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China Philharmonic Orchestra

The CHINA PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA (“CPO”) was established on May 25, 2000, on the basis of the former China Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra and under the auspices of China Radio, Film and Television Bureau as a national level orchestra with 120 musicians. Long Yu is its current artistic director and principal conductor.

The founding of the CPO on the basis of the CBSO was a major event in China’s musical development and marked both the beginning of a new chapter in the history of symphonic music in China, and the start of China’s increasingly active role in the performance of western classical music.

In line with standard world practice, the CPO finds its players by engaging outstanding musicians from China and other parts of the world. The CPO’s unswerving commitment to player quality means that it now ranks among the largest and most promising orchestras in Asia.

The CPO’s seasons are planned so as to establish extensive collaborative relationships with world-famous conductors and soloists. Under the guidance of its artistic director, the CPO aims to introduce the gems of China’s symphonic music to the world and the best offered by the western musical heritage to Chinese audiences. The CPO also attaches great importance to innovation and creativity.

On December 16, 2000, the China Philharmonic Orchestra gave a highly acclaimed inaugural concert in Beijing under the baton of its artistic director, Long Yu. The CPO’s first season ran from September 2001 to July 2002, during which it offered a repertoire of works from different periods and styles. Among the highlights were the world premier of the Philip Glass Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, and performances of Gustav Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde and “Symphony of a Thousand” (a PRC premiere), Hector Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust, and Du Mingxin’s Symphonic Peking Opera Female Generals from Yang Family, composed specially for the CPO. Among its 2002-2003 season’s highlights were the historical China premiere of the largest works in the orchestral literature – Mahler’s Symphony No.8, “Symphony of a Thousand”, featuring massed musicians under the inspiring leading of maestro Long Yu, and “The Immortal Beethoven” Series with all the symphonies and concertos of the composer. The 2003-2004 season CPO made the completion of the orchestra’s Mahler symphony cycle that throughout three seasons and honored the anniversary of Dvorak’s death with performances of his major orchestral works. Besides, CPO’s production of Bizet’s Carmen with Long Yu as both conductor and stage director impressed the public with its great artistic level that the orchestra has achieved.

The CPO attracted attention from overseas soon after its first performances. In September 2001, the CPO toured Taipei, Hsinchu, Taichung, and Kaohsiung, the major cities of Taiwan. At the invitation of the Casals Festival, the CPO visited San Juan , Puerto Rico in June 2002. The two performances, conducted respectively by Long Yu and Krzystof Penderecki, the CPO's principal guest conductor, proved to be a great successes and major event of the festival. Equally impressive were the two concerts that the CPO gave in San Jose and Los Angeles, following the tour of Puerto Rico. In September 2002, the CPO made a successful tour of Japan and Korea. In 2003, the orchestra toured Europe, with memorable concerts at the world-famous Palais Garnier, Paris, the Teatr Wielki – National Opera Warsaw and the Grosser Saal of the Musikverein, Vienna. In the December of 2004, CPO was invited by Italian government to perform in the Senate Main Hall for the traditional Christmas Concert of Senato della Repubblica. The concert was live broadcasted to the world by Italian National TV Station.

From February to April, 2005, CPO went on its grand world tour under the baton of maestro Long Yu. During the 40-day tour, CPO gave performances in 22 cities in the United States, Canada, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, United Kingdom and Germany. No other symphony orchestra in China, perhaps in all of Asia, had ever performed in the international arena on such a grand scale. Among the famed venues CPO staged performances were Avery Fisher Hall, Barbican Hall, and Berlin Philharmonie. CPO played to rave reviews from major media, including the New York Times and The Times of London.

The CPO has collaborated with many renowned musicians including Krzysztof Penderecki, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Mikhail Pletnev, Okko Kamu, Michael Stern, Itzhak Perlman, Mischa Maisky, Gary Graffman, Anatol Ugorski, Gerhard Oppitz, Augustin Dumay, Sara Chang, Emanuel Ax, Lang Lang, Kun Woo Paik, Sabine Mayer, Josef Silverstein, Cho-Liang Lin, Jian Wang, Yundi Li, Kyoko Takezawa, Muhai Tang, Lan Shui, Klause Weise, En Shao, Jullian Lloyd Webber, Placido Domingo, Cheryl Studer and Changyong Liao to name just a few.
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Gewandhaus Orchester

The Gewandhaus Orchestra can look back with pride today over an history of over 250 years. Back then, it was the Leipzig merchants who founded and financed the concert society, which has since made music history and brought forth one of the world's best-known and most renowned orchestras. Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Arthur Nikisch, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Franz Konwitschny and Kurt Masur have all been Gewandhauskapellmeisters. They left their imprint on this unique musical culture, which Herbert Blomstedt carried forward into the new millennium. His successor, the 19th Gewandhauskapellmeister, Riccardo Chailly, embodies tradition and change simultaneously and is be the first musical director to hold both offices (Gewandhauskapellmeister and Musical Director of the Leipzig Opera) concurrently for over 35 years ago.

