For Immediate Release:
October 20, 2014
Press Contacts:
Eileen Chambers, 312-294-3092
Rachelle Roe, 312-294-3090
Photos Available By Request
PR@CSO.org
CHINA NCPA ORCHESTRA MAKES ITS U.S. DEBUT AT
SYMPHONY CENTER LED BY CONDUCTOR LÜ JIA
WITH PIANIST YUJA WANG AS SOLOIST
Concert in Chicago Launches the Orchestra’s First-Ever North American Tour
Sunday, November 2 at 3 p.m.
CHICAGO—The China National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) Orchestra led by Lü Jia,
Chief Conductor of the NCPA Orchestra and opera director of NCPA, makes its U.S. debut at
Orchestra Hall on Sunday, November 2 at 3 p.m. in a Symphony Center Presents Special
Concert. The performance at Symphony Center in Chicago launches the orchestra’s first-ever
North American tour since the ensemble was founded in 2010. The NCPA Orchestra’s 2014
North American tour with additional stops in Washington D.C., New York, Philadelphia and
Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal commemorates the 35th anniversary of official relations between
the United States and China.
The program opens with The Five Elements Suite for Orchestra, composed by Chinese
composer Qigang Chen, who is most widely known for his work as Music Director of the 2008
Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony. Composed in 2001, the work is a collection of contrasting
movements symbolizing the five elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water) which,
according to Chinese tradition, constitute the universe. Internationally acclaimed pianist Yuja
Wang joins the orchestra as soloist for Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major. Dvořák’s bucolic and
intimate Symphony No. 8 completes the program. The composer’s eighth symphony is cheerful
and lyrical in character and draws inspiration from the Bohemian folk music that Dvořák loved.
Established in 2010, the China NCPA Orchestra is the resident orchestra of the National
Centre for the Performing Arts of China in Beijing. Its current chief conductor is Maestro Lü Jia,
who took up the post in 2011. Prior to this, Lü served as Music Director at Verona Opera and
Artistic Director at Symphony Orchestra of Tenerife, as well as Chief Conductor at Trieste
Opera, Symphony Orchestra of Florence, Lazio Chamber Orchestra of Rome and Norrkopping
Symphony Orchestra in Sweden.
The 27-year-old pianist Yuja Wang is widely recognized as one of the most important artists of
her generation, performing with many of the world’s leading orchestras. She last appeared at
Symphony Center in 2013 in subscription performances of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3
with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and conductor Sakari Oramo. She has also appeared on
the Symphony Center Presents Piano series in recital in 2006 and 2011.
Program and Ticket Details
Tickets for all CSOA concerts can be purchased by phone at 800-223-7114 or 312-294-3000;
online at cso.org, or at the Symphony Center box office: 220 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL
60604.
Discounted student tickets for select concerts can be purchased, subject to availability, online in
advance or at the box office on the day of the concert. For group rates, please call 312-2943040.
Artists, programs and prices are subject to change.
Symphony Center Presents
Special Concert
Sunday, November 2, 3 p.m.
China NCPA Orchestra
Lü Jia, conductor
Yuja Wang, piano
QIGANG CHEN The Five Elements Suite for Orchestra
RAVEL Piano Concerto in G Major
DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 8
Tickets: $25-$85
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About Lü Jia
Lü Jia is Chief Conductor of the China NCPA Orchestra as well as Music Director and Chief Conductor of
the Macao Orchestra. He has served as Music Director of Verona Opera in Italy and Artistic Director of
the Santa Cruz De Tenerife Symphony Orchestra in Spain.
Jia has conducted nearly 2,000 orchestral concerts and opera performances in Europe and the United
States. He has worked with such renowned opera houses and symphony orchestras as: La Scala,
Deutsche Oper Berlin, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig
Gewandhaus Orchestra Munich Philharmonic, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra dell’ Accademia
di Santa Cecilia, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Lyon National
Orchestra, and many others.
A highly acclaimed opera conductor, Jia has led more than 50 productions so far internationally. As the
first Asian conductor appointed Music Director of an important Italian opera house, he has been praised
by the Italian media as “a conductor who has a deeper understanding of Italian operas than the Italians
themselves do.” In 1989, he was awarded both the First Prize and Jury’s Prize at the Antonio Pedeotti
International Conducting Competition in Trento, Italy. In 2007, the Italian President bestowed the
“President's Prize” on Lü for his exceptional contribution to Italian culture. That same year, the production
of La Gazza Ladra that he conducted at the Rossini Opera Festival, held in Pesaro, the composer's
hometown, was voted “Opera Production of the Year” in Europe.
