanly and richly sonorous...The ambition of this orchestra was unmistakably great".

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 two national tours in March 2023 and March 2025.

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. Beginning in the 2025/26 season, ZHANG Xian assumes the role of Principal Guest Conductor. In 2025, LAI Jiajing was appointed as Resident Conductor.

China NCPA Chorus was established on December 8, 2009. It is the resident choir of the China National Performing Arts Center. 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.

As one of China's leading choruses both in the opera and concert, the NCPA Chorus has participated in more than 70 Chinese and foreign operas by NCPA such as Xishi, The Ballad of Canal, The Red Guards on Honghu Lake, Visitors on the Snow Mountain, The Red Guards on Honghu Lake, 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, the 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 Opening ceremony of the XXIV Winter Olympic Games music recording, The National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference New Year Tea Party Performance in 2024 and 2025 and other major national cultural activities, they have 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 17 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 heart!