It's somehow strange that an orchestra has no music director. But yes, the National Symphony Orchestra of China (NSOC) will start its 07/08 season without one.

Though Guan Xia, president of NSOC, acknowledges the achievement that the NSOC made last season under the music direction of Shao En, he does not think that the music director fits the national orchestra.

Beijing Symphony Orchestra's music director Tan Lihua. 

Guan gives three reasons: First, after starting seasons just a few years ago, the NSOC has changed music directors almost every year but not sorted out all its problems. Second, the NSOC is short of funding, and the payment Shao got is half of what he can earn from a Western orchestra as the Music Director. And third, Shao is the Music Director of Radiotelevision Solvenia, Macao Symphony Orchestra and Taipei Chinese Orchestra at the same time, so he actually worked only three months with the NSOC.

Shao En says he himself is satisfied with his collaboration with the NSOC, of which he was only contracted for one year. He said when he took the position last September: "The business of NSOC is like a relay race, and I am just one of the members and will pass the relay baton to the next one when the contract is over. What I can do is to do my best in my time." He has done his part.

In the coming season, Shao, as the principal guest conductor, will join hands with the honored conductor Tang Muhai and chief conductor Li Xincao to further develop the orchestra together.

Chinese music will dominate the concerts in the season. Under the baton of Shao, at the opening concert tonight at Beijing Concert Hall, the NSOC will play Guan's Symphony Overture No 1, Zhao Jiping's Folk Suites The Qiao's Family, which features the erhu player Deng Jiandong and soprano Tan Jing, and Wang Yi's symphony and choir Ode to Shenzhou. The next evening, also under the baton of Shao, the NSOC will play Lu Qiming's Ode to the Red Flag and the piano concerto Yellow River played by Yin Chengzong.

The NSOC will devote two concerts respectively to two composers: Shi Wanchun who has scored many films and Zhen Lucheng (1918-76) who was born in South Korea but devoted his life to China's revolution, composing The Song of the PLA and many other works for Chairman Mao Zedong.

Also, Hu Yongyan will premiere works featuring ruan, a four-stringed Chinese pluck instrument. Ruan player Xu Yang, who will play the concert, commissioned the composers Zhou Long, Chen Yi, Li Bingyang and Liang Wenxi to compose these new works.

Chief Conductor Li Xincao will conduct the opera Mulan, featuring soprano Peng Liyuan in the title role and the world-acclaimed tenor Dai Yuqiang.

Other highlights of the new season include a concert featuring the award-winning works of the 13th National Symphony Composition Competition, the first New Year Concert at the China National Grand Theater (scheduled to open in November) and the concert at the Kremlin on October 28 to close the Year of China in Russia.

In addition to the concerts at the Beijing Concert Hall, the NSOC will tour Shanxi, Shandong, Hubei, Guangdong and Henan provinces and Shanghai in the season.

Compared to the unstable NSOC, the younger Beijing Symphony Orchestra (BSO) will perform a more refined program in its tenth season under its music director Tan Lihua. The BSO also commissions Chinese composers and plays works of different genres.

Tan will take the baton of the opening concert on Saturday evening at the Forbidden City Concert Hall to play Su Cong's In the Rapids of Emotion. Su is known internationally for his track in the 1988 Oscar-winning film movie The Last Emperor.

"I commissioned Su, because I love his beautiful melody. His music is delicate and pleasant to the ear. I hope to attract a wider audience to the concert hall than just royal classical music fans. So I prefer to play more melodic works than those very modern, but strange-sounding, works," Tan says.

Ye Xiaogang is another composer famous for his beautiful melodies. And yes, the BSO also commissions him. On November 4, the orchestra will premiere his suites Chu.

Both Ye and Su were born in the 1950s. BSO will also play many works by older composers who are now in their 70s.

Composer Jin Xiang, 72, has selected arias from his seven operas; Du Mingxin, 79, will present piano concerto, violin concerto and ballet music, including the famous the Red Detachment of Women. The BSO will also introduce the composer Shi Fu, 78, who is not widely known to today's audiences but has a variety of works from concerto and symphony to opera and ballet.

And of course, Chinese music is not all BSO has in the new season. They will also play Beethoven, Mahler and Mozart. At the opening concert, in addition to Su's In the Rapids of Emotion, they will also play Stravinsky's ballet suite Fire Bird and Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.

(China Daily September 7, 2007)