Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra has made great artistic achievements by establishing musical seasons. With joint efforts of all members, HPO emphasizes on professional development with Hangzhou Speed and HPO Model, and has been the golden name card and icon of Hangzhou in terms of cultural construction and international exchange.
About Us
HANGZHOU PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra (HPO) has established itself as one of the most outstanding symphony orchestras in China. The orchestra has ventured to perform across all forms of art in concert, opera, ballet, chamber music, film music and recording to critical acclaim.
Long Yu, one of the most distinguished Chinese conductors, praised that HPO is the best stage for Hangzhou culture to the world, and as well as the exhibition platform of global cultures in Hangzhou. “Established only seven years ago in a city 180 miles from Shanghai, the HPO is by now one of the major orchestras in China”, reported by Musical America, 2016.
The orchestra has engaged Yang Yang as Music Director and Chief Conductor and Long Yu as the Chairman of Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra Artistic Committee. Some of the foremost names have appeared as Artists-in-Residence: violinist Ning Feng, cellist Qin Liwei, French horn player Han Xiaoming, pianist Kun-Woo Paik, pianist Zhang Haochen, violinist Yang Tianwa, cellist Wang Jian, pianist Zee Zee, violinist Lu Siqing, violinist Vera TsuWeiling and soprano Song Yuanming.
An impressive array of renowned musicians in China and around the world has performed with HPO in the past years, including conductors Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Krzysztof Penderecki, Zubin Mehta, Chung Myung-whun, Klaus Peter Flor, Gunther Herbig, OkkoKamu, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Paavo Järvi, Edo de Waart, OsmoVanska, Jahja Ling, Shao-Chia Lv, Shui Lan, Lü Jia, Tan Dun, Yu Feng, Long Yu, Zhang Guoyong, Zhang Xian, pianists Barry Douglas, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Andrei Gavrilov, Gary Graffman, Kun-Woo Paik, Jon Kimura Parker, Lang Lang, Chen Sa, Zhang Haochen, violinists Joseph Silverstein, Gidon Kremer, ShlomoMintz, Maxim Vengerov, Sarah Chang, Midori, Ryu Goto, Daniel Hope, Renaud Capuçon, Leonidas Kavakos,Cho-Liang Lin, LvSiqing, Vera Tsu Wei Ling, Ning Feng, cellists Gautier Capuçon, Alban Gerhardt, Natalia Gutman, Lynn Harrell, Yo-Yo Ma, Wang Jian, Li-wei Qin, Classical Guitarist Yang Xuefei, Chinese folk musicians Wu Man, Min Huifen, Song Fei, Tang Junqiao, Zhang Hongyan as well as Sumi Jo, He Hui, Lei Jia, Zhu Huiling, Sun Xiuwei, Zhang Liping, Thomas Hampson,Dai Yuqiang, Mo Hualun, Zhang Jianyi, ShiYijie,Liao Changyong, Shen Yang, Yuan Chenye, etc.
All over the years HPO has presented a series of operas. In March 2012, HPO presented La Bohème in concert version, which was broadcast live online globally. In the following seasons, HPO presented one opera in each season. In May 2013, HPO produced La Traviata in full stage, which was conducted by maestro Long Yu, with Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and Hangzhou Grand Theater. In October 2013, HPO participated in China premiere of Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes in Beijing. In August 2014 and January 2017, HPO cooperated with Taormina Festival for presenting Pagliacci and Cavalleria Rusticana in Italy and Hangzhou respectively. In September 2017, HPO joined Chinese dream team for the premiere of English Opera The Dream of Red Mansion in Mainland China. In July 2018, HPO co-produced Carmen in modern characteristics with China National Opera House. In March 2019, HPO presented Madama Butterfly with soprano He Hui. In September 2020, HPO and China National Opera House presented concert opera Turandot in Hangzhou International Music Festival.
