Shanghai New Year's Concert set to welcome 2025

The annual Shanghai New Year's Concert is gearing up to convey New Year greetings to its Shanghai and global audiences with wonderful and heartwarming music at the Jaguar Shanghai Symphony Hall on Dec 31.

Since its inception in 2009, the Shanghai New Year's Concert, founded by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra (SSO),has gone through 15 years, with profound goals and high-standard working principle.

Over the previous years, the SSO invited world class maestros, such as Riccardo Muti, Kurt Masur and Mikhail Pletnev, to conduct year-end music entertainments, showcasing Shanghai’s cultural brand, musical spirit and talent.

This year, the concert will be staged by Conductor Charles Dutoit, Soprano Sumi Jo and Violinist Clara-Jumi Kang, along with the SSO.

Having worked in this for over six decades and performed with all the major orchestras on five continents, Dutoit, considered as one of today's most established conductors, is no stranger to China and the rest of Asia.

"This is my 38th visit to China, and I've been in Asia all my life, so I think it told me that there's nothing new," said the conductor.

"It's a wonderful program and we have the most wonderful people around here," he added.

Furthermore, Jo, known for her outstanding musicality and amazing voice, shared her excitement about the upcoming performances.

"I'm excited to celebrate the new year of 2025 in Shanghai because all the fans will be cheering for us, so it's going to be something memorable," said Jo.

Li Junfeng contributed to this story.