Concert duration: 1 hr 50 mins Go green. Digital programme booklets are available on www.sso.org.sg. Scan the QR code in the foyer to view a copy.
Guangzhou Symphony Youth Orchestra The Guangzhou Symphony Youth Orchestra (GSYO), an affiliate of the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, was founded in July 2011. It is the first-ever youth orchestra in China organized and administered by a professional orchestra. Since May 2012, the GSYO has been co-managed by the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra and the Bureau of Education of Guangzhou Municipality. The GSYO’s current Music Director is Jing Huan. She is appointed to the board of the Jeunesses Musicales International (JMI) on behalf of the Chinese Musicians Association. The GSYO is one of the most distinguished ensembles in China today. GSYO’s rehearsals and training programmes take place at the headquarters of the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, a multi-venue facility that is one of the most advanced in China. The Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra administers the GSYO
following management guidelines of a professional ensemble, planning a regular concert season as well as international exchange and touring. The founding of the GSYO was made possible by generous support from the Guangdong Provincial Government and the Guangzhou Municipal Government. On 13 May 2012, the GSYO appeared on stage for the first time at the Xinghai Concert Hall. In the 1,500 audience of this highly praised inaugural concert were leaders of the municipal and provincial government. To date, the GSYO has performed more than 60 concerts in Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macao and other cities in the Guangdong Province. The GSYO performs regularly at the Xinghai Concert Hall. In December 2013, the GSYO and the Macao Youth Symphony Orchestra took part in a cultural exchange project, leading to joint concerts held at the Xinghai Concert Hall and the Macao Cultural Centre. The GSYO and the Hong Kong Youth Symphonic Orchestra held a joint concert at the Xinghai Concert Hall in August 2014, with the GSYO visiting Hong Kong the following month on tour.
In order to sustain growth and development, the GSYO has expanded to 240 members by adding a Junior Orchestra for 10- to 14-yearold young musicians in December 2014. From the GSYO’s inception, many musicians have lent support to its institutional and training programmes, among them Yu Long (Music Director, Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra), Zhang Xian (Music Director, the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi), Lü Shao-Chia (Music Director, Taiwan Philharmonic), Yip Wing-sie (Music Director, Hong Kong Sinfonietta), Zhang Guoyong (Artistic Director, Shanghai Opera House), Yang Yang (Music Director, Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra), Chen Qigang (distinguished composer) and Chen Yun (President, China Chamber Music Society; Concertmaster, China Philharmonic Orchestra). The young musicians have also benefitted from the support of internationally acclaimed pianist Lang Lang and violinist Maxim Vengerov. In August 2015, the GSYO was invited by the German Frankfurt Municipal Government and the “Young Euro Classic” Festival to
perform two concerts respectively at the Clara Schumann Hall, of the Dr. Hoch’s Konservatorium, Frankfurt, for the FrankfurtGuangzhou sister cities cultural exchange, and the famous Konzerthaus Berlin in the 16th “Young Euro Classic” Festival. The Orchestra’s superb performances were widely praised by the audiences and critics in Germany. On 22 October 2016, the GSYO was invited to participate in the 19th Beijing Music Festival and perform “In Love with Shakespeare – Symphonic Concert to Commemorate the 400th Anniversary of the Death of William Shakespeare” under the baton of Music Director Jing Huan. This concert was broadcast live to the world via the internet and attracted nearly 200,000 audiences. The GSYO will tour Sydney, Jakarta and Singapore and perform three concerts with renowned cellist Wang Jian in August 2017.
Jing Huan has been Resident Conductor of the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra since December 2013. She made her critically acclaimed debut leading the ensemble in collaboration with Maxim Vengerov in Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. Since then, she has frequently conducted the China Philharmonic Orchestra and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra in subscription concerts to great acclaim. She has served as Music Director of the Guangzhou Symphony Youth Orchestra since 2014. In 2015, she led the GSYO on a successful European tour, appearing at the Konzerthaus Berlin under the auspices of Young Euro Classic. She was appointed to the board of Jeunesses Musicales International (JMI) in July 2016. Jing has served as Conducting Assistant of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and May Festival; she was also the Conducting Assistant of the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the Artaria Chamber Orchestra. In 2012, she participated in the Campos do Jordão International Festival in São Paulo, Brazil. Her outstanding performance attracted Maestro Marin Alsop’s attention and led to an invitation to participate in the prestigious Cabrillo Festival in the USA and also to serve as Assistant Conductor of the São Paulo State Symphony in 2013.
