Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra European Tour 2018

16.4.2018 Athens Concert Hall
18.4.2018 Thessaloniki Concert Hall
20.4.2018 Sofia Philharmonic Concert Hall
23.4.2018 Romanian Atheneum
25.4.2018 Savva Center Belgrade

Founded in April, 2009, Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra (HPO) has established itself as one of most promising and exciting symphony orchestras in China. HPO aimed to become a first-class symphony orchestra at home and famed one in the world, as well as to serve the internationalization of Hangzhou. The orchestra has ventured to perform across all disciplines of arts in concert, opera, ballet, chamber music, film music and recording to critical acclaim.  “Established only seven years ago in a city 180 miles from Shanghai, the HPO is by now one of the major orchestras in China”, reported by Musical America, 2016.

Since the founding, HPO has been engaged in major music festivals in China and abroad, such as Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festspiele, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Slovenia Ljubljana Festival, Italy Emilia Romagna Festival, Italy Ravello Festival, Italy Taromina Festival as well as Beijing Music Festival, Music in the Summer Air, Shanghai Spring International Music Festival and China Opera Festival, etc. An impressive array of world renowned artists has performed with HPO in the past years, including Vladimir Fedoseyev, Paavo Järvi, Chung Myung-whun, Klaus Peter Flor, Gunther Herbig, Okko Kamu, Zubin Mehta, Krzysztof Penderecki, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Shui Lan, Gary Graffman, Lang Lang, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Midori, Shlomo Mintz, Maxim Vengerov, Gautier Capuçon, Wang Jian as well as Sumi Jo, and more than 200 other distinguished musicians in China and abroad.

Cultural exchange program being an integral part, the orchestra has partnered with Berliner Philharmoniker’s board, Philadelphia Orchestra and Yong Siew Toh Conservatory. Besides, an education program has been initiated between HPO and Shanghai Conservatory of Music, HPO has become the Practical Training Base of Professional Degrees of Shanghai Conservatory of Music. In 2016, HPO was commissioned by Ministry of Commerce of P. R. China and CAEG for a three-month training project for Laos National Symphony Orchestra.

In October, 2014, HPO published its first recording with violinist Ning Feng by Universal Music and Channel Classics Records.

In September, 2016, HPO had successfully participated in the Evening Gala “Enduring Memories of Hangzhou” for the G20 Leaders Summit. And this gala impressed leaders of Group 20 and directors of related world organizations as well as other guests. In September, 2017, HPO performed a symphony concert on the 3rd China-CEEC Cultural Cooperation Forum and won great acclaim from leaders and guests from China and 16 Middle East European countries.

Yang Yang, conductor

Yang Yang, born in a musical family, learned piano with Prof. Li Qifang. Later, he learned conducting respectively with Prof. Xu Xin and Prof. Wu Lingfen, and then was admitted to the Conducting Department of Central Conservatory of Music, being one of the students of Prof. Yu Feng.

In November 2006, Yang won the first place for his outstanding performance at the Dimitris Mitropoulos International Competition for Orchestral Conducting in Greece. It’s the first time for the Chinese conductors to have such honor.

As one of the most active young conductors in China, Yang has maintained close partnership with all mainstream orchestras and opera houses domestically. Meanwhile, he has successfully left tracks at a host of foreign orchestras such as Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin,  German Philharmonic Orchestra of Cologne, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, National Rhine Philharmonic Orchestra, New Brandenburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Italian Verona Opera House, Teatro Regio Torino, Italian Rome Philharmonic Orchestra, French Cannes Symphony Orchestra, Bordeaux Symphony Orchestra, Valencia Orchestra of Spain, Greek Symphony Orchestra, Athenian Chamber Orchestra and Korean Incheon Philharmonic, etc. He had sincere cooperation with world famous musicians such as cellist Lynn Harrell, Alban Gerhard, Wang Jian, Natalia Gutman, violinist Maxim Vengerov, Gidon Kremer, Midori, Sarah Chang, Augustin Dumay, Lenard Karpison, Cho-Liang Lin, pianist Gary Graffman, Lang Lang, Barry Douglas, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Kun-Woo Paik, Jon Kimura Parker, soprano Sumi Jo, clarinetist Sabine Meyer, Wenzel Fuchs, French horn player Radovan Vlatkovic, Stefan Dohr, etc.

Since 2009, Yang Yang and HPO had successfully completed eight music seasons, and performed at leading festivals including Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Ravello Festival, Emilia Romagna Festival, Taormina Festival, Ljubljana Festival. He also toured with HPO extensively in Russia and Estonia winning great applause and high critical acclaim at home and abroad.

Yang Yang is now acting as Music Director and Chief Conductor of China National Opera House, Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra.

Ning Feng, violinist

Established at the highest level in China, Ning Feng performs regularly in his native country with major international and local orchestras, in recital and with the Dragon Quartet which he founded in 2012. Now based in Berlin and enjoying a global career, Ning Feng has developed a reputation internationally as an artist of great lyricism and emotional transparency, displaying tremendous bravura and awe-inspiring technical accomplishment.

Recently Ning Feng has played with Budapest Festival Orchestra with Iván Fischer, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and Jaap van Zweden, as well as successful debuts with Los Angeles Philharmonic, Frankfurt Radio Symphony and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In recital and chamber music he performs regularly with Igor Levit, amongst others, and appears at festivals including Kissinger Sommer, Heidelberg, Moritzburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schubertiade and La Jolla Music Society (California).

Highlights of Ning’s 2017/18 season include debuts with City of Birmingham Symphony under Gražinytė-Tyla, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony, New Jersey Symphony/Slobodeniouk. Ning also returns to Bilbao Symphony Orchestra with Giancarlo Guerrero, China Philharmonic with Michael Stern, and Guangzhou Symphony and Hong Kong Philharmonic, both under the baton of Long Yu.

Ning Feng records for Channel Classics in the Netherlands and his latest recording was released earlier 2018, Bach’s complete solo works for violin, as the first recording by a Chinese violinist.

Born in Chengdu, China, Ning Feng studied at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music, the Hanns Eisler School of Music (Berlin) with Antje Weithaas and the Royal Academy of Music (London) with Hu Kun, where he was the first student ever to be awarded 100% for his final recital. The recipient of prizes at the Hanover International, Queen Elisabeth and Yehudi Menuhin International violin competitions, Ning Feng was First Prize winner of the 2005 Michael Hill International Violin Competition (New Zealand), and in 2006 won first prize in the International Paganini Competition.

Ning Feng plays a 1721 Stradivari violin, known as the ‘MacMillan’, on private loan, kindly arranged by Premiere Performances of Hong Kong, and plays on strings by Thomastik-Infeld, Vienna.

In colaboration with WU Promotion