About Yuja Wang
Twenty-seven year old pianist Yuja Wang is widely recognized as one of the most important artists of her
generation. Regularly lauded for her controlled, prodigious technique, Yuja has been praised for her
authority over the most complex technical demands of the repertoire, the depth of her musical insight, as
well as her fresh interpretations and charismatic stage presence.
Wang is an exclusive recording artist for Deutsche Grammophon. Following her debut recording, Sonatas
& Etudes, Gramophone magazine named Yuja the Classic FM 2009 Young Artist of the Year. For her
second recording, Transformation, Yuja received an Echo Klassik award as “Young Artist of the Year”.
Wang next collaborated with Maestro Claudio Abbado and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra to record her
first concerto album featuring Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and his Concerto No. 2
in C minor which was nominated for a 2012 Grammy as “Best Classical Instrumental Solo.” This was
followed by Fantasia, a collection of encore pieces by Albéniz, Bach, Chopin, Rachmaninov, Saint-Saëns,
Scriabin and others.
In the years since her 2005 debut with the National Arts Center Orchestra led by Pinchas Zukerman,
Wang has already performed with many of the world’s most prestigious orchestras including those of
Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, in the
U.S., and abroad with the Berlin Staatskapelle, China Philharmonic, Filarmonica della Scala, Israel
Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Orquesta Nacional España, Simón Bolívar
Symphony Orchestra, the NHK Symphony in Tokyo, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestra Mozart
and Santa Cecilia, among others.
In 2006 Wang made her New York Philharmonic debut at the Bravo! Vail Music Festival and performed
with the orchestra the following season under Lorin Maazel during the Philharmonic’s Japan/Korea visit.
In 2008 she toured the United States with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields led by Sir Neville
Marriner, and in 2009 Yuja performed as soloist with the YouTube Symphony Orchestra led by Michael
Tilson Thomas at Carnegie Hall. That summer, she joined Abbado at the Lucerne Music Festival
performing and recording Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3, and went on to perform with the Lucerne
Festival Orchestra and Abbado on tour in China.
Many of the world’s esteemed conductors have collaborated with Wang including Claudio Abbado, Daniel
Barenboim, Gustavo Dudamel, Charles Dutoit, Daniele Gatti, Valery Gergiev, Mikko Franck, Manfred
Honeck, Pietari Inkinen, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Kurt Masur, Antonio Pappano, Yuri Temirkanov and
Michael Tilson Thomas.
At a young age Yuja entered the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. From 1999 to 2001 she
participated in the Morningside Music summer program and the Mount Royal College Conservatory. Yuja
then moved to the U.S. to study at The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she graduated in
2008. In 2006 she received the Gilmore Young Artist Award, and in 2010 was awarded the prestigious
Avery Fisher Career Grant. Yuja Wangis a Steinway Artist.
About China NCPA Orchestra (www.chncpa.org/subsite/NCPAO_2014_US_&_Canada_Tour/)
Established in March 2010，the China NCPA Orchestra is the resident orchestra of the National Centre
for the Performing Arts of China (NCPA). The orchestra is composed of distinguished musicians from
around the world. Maestro Lü Jia was named Principal Conductor in 2012, succeeding Maestro Chen
Zuohuang, now Conductor Laureate of the orchestra.
The NCPA Orchestra demonstrates an abiding commitment to high levels of artistic excellence and prides
itself on its long-term collaborations with the finest musicians of our day. Artists associated with the
orchestra include Lorin Maazel, Christoph Eschenbach, Placido Domingo, Leo Nucci, Lior Shambadal,
Rudolf Buchbinder, Lang Lang, Yuja Wang, and Ning Feng, and more.
