The National Arts Centre Orchestra is on its first tour of China in the largest cultural exchange between the two countries.
The Ottawa-based orchestra began the tour on October 4th and has performed in seven Chinese cities, including Hong Kong, Guangzhou, and tonight, in Beijing. This weekend the group plays Shanghai, and the tour wraps up on Monday.
The 70 musicians have taken part in pop-up gigs in unusual locations including the Beijing Zoo where a brass trio serenaded the pandas with appropriately soothing music, such as a minuet by Beethoven and Cat Steven’s ‘Morning Has Broken’.
The orchestra has played in musical showcases and workshops, and taken part in video-conference sessions connecting students in Calgary and Shanghai.
The exchange will be reciprocated when China’s National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra comes to Ottawa for a concert next fall.
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.