NEW TO YOUTUBE | The 24th Beijing Music Festival — Itinerary of an Illusion

Watch the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra commemorate Saint-Saëns and celebrate Qigang Chen

Recorded at the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing on October 11, 2021, this performance is a celebration of composer Camille Saint-Saëns and 70-year-old Chinese composer Qigang Chen.

Known for expressing classical Chinese sensibility with Western musical tradition, Chen's "music has exemplified the spiritual attainment of Chinese contemporary music and is one of a kind in the world of music." He has been associated with the Beijing Music Festival for nearly 20 years.

A pioneer of Romantic instrumental music, and one of the most prominent French composers, Camille Saint-Saëns died in December of 1921, marking 2021 as the 100 year anniversary of his death.

The program features Saint-Saëns' Violin Concerto No. 2 in C major and Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor in addition to Qiagang Chen’s "Instants d’un Opera de Pekin, Ouverture symphonique."

Conductor Jing Huan leads the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra with soloists Professor Vera Tsu, former concertmistress of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, and Liu Ming, the youngest concertmistress of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.