NY Philharmonic Will Be First US Orchestra To Tour Mainland China Since 2019

In the summer of 2024 the New York Philharmonic becomes the first US Orchestra to perform in mainland China since 2019 as Music Director Jaap van Zweden leads five concerts across three cities — Guangzhou, Nanjing, and Shanghai — June 27–July 3, 2024.

During the time the NY Phil is in Shanghai, Musicians from the Orchestra participate in
educational activities and a chamber-music concert through the Shanghai Orchestra Academy and Partnership, July 3–7, 2024.

NY Phil President & CEO Gary Ginstling said: “As the New York Philharmonic plans our return to China this June, it is an honor to again take on our mantle as an American cultural ambassador, building on the bonds we’ve been developing in the region over decades. We look forward to being inspired as our musicians work directly with the talented Shanghai Orchestra Academy students, and to the poignancy of our orchestra performing with Jaap van Zweden in their final concerts together before an overseas audience as he approaches the end of his tenure as Music Director.”

Starr International Foundation is the Presenting Sponsor of the New York Philharmonic– Shanghai Orchestra Academy and Partnership and all the 2024 concerts in China.

On the tour to China, June 27–July 3, Jaap van Zweden conducts the New York Philharmonic in symphonies by Brahms, Copland, and Mozart, as well as in the Chinese Premiere of Nina Shekhar’s Lumina, a work the NY Phil has performed in New York and in its European Premiere at the Usedom Music Festival in May 2022. In addition, baritone Thomas Hampson — who has performed with the NY Phil more than 40 times — joins the tour as soloist in Guangzhou and Shanghai, performing selections from Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn, as he did when he joined van Zweden and the Orchestra at Usedom in May 2022.

The tour marks the NY Phil’s first appearances in Guangzhou and Nanjing since debuting in those cities in 2019, in concerts led by Jaap van Zweden. The Orchestra has performed in Shanghai more than 20 times, beginning in 2008, when then Music Director Lorin Maazel led three concerts, through 2019, in performances conducted by van Zweden.

The tour marks the Philharmonic’s first trip to mainland China — and the first trip to the mainland by a full US orchestra — since 2019. In the summer of 2023 Jaap van Zweden led the Orchestra on the Tour to Taiwan & Hong Kong, after which a delegation of nine NY Phil musicians traveled to Shanghai for the resumption of in-person activities through the Shanghai Orchestra Academy and Partnership.

Educational Activities During the visit to Shanghai Jaap van Zweden and New York Philharmonic musicians participate in educational activities and events as part of the Shanghai Orchestra Academy and Partnership, July 3–7.

Educational Activities 
 
During the visit to Shanghai Jaap van Zweden and New York Philharmonic musicians participate in educational activities and events as part of the Shanghai Orchestra Academy and Partnership, July 3–7. 

•Throughout the week NY Phil musicians give master classes and lessons to Shanghai Orchestra Academy (SOA) students.

•On July 3, prior to that evening’s orchestral concert in Shanghai, Jaap van Zweden leads a side-by-side rehearsal with the full orchestra and SOA students, which will include Brahms’s Symphony No. 4.  

•Musicians from the NY Phil, along with SOA students and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra members, perform a celebration concert, part of Shanghai’s 2024 Music in the Summer Air Festival, July 7. Repertoire will be announced at a later date. 

•NY Phil musicians and the Orchestra’s leadership will attend the SOA’s commencement ceremony.  

The Shanghai Orchestra Academy and Partnership is a joint endeavor of the New York Philharmonic and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. Launched in 2014, the partnership included annual NY Phil appearances in China through 2019, as well as instruction by Philharmonic musicians at the Shanghai Orchestra Academy, a two-year, postgraduate program launched by the partnership in collaboration with the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Though the onset of the pandemic prevented in-person activities from 2020 through 2022, the Orchestra continued to participate in the partnership through virtual initiatives, with in-person events featuring select NY Phil musicians resuming in July 2023. Starr International Foundation has supported the collaboration since its inception.

Thursday  June 27 7:30 p.m.	Guangzhou Opera House Guangzhou Jaap van Zweden, conductor	MOZART Symphony No. 40 COPLAND Third Symphony
Friday June 28 7:30 p.m.	Guangzhou Opera House Guangzhou Jaap van Zweden, conductor Thomas Hampson, baritone	Nina SHEKHAR Lumina MAHLER Selections from Des Knaben        Wunderhorn BRAHMS Symphony No. 4
Sunday June 30 7:30 p.m.	Jiangsu Grand Theatre Nanjing Jaap van Zweden, conductor	MOZART Symphony No. 40 COPLAND Third Symphony
Tuesday July 2 7:30 p.m.	Jaguar Shanghai Symphony Hall Shanghai Jaap van Zweden, conductor Thomas Hampson, baritone	Nina SHEKHAR Lumina MAHLER Selections from Des Knaben        Wunderhorn BRAHMS Symphony No. 4
Wednesday July 3 7:30 p.m.	Jaguar Shanghai Symphony Hall Shanghai Jaap van Zweden, conductor	MOZART Symphony No. 40 COPLAND Third Symphony
Sunday  July 7 7:30 p.m.	Jaguar Shanghai Symphony Chamber Hall  Shanghai    Side-by-side performance by Musicians from the New York Philharmonic, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra musicians, and  Shanghai Orchestra Academy students	To be announced

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