The 14th Grand Chinese New Year Concert's tour of Europe, organized by Wu Promotion, from February 1 - 14, 2011, was a great success.

Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra KKL Konzertsaal Concert

The 14th Grand Chinese New Year Concert's tour of Europe, organized by Wu Promotion, from February 1 - 14, 2011, was a great success. The famous conductor Mr. Yan Huichang and nearly one hundred musicians from the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra brought their best wishes for the Chinese New Year to European audiences. The concert included the well known and loved Chinese compositions A Peacock Flying to the Southeast, featuring the Zheng Soloist Ms. Luo Jing, and The Silk Road Fantasia Suite, featuring Mr. Guo Yazhi, the Guanzi Soloist. The programme also included famous Chinese symphonies A Va Mountain and The Yellow River Capriccio.

Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra Bremen Concert

The Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, also known as “China's Berlin or Vienna Philharmonic”, toured to five cities across Norway, Switzerland, Germany and Czech Republic, putting on excellent performances for thousands of European audience members. At Norway's KulturHuset in Tromsø, the musicians showed off their impressive musicianship by playing many technically challenging pieces. At the KKL Konzertsaal in Switzerland, the orchestra delighted the audience by performing a traditional Chinese symphony.

In Germany's Gut Varrel (Stuhr), the audience was able to directly participate in the performance when they were guided by Mr. Yan to play the Bolanggu – a small Chinese hand drum – which accompanied the musicians. The climax of this concert came when the orchestra performed The Legend of the Condor Heroes as the ending piece, in which the audience was invited to accompany the orchestra by calling out the beats, which together with the music gave the audience a strong impression of Chinese Kung Fu. After the concert, many audience members agreed that it was the best performance of Chinese traditional music they had ever seen. The concert in Berlin, Germany, with traditional Chinese music set in the historical Komische Oper was of great interest and won much applause from its audience.

Throughout the European tour, Mr. Wu Ken, the Chinese Ambassador to Switzerland, Mr. Wu Hongbo, the Chinese Ambassador to Germany, as well as several cultural counselors and other embassy principals attended the concerts. They greeted the musicians after the performances and gave their congratulations to the entire team, expressing their appreciation for the orchestra's contribution toward a successful cultural exchange.

Since the debut concert at the Musikverein of Vienna in 1998, this is the fourteenth successive year in which Wu Promotion has presented Chinese traditional music internationally. It is nowadays becoming a tradition in Europe to listen to the Grand Chinese New Year Concert when the Chinese New Year arrives.