Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra’s debut UK tour with acclaimed violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen to bring award-winning film scores and orchestral pieces to Manchester
Orchestral music lovers in Manchester have the rare opportunity to experience one of Asia’s most revered orchestras this March, as the China Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra (SZSO) performs at Bridgewater Hall on Friday 15 March on its first ever UK tour.
The orchestra’s debut UK tour will see more than 100 musicians on stage presenting a fantastically wide-ranging and impressive programme that unusually features both film and orchestral music.
It includes the UK’s first live orchestral performances since its release over 20 years ago of film score excerpts from the Academy Award-winning hit movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which blends Chinese ceremonial and classical music together in action-packed drama. The film score was composed by Tan Dun, who is also the SZSO’s principal honorary conductor.
The programme also features Saint-Saëns’ Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso,Chausson’s Poème, a fantastical story about a woman seduced by a former lover with an enchanted violin, for which the SZSO will be joined by acclaimed and internationally renowned violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen.
Audiences will get to take a trip to the Eternal City with Respighi’s Pines of Rome andFountains of Rome, performed uniquely on this tour as a duo. These lavishly orchestrated tone poems written for a large orchestra capture the very essence of Rome with vivid portraits of bustling city streets, pastoral scenes, pines against a moonlit sky, and the marching tread of a Roman army along the Appian Way.
Since the orchestra was founded over 40 years ago in Shenzhen, the city has transformed from a small fishing village into China’s third most populous city and a global technology hub. The SZSO grew from this backdrop and now represents the rich culture of Shenzhen, under the direction of Daye Lin, one of the most exciting young conductors in China.
Daye Lin, music director and principal conductor, says: “It has been a dream of mine for a long time to bring the China Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra to the UK and we can’t wait to perform for UK audiences across the country. We hope to welcome orchestral audiences new and old – we’ve created a programme that includes moments of exciting drama, serene beauty, and virtuosic brilliance, which we know British audiences will enjoy.”
Tamsin Waley-Cohen, solo violinist, says: “After touring China in 2019, it will be a joy to have this rare opportunity to perform with a Chinese orchestra in Britain, especially one as exciting as the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the supremely talented Daye Lin. We will be performing two pieces by Chausson and Saint-Saëns, both of works that enthralled me playing them as a teenager, and now I am finding great joy in revisiting them. I can’t wait to bring them to audiences around the UK.”
Simon Holmes, marketing campaigns manager at Bridgewater Hall says: “We’re delighted to welcome the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra to Bridgewater Hall this March. It’s been 12 years since we last hosted a Chinese orchestra, which coincidentally was also the Year of the Dragon, as it is again this year. The orchestra’s performance of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon will be the perfect way to bring in and celebrate this Chinese New Year.”
For tickets and more information visit:https://www.bridgewater-hall.co.uk/whats-on/china-shenzhen-symphony-150324/
