Beijing News (Reporter Liu Zhen) On September 3, the National Center for the Performing Arts Orchestra announced the 2024/25 season. With the theme of "Three Lives and All Things", the new music season brings together masters and celebrities from all over the world, and great dramas take turns on the stage. It includes a total of 106 performances, including 11 operas with 51 performances, 21 sets with 39 symphony concerts, and 3 sets with 5 performances. 2 chamber orchestra concerts, 9 sets of 11 chamber ensemble concerts, in addition to multiple domestic and international tours, as well as more diversified and gradually upgraded educational projects and art activities.
The National Center for the Performing Arts Orchestra announced the 2024/25 concert season live. Photography: Gao Shang
The opening of this year’s music season is particularly “hardcore”. In terms of opera, the orchestra, under the leadership of music director Lu Jia, performed Wagner's "Das Rheingold" from "The Ring" to its fullest, kicking off a two-year full-length "Ring Ring" project. In terms of concerts, from September 7th to 8th, conductor Markus Steinz will conduct the opening concert, presenting the Chinese premiere of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and Granat's "Fanasia". Pianist Wang Zhiren will also make his debut with the orchestra and will perform Richard Strauss' dazzling skills and a rare piano concerto. Also hard-core are the many performances in September: Hannu Lintu conducts Scriabin's "Poem of Ecstasy", Lu Jia conducts Bruckner's "Fourth Symphony", Zhang Haochen and the orchestra make their chamber music debut Collaborating on Messiaen's legendary "Quartet for the End of Time".
2024 is the first year for the National Center for the Performing Arts' new layout of "one theater and three locations". The National Center for the Performing Arts Orchestra, which has grown steadily with the development of the theater, will also celebrate its fifteenth birthday in the 2024/25 season. "Three Life All Things" originates from the philosophical thought in the ancient Chinese classic "Tao Te Ching", which summarizes the development law of all things in the universe from small to large, from simple to complex, but always holding on to the original and keeping oneness, and following the path. According to General Manager Ren Xiaolong, the orchestra’s development also follows this pattern. "In the past fifteen years, the National Center for the Performing Arts Orchestra has grown from scratch, experienced the moment of 'from one to three' and 'emerged into a butterfly', and finally formed its current scale, strength, level and culture. For the orchestra, it stands At this threshold of "Three Lives of All Things", we see the moment from quantitative change to qualitative change, see greater responsibilities at a new starting point, and see the opportunity to make all things more prosperous with our own hands. To this end, the orchestra must use it. Music tells more and better stories, adheres to artistic standards more strictly, expands artistic creativity more imaginatively, brings the audience a music life experience that is truly comparable to the world, and meets the audience’s higher expectations for China’s symphony career.”
latest. In the released season lineup, 12 guest conductors and 40 guest artists made intensive appearances on the concert hall stage. Jaap van Zweden, who has just resigned as music director of the New York Philharmonic and the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Hannu Lintu, chief conductor of the Finnish National Opera, and Lawrence Foster, who has been the music director of the Marseille Opera for 9 years, will lead the orchestra. , performing classic works by Beethoven, Sibelius, Schumann, Scriabin and Shostakovich. Conductors Markus Steinz, Zheng Mingxun, and Zhang Xian have renewed their relationship with the orchestra. Pianist Lang Lang, cellist Jan Vogler, violinist Ning Feng, and baritone singer Shen Yang have joined the orchestra for frequent performances. excellent work. The trumpet player Semyon Salomanikov, the champion of the brass section of the 2023 Tchaikovsky Competition, Tao Kangrui, who is active on the world stage as a pianist and composer, and the classical guitar player who won the top competitions on three continents Performer Su Meng, Wang Zhiren, Ju Xiaofu and other young faces who have emerged for the first time in recent years are also worthy of attention.
This season focuses on two artists: pianist Zhang Haochen and composer Guo Wenjing. Zhang Haochen served as the artist-in-residence this season with 6 concerts. He collaborated with Lu Jia on Liszt's First and Second Piano Concertos, and presented all five Rachmaninoff piano concertos with Huang Yi in the "Marathon Concert" ” and took the orchestra on a tour in China. Guo Wenjing’s Composer in Focus program spans two seasons. In the 2024/25 concert season, you will hear Guo Wenjing’s Bamboo Flute Concerto “Wild Fire” performed by Tang Junqiao, Guo Wenjing’s Zheng and Orchestra work “Spring Hope” performed by Hu Xuyuan, and “Chinese Folk Song Suite”. Next season will witness the harvest of two new works by him: the opera "Red Sorghum" and a symphonic work with the theme of new Chinese poetry.