In March of 1743 sixteen Leipzig merchants gathered to found a concert society. In 1781 the orchestra moved into a 500-seat hall with superb acoustics in the assembly hall of the cloth traders, the »Gewandhaus« (»Garment House«), to which the orchestra and its Leipzig headquarters owe their name to this day. When this orchestra outgrew the hall, a second Gewandhaus, classic in style, was then dedicated in December of 1884. A large hall for 1,500 listeners and a further chamber music hall reminiscent of the old Gewandhaus hall of only 500 seats offered the musicians a home base in keeping with their quality and their now international rank.

During a bombing raid in February of 1944, the concert building was badly damaged, and the arduously preserved ruins were finally blown up in March of 1968. For a good three decades, concerts were given in a temporary congress hall near the Leipzig Zoo. Thanks to the untiring efforts of the Gewandhauskapellmeister at the time, Kurt Masur, the orchestra was finally able to move into a modern performance venue, ideally suited to all its musical, acoustical and technical requirements: the third Gewandhaus on the Augustusplatz. To this day, the majestic Schuke organ in the great hall bears an inscription with a quote from the Seneca the younger, one which has been the motto of the Gewandhaus since 1781: »Res severa verum gaudium« (»True pleasure is a serious business«.)

All together, this hall, with its over 1,900 seats arranged in semi-circular form, the Mendelssohn Hall with 500 seats, and the light-flooded Gewandhaus foyer form a unique architectural ensemble, aesthetically enriched by statues and busts of musicians, regularly changing painting exhibitions and, above all, by the monumental, four-story high ceiling painting: »Song of Life« by the Leipzig artist, Sighard Gille.
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Philharmonia Orchestra

The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the world's great orchestras. Acknowledged as the UK's foremost musical pioneer, with an extraordinary recording legacy, the Philharmonia leads the field for its quality of playing, and for its innovative approach to audience development, residencies,music education and the use of new technologies in reaching a global audience. Together with its relationships with the world's most sought-after artists, most importantly its Principal Conductor Christoph von Dohnányi, the Philharmonia Orchestra is at the heart of Britishmusical life.

Today, the Philharmonia has the greatest claim of any orchestra to be the UK's National Orchestra. It is committed to presenting the same quality, livemusic-making in venues throughout the country as it brings to London and the great concert halls of the world. Throughout its 60 year history, the Philharmonia Orchestra has been committed to finding new ways to bring its top quality live performance to audiences worldwide, and to using new technologies to achieve this.

Many millions of people since 1945 have enjoyed their first experience of classical music through a Philharmonia recording, and today audiences can engage with the Orchestra through webcasts, podcasts, downloads, computer games and film scores as well as through its unique interactivemusic education website launched in 2005, The Sound Exchange.
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Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester

The Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin proudly looks back on a sixty-year tradition as radio and concert orchestra in Berlin. It began its illustrious history in 1946 as the RIAS Symphony Orchestra Berlin for the radio service in Berlin's American sector. Its first Music Director was Ferenc Fricsay. From 1956 the Orchestra changed its name to Radio-Symphonie-Orchester (RSO). After Fricsay's untimely death the young Lorin Maazel took over the artistic direction of the Orchestra in 1964. He was followed by Riccardo Chailly in 1982 and, in 1989, by Vladimir Ashkenazy, who remained Principal Conductor until 1999. To avoid confusion in Berlin's newly expanded cultural scene, the Orchestra decided to forego its already well established name in favour of its current one, and since 1993 has gone by the name of Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. From 1st January 1994, the existing RSO GmbH expanded to become the Rundfunk Orchester und Chöre GmbH (roc berlin), its partners being Deutschlandradio Kultur, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Federal State of Berlin and Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg. At the start of the 2000|2001 season, Kent Nagano took up the post of Music Director which he maintained until 2006. Ingo Metzmacher became the Orchestra's first German-born Music Director at the beginning of the 2007|2008 season.
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Israel Philharmonic Orchestra

The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in 1936 by Bronislaw Huberman and its inaugural concert, on 26 December 1936, was conducted by Arturo Toscanini. The IPO plays in subscription series, including a special annotated Youth Concert Series, special concerts, concerts as part of the "Arts for the People" project throughout Israel, and special concerts for IDF soldiers at their outposts. The IPO annually tours the world's cultural centers and its prestigious festivals. Israel's creative artists are promoted by many IPO premieres of works by Israeli composers. The IPO also contributes to the absorption of new immigrants and includes in its ranks many new immigrant musicians. The orchestra has hosted most of the world's greatest conductors and soloists, and it also does much to develop Israeli artists and young talents from Israel and abroad. In 1968 Maestro Zubin Mehta was appointed Music Advisor to the IPO and in 1977 he became its Music Director. Leonard Bernstein was named IPO Laureate Conductor in 1988, in 1992 Kurt Masur was appointed Honorary Guest Conductor and since the 2001-02 season Yoel Levi has been Principal Guest Conductor of the IPO.
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