Passing on the symphonic baton

"After losing her brother, violinist Chen Yun, in 2024, Chen Yi spent two years writing this work," Shui says. "Through music, it explores three dimensions of love — love for family, artistic devotion and humanity — offering a deeply personal response to the season's central theme."

On March 7, 2027, conductor David Hoose will lead the male chorus of the China National Symphony Orchestra to perform Neruda Songs, a cycle of five songs composed by the American composer Peter Lieberson (1946–2011) for his wife, singer Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (1954–2006). J'Nai Bridges, a three-time Grammy Award-winning American mezzo-soprano, will perform in the concert.

The season also commemorates major composer anniversaries, including the 270th anniversary of Mozart's birth and the 120th anniversary of Shostakovich's birth, with performances of Mozart's Jupiter Symphony and Shostakovich's Symphony No 6 and Cello Concerto No 2.

Chinese symphonic music remains at the heart of the season.

The orchestra will present more than 10 works by Chinese composers and Chinese-born artists including Guan Xia's Earth Requiem, excerpts from Chen Musheng's Symphonic Peony Pavilion — Heaven, and the Chinese premiere of Zhou Tian's A Thousand Years of Good Prayers.

It will also premiere a new choral cycle inspired by Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk, the writings of Lu Xun, marking the 145th anniversary of the writer's birth and highlighting the orchestra's growing interest in literary and dramatic storytelling through choral music.

International touring will form another major chapter of the anniversary season. In September, the orchestra's chamber ensemble will tour Canada, performing in Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal with programs featuring works by Edvard Grieg and Tchaikovsky alongside Chinese compositions.

From November to December, the full orchestra will present anniversary concerts in Hong Kong and Macao.

In February 2027, the orchestra will head to Vietnam for two concerts conducted by resident conductor Jing Huan, joined by Vietnamese soloists. The programs will bring together masterpieces by Paganini, Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky with Chinese and Vietnamese works, celebrating cultural friendship through music.

The China National Symphony Orchestra was established in 1956 and has a long history of performing classic Chinese music, championing patriotic pieces written during wartime, such as Yellow River Cantata by Xian Xinghai (1905-1945).