Since 2010, HPO has been invited to China Orchestra Festival, Beijing Music Festival, Music in the Summer Air, Beijing Modern Music Festival, Shanghai Spring International Music Festival, China Opera Festival and won great acclaim. Besides, HPO has participated in Shanghai International Youth Piano Competition and CCTV Piano Violin Competition. On 31st December, 2015, HPO participated in CCTV “Music in the New Year, 2016 New Year Concert”. From 2017 to 2018, HPO was invited for the recording of CCTV “Four Seasons Theatre” several times. In 2019, HPO was invited to the Opening Ceremony of the 12th Chinese Golden Bell Award for Music.
In September 2016, HPO had successfully participated in the Evening Gala “Enduring Memories of Hangzhou” for the G20 Summit. And this gala impressed leaders of Group 20 and directors of related world organizations as well as other guests. In September 2017, HPO performed a symphony concert on the 3rd China-CEEC Cultural Cooperation Forum and won great acclaim from leaders and guests from China and 16 Middle East European countries. In October 2019, HPO was invited to perform in a huge orchestra of more than 1,000 musicians in evening gala held to mark 70th founding anniversary of PRC.
From 2017 to 2023, as the organizer of Hangzhou International Music Festival, HPO participated in organizing, planning and completing all the performances and outreach programs in HMF. The Karajan Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker, Munich Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, German Brass, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, The Stradivari Quartet, China National Opera House and Gautier Capuçon, Wang Jian, Wynton Marsalis were invited to HMF.
In the first season, HPO had toured to Kaohsiung and Hsinchu. In July 2011, HPO was invited to Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, Emilia-Romagna Festival and Ravello Festival, taking its first tour to Europe. In July 2012, HPO was invited to Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival. In July 2013, HPO toured to Russia and Estonia, winning great acclaim from major media. In August 2014, HPO was invited by Taormina Festival in Italy for cooperation in opera Pagliacci and Cavalleria Rusticana. In November 2016, HPO toured to Czech, Italy, Austria and Germany. In April 2018, HPO toured to Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Hungary for the Belt and Road Tour. In September and October 2018, HPO was invited to Busan Maru International Music Festival, Bangkok’s International Festival of Dance and Music and Asia Orchestra Week in Tokyo, Japan. In September and October 2021, HPO toured to Tianjin, Nanchang, Wuhan, Shanghai and Ningbo for a Domestic Tour.
HPO promotes contemporary music, especially programs from Chinese composers. HPO participated in debut of China Grand Canal. In 2012, Seven Episodes of West Lake composed by Ye Xiaogang debut in Hangzhou Grand Theater. In 2014, HPO commissioned Guo Wenjing for Man Jiang Hong, and debut in October, 2015 on the 18th Beijing Music Festival. In 2016, HPO commissioned Zhou Tian for Cello Concerto Flowing Sleeves, which was premiered on 2018 Hangzhou International Music Festival Opening Concert. In 2018, HPO co-commissioned Zhao Lin for A Happy Excursion concerto for Pipa, Cello and Orchestra with BMF and New York Philharmonic. Yo-Yo Ma was invited for this new program’s debut in HPO 2018-2019 Season. From 2018 to 2020, HPO commissioned Yang Yibo and Xu Jianqiang for New Melody of Zhejiang. In 2021, HPO commissioned lyricist Zhu Hai and composer Yang Fan for Flags of Our Faith. In the same year, the Orchestra commissioned composer Xu Zhitong to create The Light of Asia - Overture to Fulfilling the Dream of the Asian Games. In collaboration with23symphony orchestras of Chinese Musicians' Association, HPO jointly commissioned a symphonic poem A Thousand Li of Riversand Mountainswhich was dedicated to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China，and in the same year commissioned the composer LuoMaishuo to create a symphonic suite of The Elegance of Song Dynasty and a symphonic painting Dwelling of the Fuchun Mountains. In 2023, HPO commissioned composer Ye Xiaogang to create Jade Goddess of Mercy Capriccio for Violin and Orchestra, and we also commissioned composer Zhou Tian to create Double Concerto for Violin, Viola and Orchestra.
