The Sjælland String Quartet pleased over 300 students and teachers with its concert on March 18, 2011, at Nankai University.

The Sjælland String Quartet, a well-known Danish ensemble composed of four soloists from the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra, pleased over 300 students and teachers with its concert on March 18, 2011, at Nankai University. The university, founded in Tianjin in 1919, is a public institution and considered one of China's most prestigious universities. As part of the opening ceremony for the university's yearly Nankai Weekend Forum of Music, the concert was also the first appearance of the Sjælland's 2011 China Tour which runs from the 17th to 28th of March.  

Anne Søe Iwan, the first violinist, greeted the audience with "da jia hao", the Chinese version of "how are you". Following Anne's brief introduction about the quartet, the Sjælland opened the concert a little passed 7pm, of which the programs included performed Mozart's String Quartet in D Minor, Dvorak's String Quartet in F Major and String Quartet in F Major by Maurice Ravel. Together the four musicians took the audience onto a music journey across the Classicism, Romanticism, and Impressionism, which at the end left the audience fascinated.

The extended applause from the audience invited the Sjælland to take many a bow and finally an encore piece Lan Huahua, a Chinese traditional folk song originated in Shann Xi Province in 1930s, of which the content was a love story that has been told for decades. The familiar melody played on the four western string instruments delivered a special emotion to the audience – a perfect blend between Chinese and the western musical tastes – bringing the night to a climatic end.

Sjælland's another performance, following the Nankai University, was put on at the Dalian Development Area Theater on the 19th of March. Next, the group will travel to Shanghai on March 22 to continue the concerts at Fudan University, another China's top university, and Shanghai Time Square, one of the city's most charming communities. The Sjælland will finish its China Tour 2011 with performances at Shanghai Music Conservatory and Shanghai Oriental Arts Center.