In the realm of opera, Jing has led the College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) Concert Orchestra in productions of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and Puccini’s Turandot. She has also conducted Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress. Jing has collaborated with the Croatian Radio Television Symphony Orchestra and Poland’s Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic. During the summers of 2010 and 2011, she was Assistant Conductor at the CCM Spoleto Festival in Italy. In 2011, Jing received commendations from the Fifth Witold Lutosławski International Competition for Young Conductors and the Fifth Lovro von Matacˇic´ International Competition of Young Conductors. In June 2012, Jing was one of two prizewinners at the inaugural Li Delun National Conducting Competition held in Qingdao. A graduate of the Conducting Department of the Central Conservatory of Music, Jing Huan trained under the tutelage of Xu Xin. In 2009, she obtained her Master’s Degree in Orchestral Conducting at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where she was awarded a full scholarship to continue her doctoral studies.
Wang Jian began to study the cello with his father when he was four. While studying at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, he was featured in the celebrated documentary film From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China. Issac Stern’s encouragement and support paved the way for him to go to the United States and in 1985, he entered the Yale School of Music under a special programme where he studied with the renowned cellist Aldo Parisot. Wang Jian has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including New York Philharmonic, Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, Chicago and Boston Symphonies, Berlin Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, London Symphony, the BBC Orchestras, Hallé Orchestra, Zurich Tonhalle, Gothenburg Symphony, Stockholm Philharmonic, Santa Cecilia, La Scala, Mahler Chamber, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre de Paris, Czech Philhamonic, Singapore Symphony, NHK Symphony, Hong Kong, Seoul and Osaka Philharmonic Orchestras. These concerts have been with many of the greatest conductors, such as Abbado, Sawallisch, Järvi, Chailly, Dutoit, Eschenbach, Chung, Alan Gilbert and Gustavo Dudamel.
Amongst his many high-profile concerts in China, he has played for the President and opened the season for the China Philharmonic, Shanghai Symphony and Macau Symphony Orchestras. He has also played with the China National Orchestra, Hangzhou Symphony and performed the complete Bach Cello Suites at the National Center for Performing Arts in Beijing. Wang Jian has made many recordings, his latest releases being the Elgar Cello Concerto with the Sydney Symphony and Vladimir Ashkenazy. He has also recorded an album of short pieces for cello and guitar titled “Reverie”, the complete Bach Cello Suites and a Baroque album with the Camerata Salzburg, Brahms Double Concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Claudio Abbado and Gil Shaham, the Haydn Concerti with the Gulbenkian Orchestra under Muhai Tang, Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time (with Myung-Whun Chung, Gil Shaham and Paul Meyer) and Brahms, Mozart and Schumann chamber music with Pires and Dumay. His instrument is graciously loaned to him by the family of the late Mr. Sau-Wing Lam.
Jia Lei is among the most renowned sheng virtuosos in China. Born in Shanxi Province in 1976, Jia Lei was educated at the conservatory in Xi’an and at the Central Conservatory in Beijing under the guidance of Yue Hua En and Yang Shoucheng. Jia Lei won the Excellence Award of the National Music Competition in 1995 and was then accepted into the Chinese Youth Orchestra. After graduating with his performance degree, he worked at the Theatre of Dance and Drama and at the China National Orchestra from 1998 to 2004. Jia has performed with the Chinese Radio Orchestra at the Golden Hall of Vienna Musikverein. He has appeared as the soloist in Chen Qigang’s new production Raise the Red Lantern with the National Ballet. Since 2004 he has been a member of the Macao Chinese Orchestra and a sheng tutor of the Macao Conservatory. In August 2015, he performed Zhao Lin’s Duo for Cello, Sheng and Orchestra with the Guangzhou Youth Symphony Orchestra in the Young Euro Classic Festival to critical acclaim. In October 2016, Jia was invited by the Busan Metropolitan Traditional Music Orchestra to perform the sheng concerto Scented Wind in Korea. Jia has performed throughout Germany, Austria, Portugal, France, Russia, Greece, Egypt, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong and Macao.
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