Shenzhen orchestra wows London

by New Worker correspondent

One of Asia’s leading orchestras came to town last week when the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra arrived in Chelsea for the London leg of a debut tour of Britain that includes London, Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh. Over 100 musicians performed an impressive programme of film scores and orchestral pieces at the Cadogan Hall on 13 March that included excerpts from the award-winning movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon that was composed by the orchestra's principal honorary conductor, Tan Dun.
Honoured guests included the Chinese ambassador, Zheng Zeguang, who congratulated the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra and expressed his appreciation to all the individuals and organisations from China and the UK who helped make this debut tour of the UK such a success. 
Ambassador Zheng stressed that China will stay the course of high-quality development, and advance the building of a strong country and national rejuvenation through the Chinese path to modernisation. This will surely generate more opportunities for practical cooperation and cultural and artistic exchanges between China and the UK. It is hoped that the cultural and artistic communities of both countries will enhance engagement and cooperation and inject new vitality into the friendship between the Chinese and British people.
The concert at Cadogan Hall was the second leg of the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra's tour of eight cities in the UK. Under the baton of Lin Daye, the orchestra's music director, the orchestra worked with Chinese cellist Nie Jiapeng and British violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen to perform Tan Dun's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Chausson’s Poème, Saint-Saëns’ Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso as well as Respighi’s Pines of Rome and Fountains of Rome and other masterpieces from the Chinese and Western repertoire. 
Lin said "it has been a dream for a long time to bring the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra to the UK. We hope to welcome orchestral audiences new and old with a programme that includes exciting drama, serene beauty, and virtuosic brilliance."
The musicians received enthusiastic applause and cheers from the audience and returned to the stage to perform encores presenting the audience with a musical feast blending both Chinese and Western cultural elements.