Chinese symphony orchestra captivates audience in Cairo

The performance of China's Liaoning Symphony Orchestra wowed Egyptian audience at Cairo Opera House here on Tuesday night in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

The orchestra played a number of Chinese songs and symphonies such as My Homeland, symphonic poem of Peidong Xu; Today is Your Birthday, My Homeland China of Jianfen Gu; and My Heart Belongs to China, orchestra music of Fuling Wang.

The instrumentalists played famous Western music of renowned musicians including W.A.Mozart, Johann Strauss II, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Gioacchino Rossini and Giuseppe Vedri.

The musicians played There is Something Sweet About It, the musical piece of famous Egyptian composer Omar Khairat, which received warm applause from the audience.

"The performance was very exciting and touching. The instrumentalists were very professional and they worked in great harmony," Doha Ashraf, college graduate majoring in Chinese Language, told Xinhua after the concert.

The young lady showed admiration for the Chinese pieces the orchestra played, saying that Chinese music is more attractive to her than the Western ones.

"I would love to see the orchestra again and will search for their concerts online."

Ashraf's friend Noha Yasser, also a Chinese Language graduate, said it is a world-class performance just like the ones she used to watch on TV.

"I always thought that no one could compete with the Europeans when it comes to symphony orchestras, but I can say now that this Chinese orchestra is just like those European ones," she said. "I also loved the way they performed the Egyptian pieces."

Liaoning Symphony Orchestra, boasting a group of high-level instrumentalists, is one of the oldest and most influential symphony orchestras in China.

In the past 40 years, the orchestra has staged in many countries numerous performances of symphonic masterpieces such as those by Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky .

China and Egypt upgraded their relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2014, and since then there has been a steady stream of artists, cultural and musical delegations paying frequent visits to each other's country.

Such communications, especially within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, facilitated understanding between the two peoples and injected new vitality into the two ancient civilizations.

"The list of tonight's performances has been carefully selected, not only to tell the Chinese story, but also to promote communication between the two peoples," Yang Shitao, vice director of Liaoning Provincial Cultural Performing Arts Group, told Xinhua.

He added that at the intersection of the European, Asian and African civilizations, Egypt has nurtured many traditional and classic artistic works.

"After we got to Egypt, the artists were deeply touched by the Egyptian culture and had a new understanding of art," he said.