The National Center for the Performing Arts Orchestra and conductor Lü Jia at the Shanghai Oriental Art Center on March 13, 2023. Photo by Rudolph Tang.
“The Chinese Authority has announced a list of the best orchestras in China,” writes Rudolph Tang in Tuesday’s Musical America (subscription required). “ ‘Music of Our Age’ is both a campaign and a domestic touring project, overseen and funded by the Ministry of Publicity … in partnership with its Shanghai branch, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and the Chinese Musicians Association. The program was launched in Shanghai in March 2022, with nine orchestras selected to travel and perform, in an effort to demonstrate ‘the cream of China’s orchestra infrastructure and orchestral music by living composers.’… The final list is made up of seven symphony orchestras and four Chinese orchestras (orchestras playing a mixture of Chinese and Western instruments). Of the symphony orchestras, six are government funded. They comprise one national orchestra: the China National Symphony Orchestra … three provincial orchestras: the National Center for the Performing Arts Orchestra … the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra … and the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra … and two municipal orchestras: the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra … and the Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra … The list of symphony orchestras is completed by one privately owned orchestra: the Guiyang Symphony Orchestra.”
