Strings sing online in spring

The NCPA Orchestra launched its Spring Online Concerts series on April 11 and is livestreaming the performances on major Chinese social media platforms, such as Youku and iQiyi, as well as on the National Center for the Performing Arts' Sina Weibo and WeChat accounts.

Ludwig van Beethoven's arrangement of his Quintet in E Flat Major, Op 16 for piano, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn was selected as the opening piece and performed by a quintet from the NCPA Orchestra.

The work was completed in the summer of 1796 and first performed in Vienna the following year. The virtuoso's first string-quartet composition, String Quartet in C Minor, Op 18, No 4, was also performed by an NCPA Orchestra string quartet during the concert, which has been viewed over 27 million times online.

"To me, these two pieces by Beethoven invoke the feeling of spring, which is very special this year," says Yang Xiaozhou, a diehard classical-music fan and Chinese Academy of Sciences' math-and-physics institute professor.

"We've been going through the outbreak together, which enables us to be close to one another. I look forward to going to more live concerts when the epidemic ends. I believe people will gain a different perspective on life after the pandemic."

The first online concert's theme was "the late spring". It also celebrated the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth, NCPA Orchestra director Ren Xiaolong says.

"Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the National Center for Performing Arts has canceled or postponed all of its shows and public events since late January," he says.

"We've been thinking about how to get in touch with our audiences. So, we're presenting these online concerts."

The first livestreamed performance's viewer numbers exceeded his expectations, he says.

Ren has worked with the NCPA since 2009.

The NCPA Orchestra performs about 100 shows around the world a year.

"We've reached out to a bigger audience through the online concerts. That is, people who may not be classical music fans but are interested in it," Ren says.

"Music brings people joy and strength, especially when they're struggling in their lives. I can still remember the first concert that conductor Yu Long and the China Philharmonic Orchestra gave after SARS in 2003. It featured Mahler's Second Symphony in C Minor (The Resurrection). We want to comfort people with music during this difficult time."

The repertoires the orchestra selected for the online concerts deliver messages of love, hope and healing amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

The weekly series saw the orchestra play its second online concert on Saturday, titled Echo of Destiny, which included such pieces as Gustav Mahler's Piano Quartet in A Minor, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's String Quartet No 1 in D Major, Op 11 and Face to Face, a piece by Liu Heng for a percussion duo.

On April 25, eight cellists will play Max Bruch's Kol Nidrei during the third online concert, titled Pray for Love. On May 2, Lyu Jia will take the baton and lead the orchestra to perform Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings, and Mozart's Divertimento in E-Flat Major, K 563 and Serenade in G Major during the concert with the theme of "embracing spring".

"I stayed at home like most people during the outbreak but didn't stop practicing," principal bassoonist Ji Jingjing says.

"This year marks the NCPA Orchestra's 10th founding anniversary, and these online concerts are a very special way to connect with audiences."