Chen Qigang’s Reflet d’un temps disparu is stunningly performed by French cellist Gautier Capuçon; the rest of the program features music by French composers.

Guo Wenjing’s Passacaglia for Orchestra is a work inspired by prehistoric rock paintings in ancient caves on Riyue Mountain.

Violinist Ning Feng performs Zhao Jiping’s beautiful violin concerto with the National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra in a performance led by Lü Jia.

Pipa virtuoso Li Jia’s performs the concerto Little Sisters of the Grassland.

This week, we’ll hear Beethoven’s famed Symphony No. 9 “Choral”, the thunderous rhythms of Xu Changjun’s Dragon Dance, Wagner’s Prelude to Act 1 of Lohengrin, the violin concerto The Sunshine on Tashkurgan, and the song “Silhouettes of Angels” written in dedication to the frontline workers fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

This week, we’ll hear Wang Yunfei’s Spring Flowers and Autumn Fruits, Franz Schubert’s brilliant Symphony No. 9, Strauss Jr’s hypnotic By the Beautiful Blue Danube, Qigang Chen’s colorful work Jiang Tcheng Tse, Beethoven’s Overture to the Ruins of Athens, and Zhang Qianyi’s Overture “My Homeland”.

This week, we’ll hear piano virtuoso Lang Lang perform with the NCPA Orchestra in Beethoven’s ‘Emperor’ Concerto. We’ll also hear Glazunov’s charming Concert Waltz No.1, Brahms’ Song of Destiny and Chinese composer Zhao Jiping’s fascinating Concerto for Violin and Orchestra with Ning Feng.

On our program this week, we’ll hear He Zhanhao and Chen Gang’s moving Violin Concerto: The Butterfly Lovers, featuring soloist Siqing Lu; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1; Saito Hideo’s orchestral arrangement of J.S. Bach’s Chaconne in D minor Julian Yu’s Concerto on Chinese Themes; and we’ll end our program with music from some of Giuseppe Verdi’s most famous operas.

On our program this week, we’ll hear Beethoven’s magnificent incidental music for Egmont, Zhao Jiping’s Cello Concerto, “The Disillusioned Dream” featuring cellist Li-Wei Qin, Debussy‘s impressionistic La mer, and a rousing choral and orchestral arrangement of Shi Guangnan’s song, In the Hopeful Field.

This week, we’ll hear Beethoven’s grand Choral Fantasy, Chopin’s virtuosic Piano Concerto No. 1 featuring the 18 year old gifted pianist Hao Rao, the Symphony No. 103 by Haydn, Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, and the Pipa and Orchestra work Flying Fairies of the Silk Road by pipa artist and composer Zhao Cong.

This week, we’ll hear Arnold Schoenberg’s touching Transfigured Night; Britten’s Simple Symphony; Sergei Prokofiev’s brilliant Symphony No. 1 “Classical”; Chen Gang’s virtuosic work for violin and orchestra The Sunshine on Tashkurgan; Li Huanzhi’s Spring Festival Overture; as well as overture favorites by Wagner, Verdi, and Beethoven.

This week, we’ll hear Antonín Dvořák’s monumental Symphony No. 9 “From the New World”, Chen Qigang’s touching L’éloignement, the traditional Chinese orchestra sounds of Zhao Jiping’s The Moon at Dawn over Lugou Bridge, and Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme featuring cellist Li-Wei Qin. We also get two opera overtures with Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman and Suppé’s Dichter und Bauer.

Pianist Chen Sa joins the NCPA Orchestra and maestro Lü Jia for Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No.2 and French horn player Zeng Yun is featured in Mozart’s charming Horn Concerto No. 4. We’ll also hear the first concerto written for pipa and orchestra, “Little Sisters of the Grassland” and Johannes Brahms’ heroic Symphony No. 3.

This week China’s National Centre for the Performing Arts presents, Anton Bruckner’s bold and colorful Symphony No. 6, Brahms’ choral and orchestral work “Nänie”, and Zhang Weiliang’s luscious folk inspired “Dreamworld” for Dizi and Orchestra. Also featured is 2021 Chopin Competition winner, Bruce Liu, in Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major.

This week, we’ll hear orchestral splendor and choral richness.

The NCPA orchestra flexes its symphonic muscle with Beethoven’s 8th and Schubert’s 6th. Our program will also feature Maestro Lü Jia leading the orchestra in Bao Yuankai’s vivid, folk-infused symphonic suite “Drizzle in the South” and Ravel‘s Mother Goose Suite.

Join host George Preston for the inaugural program of This Week from China’s NCPA.