New Year Concert to be held in Beijing

A New Year's concert, co-organized by Beijing Concert Hall and the Austrian embassy in Beijing, will be held at the Beijing Concert Hall on Jan 1, delivering best wishes to music lovers in the capital.

Beijing Concert Hall Orchestra will perform under the baton of conductor Jiao Yang, featuring soprano Guo Chengcheng and violinist Yao Liang.

Music pieces, such as Chinese Gallop, Op. 20 by Johann Strauss I, Dance of The Hours from Italian composer Amilcare Ponchielli's opera La gioconda, and Polka from Czech composer Bedrich Smetana's opera The Bartered Bride, will be performed during the concert.

According to Zhang Yilin, general manager of Beijing Concert Hall, the idea of the New Year's concert came from the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra New Year's Concert. The New Year's concert in the capital will be the first collaboration between the Beijing Concert Hall and the Austrian embassy in Beijing.

Jiao said that the traditional New Year's concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra takes place every year on Jan 1 at around 11 am. "Vienna is seven hours behind Beijing, so the two New Year's concerts will take place at around the same time on Jan 1," Jiao added.