Beijing Symphony Orchestra

Charles T. Downey, Beijing Symphony plays Strathmore amid boom time for classical music in China
Washington Post, October 22, 2013

Sheila Melvin and Jindong Cai, Rhapsody in Red: How Western Classical Music Became Chinese (2004) Ching-Chih Liu, A Critical History of New Music in China (trans. Caroline Mason, 2010)

What explains the flourishing of classical music in recent years in China at the same time that classical music organizations are struggling in the United States? The answer might be government support, which is driving a boom of orchestras in China, as well as paying for international tours, such as China National Symphony Orchestra’s visit to Strathmore in February. The current tour of the Beijing Symphony Orchestra ended with a concert at Strathmore on Sunday night.

This ensemble was founded in 1977, in the wake of China’s Cultural Revolution and the death of Mao Zedong, and its tour of the Americas this month has included renting out Carnegie Hall and Strathmore. The playing was at a professional but not extraordinary level, with the conducting of Tan Lihua more foursquare than inspired in the concluding work, the first two suites from Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet.” The slow dances were the most successful, with some lovely flute solos in particular. The heavier pieces were mostly just loud, with some intonation issues in the woodwinds and a lack of unity in the faster string passages. [Continue reading]

Beijing Symphony Orchestra
Music by Guo Wenjing, Profokiev
Music Center at Strathmore

SEE ALSO:
Corinne Ramey, Beijing Symphony Orchestra Makes Carnegie Hall Debut (Wall Street Journal: Speakeasy, October 16, 2013)

Liang Xizhi and Mo Jinwei, Beijing Symphony Orchestra stages successful debut in Mexico (China People's Daily, October 10, 2013)

Guy Dammann, Beijing Symphony Orchestra/LPO/Tan – review (The Guardian, August 2, 2012)