CHINA PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

(Zhongguo aiyue yuetuan)

A national 120-member full-time professional orchestra established in May 2000, the China Philharmonic Orchestra was founded on the basis of the former China Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra. Yu Long, a native of China trained in Germany, is the China Philharmonic Orchestra’s founding artistic director and has been principal conductor since its inception.

Modelled after major international orchestras, the China Philharmonic Orchestra has a forward-thinking philosophy in repertoire and programming, both in its annual season and as orchestra-in-residence at the annual Beijing Music Festival. At the 2001 Festival, the China Philharmonic performed the world premiere of Philip Glass’s Cello Concerto as well as the Chinese premiere of Tan Dun’s Crouching Tiger Concerto. The China Philharmonic Orchestra also has extended new commissions to such figures as Krzysztof Penderecki (who also serves as the Orchestra’s principal guest conductor).

In the Beijing Music Festival 2002, the China Philharmonic performed a complete new music programme by Chen Qigang, part of its ongoing commitment to Chinese New Music.

The Orchestra’s annual season includes works from the Western orchestral canon (e.g. Beethoven, Berlioz, Brahms, Mahler), Chinese symphonic favourites (works from the 1930s on) and New Music. It has toured extensively nationally and internationally since its founding, having visited Taiwan in September 2001 and Puerto Rico’s Casals Festival in June 2002. In 2001 and 2002, the Orchestra released two CDs for Deutsche Grammophone. While the first is devoted to German repertoire (Wagner’s Overture to Tannhäuser and Brahms’s Piano Quartet in G minor as orchestrated by Arnold Schoenberg), the second featured Chinese orchestral favourites.