The NCPA Orchestra balances a busy and distinguished performance schedule with a reputation as one
of China's most adventurous and dynamic orchestras. As the exclusive orchestra for all NCPA's opera
commitments, its performances in over 20 productions, such as Der Fliegende Hollander, Lohengrin,
Otello, Tosca and Le Nozze di Figaro, represent the highest level of China's operatic capacity. In addition
to opera, the orchestra also presents traditional concert seasons. Highlights include the NCPA's 2011
Gustav Mahler Project and the 2013 Richard Wagner bicentennial performances of The Ring without
Words under the baton of Lorin Maazel. The orchestra is also committed to promoting contemporary
music with a wide range of composers from Toru Takemitsu to Giya Kancheli. In 2012, the NCPA
presented ten international commissions.
In addition to critically acclaimed performances in China, the NCPA Orchestra has received international
praise. Following a successful performance of Turandot in Seoul in 2011, the orchestra was invited to the
2012 Kissingen Summer Music Festival and Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival and completed its first
German tour in Nürnberg, Hamburg and Berlin in July. Performances at the Sydney Opera House in
November also received international acclaim.
Devoted to educational and outreach activities, the orchestra presents a series of Weekend Matinee
Concerts since its establishment and has wide-reaching engagement with local residents and
organizations.
About Qigang Chen
When the Cultural Revolution broke out in China, then young music student Qigang Chen was studying
at the Music Middle School of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. His father, administrator of the
Beijing Academy of Fine Arts, famous calligrapher and painter, was immediately judged "bourgeois",
"antirevolutionary", and sent to a labor camp. Qigang Chen was kept in confinement during three years
and underwent "ideological re-education". Yet his passion for music remained unwavering: he went on
learning composition and scoring in spite of social and political anti-cultural pressure.
In 1977, Qigang Chen was one of twenty-six candidates, out of 2,000, to be admitted to the Central
Conservatory of Music in Beijing. For five years, he studied composition with Luo Zhonghong (19781983). Chen also received a State grant and studied with Olivier Messiaen (1984-1988). He has also
worked with Ivo Malec, Betsy Jolas, Claude Ballif and Claude Castérède. In 1987, he studied at the
IRCAM as well as at the Academia Chigiana in Siena with Franco Donatoni. In 1988, he obtained the
Diplome supérieur de Composition at the Ecole Normale de Musique, unanimously with special
congratulations. In 1989, he obtained the Diplome de Musicologie at the University of Paris-IV Sorbonne.
Recent accolades include appointment as Music Director of the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening
ceremony, a Carnegie Hall commission of Er Huang, and initiation of the NCPA Young Composer
Program, “Composing the Future”.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra: www.cso.org and www.csosoundsandstories.org
Founded in 1891, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is consistently hailed as one of the greatest
orchestras in the world. Its music director since 2010 is Riccardo Muti, one of the preeminent conductors
of our day. Pierre Boulez is the CSO’s Helen Regenstein Conductor Emeritus; Yo-Yo Ma is the CSO’s
Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant. Mason Bates and Anna Clyne are the CSO’s Mead
Composers-in-Residence.
From baroque through contemporary music, the CSO commands a vast classical repertoire. The
renowned musicians of the CSO annually perform more than 150 concerts, most at Symphony Center in
Chicago and, each summer, at the suburban Ravinia Festival. They regularly tour nationally and
internationally; since 1892, the CSO has made 57 international tours, performing in 28 countries on five
continents. Listeners around the globe enjoy weekly radio broadcasts of CSO concerts and recordings on
the WFMT network and online at cso.org/Radio. Recordings by the CSO have earned a total of 62
Grammy Awards, including two in 2011 for the first recording Muti released with the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra and Chorus, Verdi's Messa da Requiem.
The parent organization for the CSO is the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association. It includes the
Chicago Symphony Chorus and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, a training ensemble. Through its
Symphony Center Presents series, the CSOA presents guest artists from a variety of genres—classical,
jazz, pop, world, and contemporary.
The Negaunee Music Institute at the CSO offers a variety of community and education programs that
engage more than 200,000 people of diverse ages and backgrounds. Through the Institute and other
activities, including a free annual concert with Riccardo Muti and the CSO, the CSO promotes the
concept of Citizen Musicianship: using the power of music to create connections and build community.
The CSO is supported by tens of thousands of volunteers; patrons; and corporate, foundation,
government, and individual donors. The CSO’s music director position is endowed in perpetuity by a
generous gift from the Zell Family Foundation. The Negaunee Foundation provides generous support in
perpetuity for the work of the Negaunee Music Institute. Bank of America is the Global Sponsor of the
CSO