Shenzhen Daily 2009-12-29 Debra Li
BETWEEN March and May, the Shenzhen Concert Hall is offering a compact spring season with just four programs — but each one such a classy choice that enthusiasts won't want to miss.
Opening the season will be pianist Chen Sa, a graduate of Shenzhen Art School. Described as “one of the brightest performers of her generation,” she has been delighting audiences in European countries, China, Japan and the United States.
A winner at the 14th International Chopin Piano Competition in October 2000, Chen has returned with more profound interpretations of the Romantic composer. Next year will be the 200th birth anniversary of Frederic Chopin. Paying homage to the great Polish “poet of the piano,” Chen will entertain and inspire the audience with a rich and colorful program ranging from Chopin’s mazurkas, nocturnes and 24 of his preludes.
 Thanks to the Shanghai Expo to be held next year, the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra — commissioned to perform for the opening of the event — will make a stop in Shenzhen and bring classics from Joseph Haydn, Sergey Prokofiev and Edward Elgar. This will be the first time the orchestra has performed in the city. Founded in 1945, the orchestra has a reputation for performing contemporary music.
Conducting will be the orchestra's current principal conductor Sir Roger Norrington. Chinese-American pianist Huang Ci will also perform.
Norrington studied music at Britain's most prestigious conservatories and worked as a tenor through the 1960s. In 1962 he founded the Schutz Choir and started a career in conducting. From 1969 to 1984, he was music director for the Kent Opera. In 1978 he founded the London Classical Players and remained musical director until 1997. He also serves as artistic adviser to the Handel and Haydn Society.
 An inspirational concert will bring together Chen Leiji, China's best guqin player with Ensemble Zellig, a modern chamber music orchestra from France.
With Thierry Pecou as its artistic director, Zellig is an ensemble of soloists who are personalities from highly diversified backgrounds. Chen, who brings forth the spirit of the classics with the melodic charm of an ancient seven-stringed instrument similar to the zither, impressed local audiences last spring. A disciple of master musician Gong Yi, Chen began playing the guqin at the age of 9. He performed at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The Shenzhen show will be a dialog between contemporary and classics, East and West, with sparkle added by multimedia images created by young designer Li Jingfei as the background for the concert.
Wrapping up the brief season will be Swiss flautist Emmanuel Pahud.
Born into a non-musical family, Pahud was captivated by the sound of the flute while staying in Rome as a young boy. From the age of 4 to 22, he was tutored and mentored by flautists such as Francois Binet, Carlos Bruneel and Aurele Nicolet. Classically trained at the Conservatory of Paris, he leapt onto the international orchestral and solo music scene when he joined the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 1992 at the age of 22.
He has appeared as soloist with internationally renowned orchestras and regularly at leading festivals throughout Europe, the United States and the Far East. He plays in diverse genres, whether baroque, jazz, contemporary, classical, orchestral or chamber music.
Pahud plays a 14-karat gold flute which he bought from Brannen Brothers in Boston in 1989 with money he won from competitions. His program will be mostly Baroque.
Schedule
Chopin impression —Chen Sa piano recital
Time: 8 p.m., March 26
Great orchestras — Sir Roger Norrington with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra
Time: 8 p.m., April 28
Garden of the sage — Multimedia concert by Chen Leiji and Ensemble Zellig
Time: 8 p.m., May 15
Berlin Philharmonic flutist Emmanuel Pahud in concert
Time: 8 p.m., May 29 |