Cultural exchange program being an integral part, the orchestra has partnered with Berliner Philharmoniker’s board, Karajan Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker, Philadelphia Orchestra and Yong Siew Toh Conservatory. Each year eight members of the orchestra will be recommended to work with Berliner Philharmoniker in Berlin in order to refine their musical taste. Besides, an education program has been initiated between HPO and Shanghai Conservatory of Music, HPO has become the Practical Training Base of Professional Degrees of Shanghai Conservatory of Music. In 2016, HPO was commissioned by Ministry of Commerce of P. R. China and CAEG for a three-month training project for Laos National Symphony Orchestra.
In October 2014, HPO published its first recording with violinist Ning Feng by Universal Music and Channel Classics Records. The CD was distributed globally in December, 2015.
Yang Yang
Artistic Director and Chief Conductor
Born in a musical family, learned piano with Prof. Li Qifang. Later, he learned conducting respectively with Prof. Xu Xin and Prof. Wu Lingfen, and then was admitted to the Conducting Department of Central Conservatory of Music, being one of the students of Prof. Yu Feng, President of Central Conservatory of Music, Vice President of China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and a famous conductor.
In November 2006, Yang won the first place for his outstanding performance at the Dimitris Mitropoulos International Competition for Orchestral Conducting in Greece. It’s the first time for the Chinese conductors to have such honor.
As one of the most active young conductors in China, Yang has maintained close partnership with all mainstream orchestras and opera houses domestically. Meanwhile, he has successfully left tracks at a host of foreign orchestras such as Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, German Philharmonic Orchestra of Cologne, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, National Rhine Philharmonic Orchestra, New Brandenburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Italian Verona Opera House, Teatro Regio Torino, Italian Rome Philharmonic Orchestra, French Cannes Symphony Orchestra, Bordeaux Symphony Orchestra, Valencia Orchestra of Spain, Greek Symphony Orchestra, Athenian Chamber Orchestra and Korean Incheon Philharmonic, etc.
He had sincere cooperation with world famous musicians such as cellists Lynn Harrell, Alban Gerhard, Wang Jian, Natalia Gutman, violinists Maxim Vengerov, Gidon Kremer, Midori, Sarah Chang, Augustin Dumay, Lenard Karpison, Cho-Liang Lin, pianists Gary Graffman, Lang Lang, Barry Douglas, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Kun-Woo Paik, Jon Kimura Parker, soprano Sumi Jo, clarinetists Sabine Meyer, Wenzel Fuchs, French horn players Radovan Vlatkovic, Stefan Dohr, etc. Yang had also cooperated with all Chinese distinguished musicians.
Recommended by maestro Long Yu, Yang started his conducting career in the year of 1998, at the First Beijing International Music Festival (BMF). Since then, he conducted operas and concerts at BMF eight years consecutively. From 2000 to 2016, Yang Yang held the position as the Assistant Conductor and Resident Conductor of China Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO). In 2006, Yang Yang attended an advanced training course hosted by maestro Myung-whun Chung in Korea. In 2009, he has presided over the founding of Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra (HPO).
Since 2009, Yang Yang and HPO have successfully ushered in the fifteenth music season, and performed at leading festivals including Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Ravello Festival, Emilia Romagna Festival, Taormina Festival, Ljubljana Festival in the last fourteen years. He also toured with HPO extensively in Russia and Estonia. In 2018, Yang toured with HPO to five “Belt and Road” countries, including Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Hungary, as well as Japan, Korea and Thailand as the conductor, winning great applause from European and Asian audience and enjoying critical acclaim at home and abroad.
