Melodies on tour bridge China and Canada

The sound of Chinese and Canadian melodies traveled across four Canadian cities as the China National Symphony Orchestra's chamber ensemble embarked on a 14-day tour from Sept 18 to Oct 2.

The 13-member ensemble performed in Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal, giving four concerts and taking part in master classes, orchestra exchanges, cultural events, and outdoor performances.

The tour, held around the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays, was also part of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism's Tianya Gongci Shi (Together Under the Same Sky) cultural program.

Musicians Liu Zhiyong and Zhang Bo gave a master class at the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra School of Music, working with young musicians and sharing their performance experiences. The ensemble also attended student showcases and a Vancouver Symphony Orchestra concert to learn about music education and talent development.

Toronto offered a particularly meaningful reunion. In 1978, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra visited China and worked with the China National Symphony Orchestra, formerly the Central Philharmonic Society. The exchange became a landmark in China-Canada musical relations, with Chinese conductor Li Delun and Canadian conductor Andrew Davis taking turns during Beethoven rehearsals.

Nearly 50 years later, members of the two orchestras met again to revisit historical materials and discuss orchestra development and music education.

The tour also brought music into public spaces, attracting visitors and offering holiday greetings to local audiences and overseas Chinese.

The concert programs featured a series of new arrangements and original works by composer Yang Fan, whose piece, Harmony, brings together China's Jasmine Flower and the Canadian folk song Red River Valley, allowing two familiar folk melodies to intertwine in a musical dialogue.

Other highlights included composer Huang Kairan's arrangement of The Butterfly Lovers,Li Shaosheng's Mid-Autumnsuite Three Poems on the Moon, and Wang Hua'an's lively arrangement of Yao Ethnic Dance.

By placing traditional Chinese melodies in an international chamber-music setting, the tour sought to give familiar music new color while creating opportunities for musicians from the two countries to meet, listen, and learn from one another.

For the China National Symphony Orchestra, the Canadian tour marked both a celebration of its 70-year journey and a continuation of a musical friendship that began decades ago.