Orchestral and piano music fans are in for a treat as two concerts, one featuring the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra (SZSO) and the other featuring three piano masters, will be staged at the Shenzhen Concert Hall this weekend. The programs will cover the works of Beethoven, Mozart, Bartok, Chopin, Debussy and others.

SZSO

Conducted by new-generation star Qian Junping and featuring Korean-American pianist Helen Sim, SZSO will perform Mozart’s “Cosi fan tutte Overture, K588,” Beethoven’s “Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, Op. 73” and Bartok’s “Concerto for Orchestra.”

Beethoven’s “Piano Concerto No. 5,” composed between 1809 and 1811 and given the nickname “Emperor” by a publisher, could be considered either the last great concerto in the classical style or, because of its immensely powerful gestures, the first of the great 19th-century romantic concertos. Extraordinarily demanding for the soloist, the work also leaves the listener with the impression that the music, rather than the technical display, is most important.

Hungarian composer Bartok’s “Concerto for Orchestra,” written in 1943, is one of the composer’s most successful works. Drawing inspirations from Hungarian folk music, the piece poses a great challenge for the virtuosity of the players, as the individual sections of the orchestra are often treated in a soloistic manner.

Qian, born in the 1990s, is a rising star in the classic music world. Having just completed his second year as the assistant conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, he also serves as a visiting faculty member at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

He was the first prize winner of the 2017 Bucharest International Conducting Competition. He also won the third prize and the Orchestra Prize in the seventh edition of the Lovro Matacic Competition in Zagreb, Croatia.

After graduating from the Curtis Institute of Music, he studied conducting with Mark Gibson at the University of Cincinnati and Michael Jinbo of the Pierre Monteux Conducting School, and was the last private student of legendary pedagogue Otto Werner Mueller. He has been mentored by British conductor Daniel Harding since 2014 and Sir Roger Norrington since 2019. He graduated from the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin.

Sim started her piano studies with Juliette Eisenmann and Mary Helton, and made her debut at 10 performing the Mozart “Coronation Concerto” in Carnegie Recital Hall.

She studied at the Juilliard School with Russian pianist Oxana Yablonskaya. She won the first prizes of the Westchester Symphony Orchestra Competition, the Yonkers Philharmonic Music Competition, the National Young Artists Competition of Texas, and the Senigallia International Piano Competition of Italy.

Sim and her husband Du Ningwu formed the piano duo Du & Sim in 2000 and, in 2001, they were the top prizewinners and recipients of the Baronessa Titetta Cafici Savarese Award at the IBLA Grand Prize International Piano Competition in Italy.

Time: 8 p.m., Jan. 15

Tickets: 50-880 yuan

Piano masters

Chinese pianists Yuan Fang, Sheng Yuan and Zou Xiang will perform solo, duo and trio piano works, bringing the best of Classical, Romantic and modern works to audiences.

The program will include Beethoven’s beloved “Moonlight Sonata,” Chopin’s “Nocturne in C Minor, Op. 48, No. 1,” Debussy’s “Images” and “In Black and White,” Ravel’s “La Valse,” Chinese music “Clouds Chasing the Moon” as well as Rzewski’s “Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues” and a piece by French composer Olivier Messiaen.

The three will also perform together the fourth movement from Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 5,” arranged for piano.

Sheng and Zou are professors with the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and the three are all accomplished soloists.

Time: 8 p.m., Jan. 17

Tickets: 180-580 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: Line 3 or 4 to Children’s Palace Station (少年宫站), Exit D(Li Dan)