Orchestra tunes in to live performances again

A full summer festival program is planned for August with about 30 live concerts to be staged in Beijing, Tianjin and cities in Hebei province. During the live shows, the orchestra plans to premiere a new piece, Wuhan 2020, written by Li's longtime friend, German composer Enjott Schneider. The 10-minute piece portrays emotions triggered by the virus, such as fear, depression, confidence and courage. It took Schneider just two days to complete.

According to Xu Jian, general manager of the Forbidden City Concert Hall, the concert on Friday was also the first live performance for the venue since January.

For safety reasons, tickets were booked online in advance with real identities, and attendance of the show did not exceed 30 percent.

"We hope that the show is a sign of recovery for the country's performing arts market. All the tickets for the show on Friday sold out within 30 minutes, which proved that audiences are eager to enjoy performances at the concert hall," says Xu, adding that a total of 425 seats are offered to the audiences now, one third of the venue's full capacity.

More live shows will be held at the venue during August, including a concert on Aug 16 by harpists Ma Jiajie and Sun Shimeng, and flutist Zuo Meihui.

According to Li, the Beijing Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1977, was one of the first Chinese orchestras to perform classical music on the internet during the viral outbreak.

"However, for musicians, it's not a complete performance without applause from the audience," Li says, adding that when the musicians of the orchestra restart rehearsals, they feel excited and cherish the moment of playing music together again after such a long time.

chennan@chinadaily.com.cn