Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra Celebrates World Expo

Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra， just a one-year-old musical band， has been celebrating its blooming maturity at the World Expo 2010 Shanghai. On May 17， 2010， the orchestra appeared at Norway Pavilion and took part in a video-recording event. The young orchestra’s performance was so successful that it immediately received invitations from Poland Pavilion and Italy Pavilion to work together with the two countries to stage events in the ongoing world expo.

May 22 witnessed Poland Pavilion celebrating the Polish National Day and the country’s presence at the world expo. A concert was held at Shanghai Grand Theater in the downtown of the metropolis， attended by diplomats and honored guests. Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra was part of the concert.

The first part was a Chopin recital of seven piano works performed by Ewa Pob#322;ocka， laureate of the 10th International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1980. The second part was selections of film music performed by Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Krzysztof Herdzin. The second part was a multi-media show. In addition to the music， the audience watched excerpts from blockbuster films such as “The Bank Job”， “Dracula” and “”Finding Neverland” on the screen as wide as the stage. The perfect blend of audio and video wonders wowed the audience. The standing ovation was overwhelmingly long and passionate.

During an interview after the show， Krzysztof Herdzin， the conductor of the show， told me that the 23 film music pieces were all composed by Polish musicians. When asked why Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra was chosen for the performance， Herdzin replied that Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra had been recommended to them. After seeing the youthful orchestra’s superb performance and excellent hardware and software， they decided upon cooperation. He felt amazed by the musicians’ understanding and presentation during the rehearsals. The cooperation was pleasant and he felt delighted and highly satisfied. The orchestra’s performance was perfect.

Though the concert of the ten winners of the International Competition for Young Opera Singers“Riccardo Zandonai” at He Luding Concert Hall on the campus of Shanghai Conservatory of Music took place on May 23， the Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra had received all the music sheets in seven big boxes two months before. The competition was held to help select young opera singing talents and the event coincided with the world expo and was held in Italy Pavilion. The boxes had all the music sheets for all the forty arias for the competition. Eighteen of them would be chosen for the winners’ concert， but the musicians with the orchestra had the foggiest idea concerning which 18 would be chosen. So they rehearsed all the 40 arias. In addition to their other rehearsals， they needed to find time for rehearsals of these 40. They squeezed time and worked hard. The Italian conductor Marco Boemi did not arrive until May 22， a day before the final concert of Riccardo Zandonai. The prominent Marco Boemi immediately rehearsed with the Zhejiang musicians. Shi Ranzhu， vice director of the orchestra， remarked that rehearsing under the baton of the world-class conductor equaled to a precious lecture and a case study. It was a rare opportunity for the young orchestra to work under the world-class opera conductor.

The three-hour concert was a huge success.

For the young orchestra， performing at the world expo has been an unusual experience. Xu Lan， the leader of the band and violinist， notes that they have had a tight schedule since the official founding of the orchestra. In her words， the orchestra’s workload in the first year equaled to the workload in the past five years. But all the musicians are in high spirits and are in high professional form.

On the coach back to Hangzhou on the night of May 23， I would have liked to interview the first violin chair and first cello chair. But they were dozing off. In fact， all of them were dozing off.

I learned from Chen Xiling， the director of the orchestra， that the orchestra is scheduled to perform at the World Expo Culture Center， which looks like a flying saucer and seats 18，000. The performance will be marking the Norwegian National Day. This oncoming event is a highlight in the schedule for the orchestra in the second half of 2010.□