Tour Dates: 15 Sep - 10 Oct, 2012

Through the creation and accumulation of Chinese music pieces and Zhejiang local music, it will form a distinct regional and culture label of the orchestra.

Biography

On January, 2009, Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra was approved to establish by Zhejiang Provincial government, and it is a provincial institution belongs to the cultural category under social welfare. 

Formerly known as the Zhejiang folk orchestra of Song and Dance Troupe (later it changed its name into Symphony Orchestra of Zhejiang Song and Dance Troupe), the Orchestra was founded in 1958. During 50 years, several generations of musicians make tireless efforts to build this single-wind orchestra of about 30 persons to a double-wind orchestra of more than 60 performers, meanwhile, the professional quality and art ability of the orchestra also has been greatly improved. 

The Symphony Orchestra once cooperated with many first level conductors in China such as Tang Muhai, Chen Xieyang, Zheng Xiaoying, Zhang Guoyong,Yu Feng,Huang Yijun, Huang Xiaotong, Fan Chengwu, Shuilan,LinYousheng… Furthermore, the orchestra also has cooperation successfully with famous conductors in Japan, America, Canada, Italy, Australia and langLang, Kong Xiangdong, Qian Zhou, Qin Liwei, Xue Wei and so on. Zhejiang province has a long history and a brilliant culture. On HeMudu Site in Yuyao City, some multi-whole flutes which have a history of more than 7,000 years were unearthed.

On 1138 A.D., the Nan- Song Dynasty imperial government founded the capital in Hangzhou in consider of avoiding chaos caused by war. Because of this, many regions’ art cream melted to converge together in Hangzhou. And in that period of time, it not only forms an ever flourishing art development in the history of China, but also leaves precious inheritance for Zhejiang today’s folk music. In recent years, in the same time of performing the classic symphony works of the world, the orchestra tries to absorb nutrient from Zhejiang’s folk music. It creates and performances a number of symphony works with rich regional features such as “The Primitive Hunting Picture”, “A Dream of Boudoir”, “Flying Partridge” etc., and these music pieces win audience’s great appreciation and warm welcome.

The orchestra had tours mainly with Chinese music features in Korea, France, Switzerland and Germany, and the performances were called the most oriental, most beautiful and most charming concerts by foreign audience.

The Independent Symphony Orchestra has an establishment of 105 persons, and it mainly undertakes creation, performance, education, and promotion. As a cultural Logo of Zhejiang province, Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra is not only oriented to perform western symphony classic works accurately, but also tries to perform the localization of symphony. Through the creation and accumulation of Chinese music pieces and Zhejiang local music, it will form a distinct regional and culture label of the orchestra.

Muhai Tang – Principal Conductor and Artistic

Director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra since the beginning of the 2006/07 season – was born in Shanghai as the son of a film director and studied at the Conservatory in his native city as well as the University of Music and the Performing Arts in Munich, where he completed his studies with a《Meisterklasse 》-diploma in composition and conducting. In 1983 he was invited by Herbert von Karajan to conduct a subscription concert given by the Berlin Philharmonic.

Further engagements with this prestigious orchestra were to follow, as well as guest conducting assignments with other internationally renowned orchestras such as the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris and the Orchestre National de France, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. In 1987, Muhai Tang was appointed Artistic Director of the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon. During his twelve-year tenure the orchestra’s reputation grew considerably thanks to a series of international tours and CD recordings. Further stages in his career include the Queensland Symphony Orchestra in Brisbane where he was Chief Conductor for more than ten years and which appointed Muhai Tang Honorary Conductor and Artistic Adviser at the beginning of the 2005/06 season, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders where he was Principal Conductor between 1991 and 1995, the China National Symphony Orchestra, and the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki, of whose orchestra Muhai Tang was Chief Conductor between 2002 and 2006.

As Principal Conductor of the Finnish National Opera, Muhai Tang conducted a broad repertoire of operas and ballets: besides acclaimed new productions of Turandot (Puccini), Der Rosenkavalier and Die Frau ohne Schatten (R. Strauss), Pique Dame and Swan Lake (Tchaikovsky), he conducted performances of Madame Butterfly, Tosca and La Rondine (Puccini), Boris Godunov (Mussorgsky), La Traviata and Otello (Verdi), The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart), Le Sacre du printemps (Stravinsky) and The Barber of Seville (Rossini).

Muhai Tang’s concert performances range from music of the Baroque period to the Classical and Romantic repertoire, right up to works by contemporary composers; he also regularly performs the works of Asian composers. As Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Muhai Tang will also develop a repertoire of works for smaller orchestra, a genre that has long been close to his heart. Besides regular conducting assignments in Peking and Shanghai, in recent seasons

Muhai Tang has conducted concerts by the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the major Tokyo Orchestras, the Singapore and Malaysia Symphony Orchestras, the Stuttgart, Dresden, Belgrad and Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestras and the Orchestre National de Lille, and was a guest conductor at music festivals in Berlin, Paris, Prague, Edinburgh, Verona, Turku and Bergen. At the Young Euro Classics youth orchestra festivals held in Berlin since 2004, Muhai Tang conducted the Symphony Orchestra of the Shanghai Conservatory – where he himself studied and now works as director of the conducting department. Since 2006 he has also been Artistic Director of the Shanghai Concert Hall.

Renowned soloists with whom Muhai Tang has worked in the past include Mstislav Rostropovich, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Itzhak Perlman, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Martha Argerich and Anne-Sophie Mutter.

Muhai Tang’s CD recordings include Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 and Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with the Queensland Orchestra, Haydn cello concertos with Jiang Wang and the Gulbenkian Orchestra, Orff’s Carmina burana with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders, and the album Black Earth, featuring compositions by the Turkish pianist Fazil Say. In 2002, his recording of guitar concertos by Christopher Rouse and Tan Dun, performed by the Gulbenkian Orchestra and the soloist Sharon Isbin, won a Grammy award.

Muhai Tang is newly appointed Artistic Director of the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra in German.