In tune with the new year

Pianist Lang Lang will perform Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue at the New Year concert with the China Philharmonic Orchestra. [Photo/China Daily]

The China Philharmonic Orchestra and star soloists, including Lang Lang, will embrace the Silk Road in concert next week.

At the end of 1991, 27-year-old Yu Long had just finished his studies at the Berlin Hochschule der Kunste and was appointed chief conductor of the China Central Opera House. The young conductor's ambition to promote classical music in China started with the New Year Concert at the Great Hall of the People on Jan 1, 1992, which was the first New Year concert in China since 1949.

Two decades have passed, and more Chinese people have become used to going to a concert to celebrate the New Year. In Beijing, you have dozens of choices of orchestras from all over the world. But Yu and his China Philharmonic Orchestra always have star soloists and a less routine program than Strauss and the Radetzky March.

On Tuesday, Yu will conduct the orchestra in concert at the China National Convention Center with the theme of the Silk Road. The program will feature pianist Lang Lang, soprano Lei Jia and some ethnic musicians. Yu established the orchestra in 2000 and serves as its artistic director.

Sponsored by China Central TV and Audi, the concert will be broadcast live on CCTV's music channel.

Yu says it wasn't difficult to decide this year's theme. During President Xi Jinping's visit to Kazakhstan in September 2013, he initiated the Silk Road Economic Belt to revitalize the ancient, prosperous route from China via Central Asia and Russia to the Mediterranean Sea.

"The Silk Road, which linked traders, merchants, pilgrims, monks, nomads and dwellers, was not only a trade route but was also important for the development of Chinese culture and civilization," says Yu.

"It's an interesting theme to program a concert. We can choose music by both Chinese and Western composers portraying the regions along the route."

He notes that the concert will take the audience to explore the Silk Road from Chang'an, then capital of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), heading west to Xinjiang, Russia, the Middle East and Rome.

The concert will begin with Hector Berlioz's Le Carnaval Romain, a festive overture perfect for the occasion.

Next comes the violin concerto Sun Shining Over Toxkhurghon. On the east edge of the Pamir plateau, Toxkhurghon Tajik now is an autonomous county in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. The composer Chen Gang wrote the piece in 1976 based on the Tajik folk songs Beautiful Toxkhurghon and Spring in Pamir.

The concerto will feature two young violinists: Ma Qiaorong, 13, and He Shucong, 22. Both are gold prize winners of the 2014 CCTV Violin Competition. Ma won the junior category.