Shanghai Symphony Orchestra opens season with ‘dual concerts’

SHINE | 22-Oct-2022 | By Yao Minji

The Shanghai Symphony Orchestra unveiled its music season 2022/23 with “dual opening concerts” on Saturday and Sunday. Under the baton of the symphony artistic director Yu Long, both concerts featured 28-year-old incoming Berlin Philharmonic Principal viola Mei Diyang, who collaborated with Shanghai Symphony Orchestra for the first time.

He performed Edward Elgar’s “Cello Concerto in E minor” that was rearranged for viola by Lionel Tertis, a piece he first heard in seventh grade and liked immediately. “I liked the melody immediately, and later read about the stories behind, including how Tertis re-arranged it for viola, which adds more context to the piece,” he said, citing his musical influences from composers like Bach, Beethoven, Bartok and “less mainstream” Alfred Schnittke.

Elgar’s “Enigma Variations” was another piece performed on both nights. It achieved immediate popularity after the 1899 London premier and since posed an “enigma” that was never conclusively answered. It is widely considered that the enigma involves a hidden melody. It was also the piece featured in a 1994 concert conducted by Yu, then 30 years old, in his first collaboration with the symphony orchestra. That year, violist Mei was just born in Hunan Province. He started learning violin at the age of five.

“The biggest moment in my musical career was probably when I switched from violin to viola at the age of 10, when my teacher Wang Shaowu came to my hometown for recruiting. He introduced viola to me, and the minute I tried it, I knew it is my instrument,” Mei said. What differentiates the two opening nights was Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance March No.1” on Saturday and on Sunday the world premiere of “The Wheel of Time,” commissioned by the orchestra to young composer Fay Kueen Wang.

The bicycle, once the major mode of transportation in China, became a musical instrument on the stage. The arrangement of the dual opening with both classical works and new commissions reflects the season’s overall repertoire that strives to strike a balance between classy and fun.

“Shanghai is a city intimately connected with music, and a window of international cultural exchanges,” Yu said. “Here, people feel life’s beauty and hope in music. So our new music season will continue to empower the city’s music cultural life, to introduce good music to Chinese audiences and Chinese culture to the world.” The season will see two more world premieres, Liu Sola’s hour-long “The Legend of Monkey King” and Yu Ji’s “Ode to Silk Road.”

Both new commissions will be conducted by the orchestra’s residence conductor Zhang Jiemin. She will also join conductor Zhang Lu for a special concert to commemorate the centenary of famed composer Zhu Jian’er, where each conductor will lead the orchestra in a performance of a piece by Zhu.

Zhu’s works will also be celebrated at the orchestra’s chamber series, which will feature his chamber works. The new season will also highlight a range of soloists including violinist Ning Feng, cellist Nicholas Tzavaras, and 2009 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition winner Zhang Haochen, among others. Soprano Yu Guanqun, artist-in-residence for the new season, features in five performances including Verdi’s “Requiem,” New Year’s Concert, and semi-staged Carmen.