From his conducting career to 2016, when he was appointed as Music Director and Chief Conductor of China National Opera House, Yang had conducted China Philharmonic Orchestra, China National Opera House and Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra and successfully demonstrated many of the great operas, such as Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, La Traviata, Rigoletto, Turandot, Madama Butterfly, La Bohème, Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci, Carmen, as well as many Chinese opera’s debut in China including Night Banquet, Wolf Cub Village, Songs Of The Long March, The Red Detachment of Women and Manas. Yang toured with China National Opera House to Swiss and Italy for Giacomo Puccini Opera Festival with Turandot, Madama Butterfly and Songs Of The Long March successfully, which drew broad attention internationally and showed his outstanding talents in opera conducting.
Yang Yang is now acting as Music Director and Chief Conductor of China National Opera House, Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra, Music Director of Hangzhou International Music Festival, Artistic Director of CCOM Children Symphony Orchestra.
Makoto Ozone
Artist-in-Residence
“thrilling, virtuosic and unabashedly personal”——The New York Times
Makoto Ozone is a unique force in both jazz and classical music, blending sound worlds and a host of influences into his performances. Born in Kobe, Japan, he was self-taught in jazz, under his father’s guidance, first on the organ, then piano. He first came to public attention when he gave his solo recital at the Carnegie Hall in 1983, following his graduation from Berklee College of Music. Makoto then became the first Japanese artist to sign an exclusive contract with CBS and released his first album, Ozone, a year after his Carnegie debut.
His stellar career in jazz, which earned him a Grammy nomination in 2003, has brought him regularly to the forefront of the international jazz scene, recording and touring with musicians such as Gary Burton, Chick Corea, Paquito D'Rivera, Anna Maria Jopek, Branford Marsalis, and others. In 2004, he formed his own big band in Japan, "No Name Horses" which has regularly toured to Europe, North America and Asia since its creation. In more recent years, Makoto has expanded into classical repertoire, alongside his jazz engagements. Having first performed Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue in 1996, he now performs concertos by Mozart, Bernstein, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Rachmaninov with major orchestras. Alongside his performing schedule, Makoto composes music, with over 300 pieces to his name, many for ‘No Name Horses’, as well as a symphony and piano concerto.
In 2014, Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic invited Makoto to join their Asian tour. Following this, he performed with the orchestra at the Lincoln Center, New York, in 2014 and again in 2017, from which a recording ‘Beyond Borders’ with performances of Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue and Bernstein The Age of Anxiety was released. He has collaborated with a prestigious list of conductors including François-Xavier Roth, Marin Alsop, Alan Gilbert, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Lahav Shani, Thomas Zehetmair and Charles Dutoit and orchestras including San Francisco Symphony, Sao Paulo Symphony, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, as well as many orchestras in Japan, such as the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra and Sapporo Symphony.
Recent highlights include Ozone’s debut with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France / Lahav Shani, Detroit Symphony Orchestra / Leonard Slatkin and Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra / Christian Arming. This season, Ozone will perform with Stuttgarter Philharmoniker / Dan Ettinger, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony / Alan Gilbert, as well as performing with his jazz trio in New York and Toronto.
Makoto Ozone has an extensive discography, releasing over 30 albums under his name and as a composer in solo, duo and trio settings, as well as performing as a collaborator on many others. His many awards include the Kinokuniya Theatre Award (2000), Kobe City Culture Award (2005), Fumio Nanri Prize (2007), Hyogo Prefecture Culture Award (2009), Art Encouragement of Education, Culture, Sports, Science Minister's Prize (2014). In 2018, Makoto received the Medal of Honour with Purple Ribbon by the Government of Japan. This is Japan’s highest award to individuals who have made significant contributions to the nation’s academic or cultural life.
President
Li Liang
Secrsident
Xu Yongmei
Vice President
Hong Yin
Vice President
Guo Xiangyun
Vice President
Luo Maishuo
Secrsident
Concertmaster
Yuan Quan
Director
Hong Yin
Artistic Director and Chief Conductor
Yang Yang
MUSICIANS
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杭州爱乐乐团在交响乐、歌剧、芭蕾舞剧、室内乐、影视配乐、唱片录制等中均有所建树，获得业界高度评价，引起社会强烈关注。