In addition to the two focus artists, the orchestra’s old friend Lang Lang will also make a grand return this season. In May next year, Lang Lang will appear in various theaters of the National Center for the Performing Arts in the specially planned "Lang Lang Music Week". During the music week, Lang Lang will perform a recital, give master classes, and perform two concerts with the Lu Jiahe Orchestra, playing Ravel's "Piano Concerto No. 1" and Saint-Saëns' "Piano Concerto No. 2". Concerto" two French piano concertos, and Lu Jia and the orchestra will also present wonderful French works at the same venue: Debussy's "Prelude to the Afternoon of the Faun" and the rare Didier Symphony No. 1. In the new music season of
, the orchestra will also embark on more than 15 domestic and international tours. Among them, on March 29, 2025, the orchestra, led by Lu Jia, will make its debut at the prestigious Hong Kong Arts Festival together with singer Song Yuanming and pianist Zhang Haochen, and will perform as the closing performance of the 53rd Hong Kong Arts Festival. In August 2025, the orchestra will also join hands with conductor Zheng Mingxun and pianist Liu Xiaoyu to launch a European tour, appearing at top European stages such as the Edinburgh Festival in the UK, the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Elbe Philharmonic Hall in Hamburg, Germany. It is also a standard for national majors. The theater orchestra will take a solid step towards its official return to the international stage.
The National Center for the Performing Arts Orchestra's concert season has always been known for its wonderful planning. Lu Jia and the orchestra have earned the reputation of "Lü Bu" from countless music fans through the Bruckner symphony series that lasted for nearly four years. In the global commemoration of the 200th anniversary of Bruckner's birth, Lu Jia and the National Center for the Performing Arts Orchestra's set of nine Bruckner symphonies will finally be released at the end of this year.
After Bruckner, Mozart’s five late title symphonies will become a new direction for Lu Jiahe’s orchestra’s performance and recording journey. To this end, starting from Mozart's "Paris" No. 31 and "Prague" No. 38, the performance and recording plan of Mozart's five late title symphonies, which were put on hold due to the epidemic in previous years, will also be restarted. At the same time, Lu Jia will perform Richard Strauss's last symphonic poem, the grandly orchestrated and majestic "Alpine Symphony" for the first time in June next year. This year also coincides with the 100th anniversary of Puccini's death. Lu Jia and the orchestra will join hands with Xiahou Jinxu, Gu Wenmeng and many singers from the National Center for the Performing Arts to present two nights of Puccini's arias, showcasing the composer's 12 operas in a panoramic manner classic.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France. Cultural exchanges between China and France are naturally a hot topic in the cultural and art circles this year. The "First of Our Time" section of the National Center for the Performing Arts Orchestra's new season will also focus on the turbulent and avant-garde Paris of the 20th century, bringing many fresh French voices to the audience: in addition to the aforementioned "Lang Lang Music Week" will In addition to focusing on French works, resident artist Zhang Haochen will lead the performance of Messiaen's legendary "Quartet for the End of Time"; Laurent Pettigirard, academician and lifelong secretary-general of the French Academy of Arts, will perform Ravel's "Daphne and Croix" Roe" Suite No. 2, and his ballet suite of the same name inspired by "Journey to the West"; Zhang Yi conducts a concert focusing on Messiaen and Chen Qigang; orchestra assistant conductor Lai Jiajing conducts Boulez's "Hammer without a Master" "Excerpts, rarely performed French contemporary music such as Poulenc's "Suite Française", and Didier's Concerto "Distant World" with cellist Jan Vogler as the soloist are all exciting.
2025 will also be the 50th anniversary of Shostakovich’s death, and the National Center for the Performing Arts Orchestra will also take this opportunity to once again focus on this deep, complex and unforgettable composer, especially some of his concerto works. Zhang Xian and Lai Jiajing will conduct two masterpieces, the Ninth and Fifth Symphony, respectively. Pianist Tao Kangrui, violinist Ning Feng, and cellist Chen Yibai will present a rare complete collection of Shostakovich concertos. The composer's film score "Gadfly Suite" and "String Quartet No. 8" composed in memory of war victims will also present multi-faceted "portraits", outlining the "old portraits" that will never fade away with time. Multifaceted silhouette.
html For more than 0 years, the orchestra has spared no effort to promote the commissioning and performance of Chinese works, and the new music season is no exception.Coinciding with the 10th anniversary of General Secretary Xi’s important speech at the Symposium on Literary and Art Work, the orchestra will be conducted by Zhang Guoyong and join hands with Tang Junqiao, Lu Wei, Hu Shengnan, Wang Hongwei, Gao Bai, Liu Beibei and the National Center for the Performing Arts Choir and Beijing Philharmonic Chorus. The rich and solid creative achievements of the new era are displayed through the works of the three generations of old, middle and young people. According to Tang Ning, head of the orchestra's program operations, three new works commissioned by the National Center for the Performing Arts will be performed this season: "Autumn Embrace" tailored by Yao Chen for Shen Yang and the orchestra, Zhao Jiping's symphonic fairy tale "The Story of Flowers", Huang Ruo and Marlene Alsop teamed up with the Five Continents Orchestra to launch the environmentally-themed work "Turning Around".In the new music season, the audience will also enjoy for the first time the symphony drama "Romeo and Juliet" with Jiao Yuanpu's latest adapted script, Zhang Jiemin conducting, and Wang Yaoqing playing more than ten roles. During next year's Children's Day, the BBC's "Seven Worlds, One Planet" audio-visual concert conducted by Sun Yifan may be the favorite music gift for children and adults who love nature and are keen on imagination.
