Orchestral music lovers in Croydon have the rare opportunity to experience one of Asia’s most respected orchestras next month, as the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra performs at the Fairfield Halls on Friday March 22 on its first-ever UK tour.
LIN DAYE – Chief Conductor and Artistic Director;
Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra;
The tour will feature more than 100 musicians on stage presenting a fantastically wide-ranging and impressive programme. It includes the first live orchestral performances in Britain of film score excerpts from the Academy Award-winning movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which blends Chinese ceremonial and classical music together in action-packed drama. The film score was composed by Tan Dun, who is also the SZSO’s principal honorary conductor.
The programme also features Mahler’s “Titan” First Symphony and Chausson’s Poème, a fantastical story about a woman seduced by a former lover with an enchanted violin, for which the SZSO will be joined by acclaimed and internationally renowned violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen.
Since the orchestra was founded more than 40 years ago in Shenzhen, the city has transformed from a small fishing village into China’s third most populous city and a global technology hub. The SZSO grew from this backdrop and now represents the rich culture of Shenzhen, under the direction of Daye Lin, one of the most exciting young conductors in China.
“It has been a dream of mine for a long time to bring the China Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra to the UK and we can’t wait to perform for UK audiences across the country,” Daye Lin said.
“We hope to welcome orchestral audiences new and old – we’ve created a programme that includes moments of exciting drama, serene beauty, and virtuosic brilliance, which we know British audiences will enjoy.”
Tamsin Waley-Cohen comes from a very well-connected and famous British family: her father is a theatre impressario and baronet, one of her cousins is a Grand National-winning amateur jockey, and her grandfather was Lord Mayor of London.
Enchanted violin: Tamsin Waley-Cohen. Photo: Patrick Allen
“After touring China in 2019, it will be a joy to have this rare opportunity to perform with a Chinese orchestra in Britain, especially one as exciting as the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the supremely talented Daye Lin,” she said.
“We will be performing two pieces by Chausson and Saint-Saens, both works that enthralled me playing them as a teenager, and now I am finding great joy in revisiting them.”
The Fairfield Halls concert forms part of a year-long series at the venue featuring orchestras from around the world.
- Tickets available now at fairfield.co.uk.
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