Two concerts, one featuring the works of Mozart and the other presenting the best of erhu music, will be staged this weekend at Shenzhen Concert Hall.

Mozart night

Conducted by Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra (SZSO) artistic director Lin Daye, the orchestra will perform an exclusive program of Mozart’s works Friday, collaborating with violinists Wu Qian and Zhao Mengchan and pianist Liu Liu.

The program will include the “Magic Flute Overture,” “Violin Concerto No. 3 in G Major, K. 216,” and “Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467.”

“The Magic Flute,” composed in 1791, the year Mozart died, was quickly embraced by audiences of the time, and has remained a hugely popular staple of the opera repertoire around the world ever since. It was a common practice with operas at the time to create orchestral overtures; this overture became and has remained a popular standalone concert piece.

Composed while the gifted musician was only 19 in 1775, the violin concerto responds to the skill of the performer. The better the violinist, the brighter and more complex the concerto’s exuberant themes will sound.

The piano concerto, completed 10 years later, has been recorded numerous times by many famous pianists including Arthur Rubinstein and Artur Schnabel. An electronic arrangement of the concerto’s first movement was used as the main theme of the TV series “Whiz Kids.” Neil Diamond’s 1972 song “Song Sung Blue” was based on a theme from the second movement.

Wu, born in 1995 in Shenzhen, started to play the violin at 5 and the piano at 6. After graduating from Shenzhen Arts School in 2014, she went to study violin at the Berlin University of the Arts (BUA). In 2018, she collaborated with Albrecht Mayer, principal oboe with the Berlin Philharmonic, in his “New Seasons” project. In that same year, Wu was accepted into the master’s program at BUA. She has also performed many solo and chamber music concerts.

Zhao started to play the violin at 3 and at age 8 took lessons with Huang Xiaoshao, a teacher with the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. In 2008, he was accepted into the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in Singapore to study under Qian Zhou. He went on to win the top prize in the violin artist category of the Singaporean National Piano and Violin Competition in 2009. He also won prizes at the Premio Paganini International Violin Competition in 2010 and the Mykola Lysenko International Violin Competition in Ukraine in 2012.

Pianist Liu graduated from the Eastman School of Music with a doctoral degree in piano performance and a master’s degree in music education. She also participated in the Catherine Filene Shouse Arts Leadership Program while at school. Currently, she teaches at the School of Arts, Renmin University in Beijing.

Tickets: 50-880 yuan

Time: 8 p.m., Nov. 27

Erhu music

Lu Yiwen, acclaimed young master of the erhu, a two-stringed Chinese instrument, will perform the best of erhu music for audiences this Sunday evening. Accompanying her will be composer and pianist Li Yuanqing.

The program will include Liu Tianhua’s “Towards Brightness” and “Moon Night,” “The Sun Shines on Taxkorgan,” adapted from Chen Gang’s composition for violin, excerpts from the “Butterfly Lovers,” a violin concerto by Chen and He Zhanhao, traditional Cantonese music “Clouds Chasing the Moon,” the beloved Chinese song “My Motherland,” “Honghu Lake Caprice” adapted from the Chinese opera “The Red Guards on Honghu Lake,” Wang Jianmin’s “Erhu Caprice No. 5 for Piano and Erhu,” as well as “Taohuawu Port” composed by Li.

The erhu’s versatile, expressive tone is an essential element of Chinese folk music and Lu’s virtuosity allows her to blend techniques and styles — modern and traditional, Eastern and Western — defying expectations for this “simple” instrument.

A graduate of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music (SCM), Lu is now teaching erhu at her alma mater. She is a winner of the 2012 best performance award in erhu (youth section) at the fourth Wenhua Awards and the gold award in erhu at the 10th Chinese Golden Bell Awards for Music in 2015, both considered to be among the top music awards in China.

A soloist active on the international stage, she has performed with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Taipei Chinese Orchestra and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, among others. Li is Lu’s fellow teacher at SCM, whose compositions have won national awards.

Time: 8 p.m., Nov. 29

Tickets: 80-580 yuan

Venue: Shenzhen Concert Hall, Futian District (福田区深圳音乐厅)

Metro: Line 3 or 4 to Children’s Palace Station (少年宫站), Exit D(Li Dan)