About
The Shanghai Opera Symphony Orchestra, established in 1956 along with the founding of the famous Shanghai Opera House, is one of China’s foremost symphony orchestras.
The Shanghai Opera Symphony Orchestra is renowned for its interpretation of classical symphony repertoire. The orchestra performs the masterpieces of the world’s most historic composers such as Beethoveen’s symphonies No. 6 and No.7, Tchaikovsky’s symphonies No. 4, 5 and 6; Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 and Violin Concerto No.3; Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique; Mahler’s symphonies No.1 and 4; Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 (From the New World) and 8; Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 1, 5 and 7; Liszt’s Piano Concerto No.1; Sibelius’ Violin Concerto, Finlandia and Symphony No. 2; Brahms Symphony No. 2 and 4; and Respighi’s Rome Series. The Shanghai Opera Symphony Orchestra additionally plays the works of famous Chinese composers such as The Yellow River Piano Concerto (adapted from Xian Xinghai's Yellow River Cantata) and He Zhanhao & Chen Gang’s Butterfly Lovers. The Orchestra also presents numerous overtures and music of operas and ballets.
The Orchestra has been conducted by renowned maestros such as Daniel Oren, Lorin Maazel, John Nelson, Will Humburg, Thomas Sanderling, Zoltan Kocsis, Maurice Peress and Jan Latham-Koenig. Since 2015, the orchestra has successively worked with world greatest maestros including Markus Stenz, Lawrence Foster, Daniel Oren, Franz Welser-Möst, and Neeme Järvi to perform Beethoveen’s Symphony No. 9 on the New Year’s Concert, which has already been one of the most popular annual culture events in Shanghai and has won wide applause from the audience.
The Orchestra has toured to Finland, Italy, UK, Germany, France, Estonia, Hong Kong and Macao, and was frequently invited to participate in a variety of art festivals and culture exchange activities both home and abroad. In 2019, the orchestra had its debut US concert tour and presented 21 concerts in 21 cities of the United States within 39 days, which obtained high attention and praise from all social circles.