As the team of performers gradually grows, the orchestra will open a "Exquisite Xiaojiao" section in the new concert season, systematically exploring, arranging and performing repertoire for chamber orchestras and small orchestras. Based on the "Unbounded Chamber Music" section, it kicked off another upgrade of the orchestra's chamber music program. In the "Exquisite Little Intercourse" series, Britten's "Paintings" sung by soprano Song Yuanming, and Vivaldi and Piazzolla's "Color Paintings" by Zhu Kaiyuan, who was astonishing in the Paganini and Elizabeth competition, performed "Eight Seasons", classical guitarist Su Meng and the string band's beautiful music are among the highlights.
In the traditional "Unbounded Chamber Music" section, each ensemble of the orchestra will demonstrate their talents. The National Center for the Performing Arts Octet, string quartets such as Feng An, Ji Jian, and Qiao Qiao will all make appearances. The string section will perform classic works such as Schoenberg's "String Quartet No. 0", Arvo Pärt's stylish "Mirror in the Mirror", Schubert's "Death and the Maiden", and join hands with cellist Wang Ying brought Debussy's only string quartet and collaborated with pianist Jiang Boqiang on Mendelssohn's "Piano Trio No. 1". The woodwind group showcased French music through Debussy's "Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp" and "Arabesque", Jolivet's "Christmas Pastoral" and the Miyo Saxophone and Woodwind Quintet's "Coward" performed with Li Pei. charm.
This September, Liu Heng, principal percussionist of the orchestra, will also lead the percussion section and many of his percussion partners to present original works with the theme of "Exploring Unbounded". This set of works, funded by the National Arts Fund, will also highlight Liu Heng's talent and achievements in percussion composition. In May next year, the horn section of the orchestra will once again join hands with the China Horn Ensemble to present a brilliant horn concert. The brass section players will also play with Italian trumpet player Andrea Giuffredi in July next year. The "Golden Trumpet" sounds, in addition to well-known pieces such as Verdi's "Triumphal March" and Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee", there are also film score masters Morricone and John Williams. Beautifully composed melody.
As the new music season kicks off, exciting artistic activities will gradually be presented to the public. According to reports, the orchestra will gradually expand the territory of artistic activities in the future and build a more systematic and diversified art experience platform, allowing more audiences to have the opportunity to go from the front to the backstage, participate in and understand the life of the orchestra 360 degrees, and enrich the artistic experience. . As the orchestra’s chief conductor Li Zhe said, “Stage performance is the most important part of the National Center for the Performing Arts Orchestra’s artistic expression, but diversified and interactive art popularization activities help more audiences to participate deeply from the inside. It is also a key step for a comprehensive understanding of art. It is also an artistic activity that any top orchestra must carry out and a social responsibility it must bear. "
This season, the orchestra will join hands with many collaborative artists and experts, including key composer Guo Wenjing and resident composer. Artist Zhang Haochen and others have deeply explored the stories behind the music, allowing music fans to experience the creative inspiration and mental journey of the artists up close through lectures, master classes and other forms.In order to further enhance the audience's sense of participation and interactivity, the orchestra will also regularly open open rehearsals of the orchestra, go behind the orchestra and other experience activities, recruit music fans to regularly participate in the performance production process, and have the opportunity to witness the musical works from notes to melody with their own eyes. Transform and experience the mystery of music creation and interpretation.
What is even more innovative is that the orchestra will also launch two "Little Reporters in Residence" program in the new music season, recruiting young music fans as special art partners for middle and high school students in Beijing, and inviting young reporters to pick up their pens and The camera uses front-line feelings and the perspective of teenagers to capture the touching moments of the band in front of and behind the scenes. This plan aims to provide valuable artistic practice opportunities for the younger generation, while promoting the inheritance and development of urban music life, so that the power of music can reach more young hearts. It is understood that the detailed plan for the National Center for the Performing Arts Orchestra’s “Little Journalists in Residence” will be released soon.
In addition, the Beijing Youth Symphony Orchestra, jointly established by the National Center for the Performing Arts and the Beijing Municipal Education Commission, will continue to operate next year and continue to participate in important international cooperation after its debut this year at Carnegie Hall in New York. Ren Xiaolong, general manager of the orchestra, believes that the success of the first Beijing Youth Symphony Orchestra project highlights the value, responsibility and achievements of the National Center for the Performing Arts as a performing arts platform, an international exchange platform, and an art popularization education platform, and will continue to make this project a good one. The mission and strength of the National Center for the Performing Arts are naturally large.
Editor Wu Longzhen
Proofreading Yang Li
