Centenary compositions

According to Zhou Ping, director of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, the four music works were created by musicians born in the 1950s, '60s, '70s and '80s, representing the different perspectives on Communist belief from different generations. In December, excerpts of the four works had their debut rehearsals in Shanghai.

Let's Run to the Sea and Look up at the Starry Sky Together is a new music piece by Hao Weiya. Commissioned by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, the 50-year-old composer wrote the piece for soprano and symphony orchestra. It is also set to a poem, Believe in the Future by Guo Lusheng under the pen name Shi Zhi in 1968.

"While celebrating what we've achieved today, we also need to review the past, especially the struggle we've experienced. The new piece is intended to express the hope for a bright future," says Hao, a professor at the Central Conservatory of Music.

Another piece, which was premiered at the concert on Thursday was Ode to China composed by Yu Yang, which opened with a trumpet solo performance and combined music elements from the classic Chinese revolutionary song, Dongfang Hong (The East Is Red). As the composer describes, the use of trumpet is a metaphor for heroes who fought for the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

Other music works performed during the concert at the NCPA included composer Lyu Qiming's Ode to the Red Flag, composer Tian Feng's Qin Yuan Chun Xue (Snow to the Tune), and The Story of Spring composed by Wang Yougui.