Chinese pianist Yuan Fang will collaborate with the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra to present Berlioz’s “Fantastical Symphony” and Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.”

    “Fantastical Symphony” is a program symphony that tells the story of an artist gifted with a lively imagination who has poisoned himself with opium in the depths of despair because of hopeless love. It is an important piece of the early Romantic period and is popular with concert audiences worldwide.

    Leonard Bernstein described the symphony as the first musical expedition into psychedelia because of its hallucinatory and dream-like nature. According to Bernstein, “Berlioz tells it like it is. You take a trip, you wind up screaming at your own funeral.”

    Yuan is a student of Dan Zhaoyi, a well-known piano teacher based in Shenzhen. After studying at Shenzhen Buxin Primary School, Yuan was enrolled in the middle school affiliated with the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. She studied there for four years with Lang Lang, who has since become an internationally acclaimed pianist. From 2001 to 2008, Yuan studied piano at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich. After studying abroad, she came back to work as a teacher at the Central Conservatory of Music.

    Time: 8 p.m., May 13

    Tickets: 50-280 yuan

    Venue: Shenzhen Concert Hall, intersection of Hongli Road and Yitian Road, Futian District (福田区红荔路和益田路交汇处深圳音乐厅)

    Metro: Longhua or Longgang Line, Children’s Palace Station (少年宫站), Exit D(SD News)