The Suzhou Chinese Orchestra stages two concerts in Portland, Oregon, Suzhou's sister city in the United States, on July 27 and 28. [Photo/WeChat account: snd-szgxqfb]
The Suzhou Chinese Orchestra staged two concerts in Portland, Oregon, Suzhou's sister city in the United States, on July 27 and 28.
A rapturous Festive Overture with the accompaniment of drums and suona, a Chinese sorna (double-reeded horn), marked the beginning of the concert.
The Peony Pavilion·Garden Tour, adapted from a play of the Chinese traditional Kunqu opera, depicts Suzhou's profound history and colorful culture.
A local audience member said after enjoying the performance of the orchestra, his curiosity of the ancient Chinese city and been spiked.
Additionally, My Old Kentucky Home and Susanna and Overture to Candide, which are adapted from American ballads, were also performed during the concert.
After the performance, the orchestra was asked twice to come back onstage for an encore.
In order to help locals learn more about Chinese symphony, Pang Kapang, the orchestra's artistic director and conductor, introduced some Chinese musical instruments after their encore, such as the liuqin, a plucked stringed musical instrument, the pipa, a plucked string instrument with a fretted fingerboard, the erhu, a two-stringed bowed instrument and the bamboo flute.
Bonnie Miksch, director of Portland State University's School of Music, who was in the audience, was thrilled by the concert.
"It is very interesting to me that instead of the violins, we have the erhu, which is of a very different timbre from the violin, and against the whole orchestra, a very special color, that I was very struck with. It's very rare to hear something like this, other than on TV, or YouTube, that kind of thing. It's very special to be up close," Miksch said.
Founded last December, the orchestra now has more than 90 members, including renowned musicians and students from top-class music schools across the country. Famous conductor Pang Kapang is its artistic director and principal conductor.
"Although the Suzhou Chinese Orchestra is still very young, we are passionate and have been dedicated to integrating Chinese folk music into the orchestra performance and reinterpreting and expressing traditional Chinese music with symphonic language," Pang said.
At the beginning of next year, the Suzhou orchestra will go on a European tour of eight cities.
