Shanghai Symphony Orchestra (SSO) has announced that, due to the global pandemic, it will perform to 30% capacity audiences at its home, Shanghai Symphony Hall, from the start of its 2020/21 season.
The Orchestra hopes to open this up to a larger amount towards the end of the year, depending on local guidelines.
SSO’s 2020/21 season, the Orchestra’s twelfth with Long Yu as Music Director, features 46 concerts in four major series:
- Main Stage
- SSO in Chamber
- Rush Hour
- Music Map Class
Through these, the Orchestra aims to reach wider audiences and offer accessible and affordable performances. Because of the uncertainty of Covid-19 and Chinese border restrictions, the SSO’s series of visiting orchestras and artists will be announced at a later date.
The season opens with Barber’s Adagio for Strings, a work specifically chosen as a tribute to those who fought against the Covid-19 epidemic as well as to commemorate those who passed away.
Shanghai Symphony Orchestra 2020/21 season
NING FENG
Award-winning violinist Ning Feng is the Orchestra’s Artist-in-Residence for the 2020/21 season.
Feng joins the Orchestra for its opening concert (1 Sept) with Music Director Long Yu to perform Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61. Ning Feng performs the Korngold and Saint-Saëns cion certso later nin the season.
CHINESE WORKS
This season, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra has decided to focus on the voices of Chinese artists, celebrating the role Chinese musicians play on the international classical music scene. SSO will present the works of influential Chinese composers on the main stage, including the world premiere of the string orchestra version of Huang Ruo’s A Dust in Time. Leading Chinese soloists and conductors will also feature proonently in the season.
BEETHOVEN AND MAHLER
SSO pays tribute to two giants of music history: Beethoven, Mahler and Saint-Saëns, continuing to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth and marking 110 years since the death of Mahler.
RISING STARS
In addition to working with leading conductors and soloists from around the world, SSO also gives a platform to the rising stars of the classical music world.
Throughout the 2020/21 season, SSO will work with some exciting up-and-coming talent including Liu Ming, a 24-year-old violinist from Shanghai who recently won the 2019 Harbin Competition and was a prize-winner at the 2016 Isaac Stern International Violin Competition. She will perform Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto under the baton of Sun Yifan who makes his debut with the Orchestra having recently won first prize in the 10th International Conducting Competition Jeunesses Musicales Bucharest last year.
MAP CLASS
SSO’s Music Map classes are creative music experiences that integrate drama, performances and interactive games to help people remove their misunderstanding of classical music and develop an interest in listening to it. Lecturer Han Bin teaches the 75-minute class through lively activities and aims to bring a new understanding of classical music to the attendees.
The four classes are themed:
- Classical Period
- Western and Oriental Music
- Opera
- Dance
