Debra Li

debra_lidan@163.com

SHENZHEN Concert Hall wrapped up a fruitful year of public benefit events earlier this month with a concert presented by young musicians in the city.

On Jan. 5, the youth orchestra attached to Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra (SZSO) performed Dvorak’s “Symphony No. 9 in E Minor” and Tchaikovsky’s “Symphony No. 4 in F Minor” for audiences under the baton of young conductor Huang Zulin. Both pieces featured at the free Beautiful Sunday concert were favorites of classical music fans.

The last concert of Afternoon Music Time, another popular public benefit series organized by the concert hall for Saturdays, featured the young strings players of the Shenzhen Children’s Palace orchestra conducted by music pedagogue Luo Xiaolin. The program covered Brahms’ “Hungarian Dance No. 1,” “Waltz No. 2” by Shostakovich, as well as beloved Chinese songs and music pieces.

In the past year, the Beautiful Sunday series has never missed a beat in organizing free lectures and concerts for fans. Among the musicians who have performed and lectured in the series are well-known composer Ye Xiaogang, music reviewers Jiao Yuanpu and Wang Jiyan, pianist Yuan Jie, and pipa player Fang Jinlong. A successful young pianist, Yuan shared about his experience of learning to play the piano since childhood and took questions from piano students and their parents during the lecture concert, giving them timely and thorough advice. The series also provided a stage for budding musicians, featuring music students and teachers from Shenzhen University, Shenzhen Arts School and Xinghai Music Conservatory as well as local chamber orchestras as performers.

The Afternoon Music Time series, staged each Saturday afternoon, is a merry combination of appreciating music and a leisure pastime for families. Taking a more versatile form and featuring more “entry-level” pieces, the series has presented piano, harp, zheng, harmonica, violin, erhu, guitar, saxophone and clarinet music.

Of the 70 free Saturday and Sunday music events, especially popular among audiences were a series featuring Chinese pieces and another featuring a cappella singing.

The Sunday concerts will resume in February and the Saturday events will restart in April after a Spring Festival break. To mark the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, a series paying homage to the great composer will be the highlight of this year’s events.