Reflecting our Diversity

Chinese New Year

Celebrating the Year of the Tiger in 2022, the MSO’s annual Chinese New Year Concert, conducted by Maestro Joshua Tan, Associate Conductor of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, featured a program that brought together the world of Western opera and Chinese masterworks, from Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana and Puccini’s Nessun dorma from Turandot, to Wang Xilin’s Poems of Yunnan: Torch Festival, and Gu Jianfen’s That is me. The evening’s special guest artists included cellist Li-Wei Qin, soprano Sharon Zhai, and tenor Kang Wang.

The MSO’s ninth Chinese New Year Concert was generously supported by the Consulate-General of the People's Republic of China in Melbourne, Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People’s Republic of China, and the Li Family Trust, and presented by East meets West Prestigious Partner Life-Space, in collaboration with Arts Centre Melbourne.

Celebrating 50 years of diplomatic relations

In November, the MSO was invited to perform at a special event at the Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, to mark Australia’s 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations with China. Hosted by the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations, and featuring guest speaker, Foreign Minister Senator the Hon Penny Wong, an MSO quartet performed a program uniting Chinese and Australian music.

MSO Musicians Tair Khisambeev (Acting Associate Concertmaster, Violin), Matthew Tomkins (Principal Second Violin), Chris Moore (Principal Viola) and Elina Faskhi (cello) performed the beloved traditional Chinese song Jasmine Flower, along with two movements of From Anna Magdalena’s Notebook by Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin.

Learning and Engagement activities with Chinese students

In early 2022, with support from the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations, a series of innovative digital learning events were presented by the MSO together with Chinese artists and industry professionals. This multidimensional project, continued from 2021, saw the MSO working alongside connections in Australia and China to deliver artistic and learning initiatives which built and deepened cross-cultural connections, both with sector participants (such as performing arts organisations, orchestral workers, and musicians) and with diverse communities both in Australia and in China.

As part of these activities, celebrated AustralianChinese conductor Dane Lam led 23 school-aged string musicians in a two-day ensemble workshop at Iwaki Auditorium. Culminating in a performance, students experienced life in the MSO, participating in rehearsals and tutorials with five MSO musicians.

Following this, emerging professional singers from the voice program at the University of Melbourne had the opportunity to work with renown tenor Kang Wang in a masterclass for vocal technique. Following the live event, a high-quality recording was made available on MSO’s digital platforms as an ongoing resource for students.

Offered together as an Orchestral Administration Short Course, two in-depth learning events focused on the internal and external aspects of running a major arts organisation/orchestra—Planning Processes for Orchestral Management, and Vision and Strategy for Orchestral Management. Delivered by senior staff from the MSO and hosted on Zoom, each session was live-interpreted into Mandarin/Chinese along with one bilingual presentation by MSO Chief Financial Officer Sharon Li. These learning events represent the first time the MSO has offered such an opportunity to members of the public in both China and Australia.