Introduction of HZPO
Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra was founded on 20 April, 2009. Since then, there was an orchestra which was named after the city. There are totally 90 musicians, all of whom have graduated from the distinguished higher music institutions in Chinaand abroad, one third of the musicians holding Master’s Degrees and Doctor’s Degrees. Furthermore, there are several foreign performers joined in Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra.
With the strong support from Hangzhou Municipal Party Committee, Hangzhou Municipal Government, Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra Preparatory Committee and Hangzhou Culture, Radio and Television Group, Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra has already made great achievements over the past years. Since the first season from September, 2009, Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra had cooperative performances with many top artists from abroad, such as German conductor Klaus Weise, Israeli conductor Lior Shambadal, Stuttgart Philharmonic Music Director Gabriel Feltz, Neubrandenburg Philharmoniker Chief Director Stefan Malzew, Italian conductor Francesco La Vecchia, American piano master Gary Graffman, Berlin Philharmonic Principal French Horn Stefan Dohr, Berlin Philharmonic Principal Trumpet Tamás Velenczei, Berlin Philharmonic Low Clarinetist Manfred Preis,Korean pianist Kun-Woo Paik. Meanwhile, the Orchestra has a close relationship with well-known domestic artists, such as conductor Xieyang Chen, conductor Zushan Bian, conductor Feng Yu, composer and conductor Zhanhao He, composer and conductor Dun Tan, Piano master Lang Lang, Zhong Xu, Sa Chen, violinists Vera Tsu, Siqing Lv, Zhou Qian, Feng Ning, Chuanyun Li, Chinese cellist Jian Wang, as well as splendid concerts with distinguished singers such as Changyong Liao, Yuqiang Dai, Jianyi Zhang, Song Wei, Lan Rao, Xiuwei Sun, Jie Yang etc. Ever since its foundation, the Orchestra has won much appreciation from those artists. What’s more, the Orchestra has invited Shanghai Opera House Chorus several times to successfully held a great many concerts with high standard, especially the No.9 Symphony of Beethoven had shocked everyone with its enormous potential of new orchestra.
Up till now, the Orchestra has successfully held Fifty-Year Anniversary of Butterfly Lovers Composing Concert, Beethoven Concerts Series, With Maestro Series, Cathay Style Concerts Series, Mozart Concert, Commemorate concert of the 200th anniversary of Chopin, Film Music outdoor concert and Dun Tan’s Martial Arts Trilogy. In addition, the Orchestra has also held concerts in National Center for the Performing Arts with Symphony Grand Canal and Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2, demonstrating the passion and strength of this young orchestra. Young and newly-born as it is, the Orchestra has a high starting point and adept skills. At the end of the first season, the orchestra, as a cultural emissary from Hangzhou, had performances in Gaoxiong and Taipei with great success.
Besides, the Orchestra has accompanied for ballet Marco Polo—the Last Mission; the Third Beijing International Music Competition 2010, Cello Contest; and the Fifth China International Piano Competition. In 2010, the Orchestra held China Symphony Summit in Hangzhou, and in July it was responsible for recording the television music of a 30 episodes TV series “Mao Anying”.
From late August 2010, the Orchestra has held 2011 Autumn Tours to Shanghai, Shenyang, Dalian and Qingdao, which established the fame and brand of the Orchestra. In the spring of 2011, Commemorate concert of the 100th anniversary of Mahler was performed in Chongyi Church, which displayed the spectacular Symphony No. 2. In the following May, together with China Philharmonic, the Orchestra held the concert to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the foundation of Chinese Communist Party with 160 musicians. In the late July 2011, Hangzhou Philharmonic was invited by several European music festivals, including Germany Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festspiele, Slovenia Ljubljana Festival as well as Emilia Romagna Festival. This tour consisted of nine concerts, and the orchestra had become the first Chinese Symphony Orchestra performed in Sicily, Italy. Hangzhou Philharmonic had caught much attention from media in and abroad during its stay in Europe, among which, North German Radio (NDR), Radiotelevizija Slovenija(RTV Slovenia) and Radio Audizioni Italiane (Rai) had recorded the whole concert respectively.
The past two seasons of Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra have won much approval and appreciation. As a young orchestra, Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra has been entitled the “super star” in China due to its high quality, fast growth and great reputation. The Orchestra continues to explore aggressively by signing a cooperation agreement with Berlin philharmonic to invite maestros to Hangzhou and every year dispatch eight musicians to Berlin to study and exchange with Principals. Based on the mode of “performance + chamber music + master class”, the Orchestra tries to improve its artistry. Meanwhile, the Orchestra has already established cooperation with Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music at the National University of Singapore and would held exchange programs on a regular basis.
Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra is approaching the goal of “domestically first-class, internationally famous”, contributing to the construction of Hangzhou into “a city with high life quality” and the development of symphony in China.
