The China National Center for the Performing Arts Orchestra () is a Chinese orchestra based in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. It is the resident orchestra of the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) located in the

Xicheng District Xicheng District () is a district of Beijing. Xicheng District spans , covering the western half of the old city (largely inside the 2nd Ring Road - the eastern half is Dongcheng District, Beijing, Dongcheng District), and has 706,691 inhabitant ...

of Beijing. The NCPA Orchestra and its related organization, the China NCPA Chorus (国家大剧院合唱团), serve primarily as the resident musical ensembles of the NCPA, supporting opera and ballet productions at the theater. The China NCPA Orchestra was founded in March 2010, with full funding from the Chinese government, three months after the China NCPA Chorus was founded. About 60 musicians were selected from a global pool of candidates with an average age of 27. For the six years since its establishment, the average age of the musicians has increased from 27 to 31, and the total number of musicians has been doubled. The NCPA Orchestra undertook its first North American tour in late 2014.

Chen Zuohuang Chen may refer to: People *Chen (surname) (陳 / 陈), a common Chinese surname * Chen (singer) (born 1992), member of the South Korean-Chinese boy band EXO * Chen Chen (born 1989), Chinese-American poet * (), a Hebrew first name or surname: * ...

was the founding music director of the orchestra, and now holds the title of conductor laureate. Since 2012, the orchestra's chief conductor has been Lü Jia. The orchestra's current assistant conductor is Yuan Ding.

Performances

In addition to performing core repertoire operas by European composers, including Turandot,

Tosca ''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1 ...

The Barber of Seville ''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( it, Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L'inutile precauzione ) is an ''opera buffa'' in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was base ...

, Lohengrin, Aida,

Otello ''Otello'' () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play ''Othello''. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on 5 February 1887. Th ...

Nabucco ''Nabucco'' (, short for Nabucodonosor ; en, " Nebuchadnezzar") is an Italian-language opera in four acts composed in 1841 by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera. The libretto is based on the biblical books of 2 Kings, ...

, the NCPA Orchestra has accompanied most of its own productions of Chinese operas including

The Chinese Orphan ''The Chinese Orphan'' (Chinese: 赵氏孤儿) is a 2011 Chinese-language western-style opera by woman composer Lei Lei to a libretto by Zou Jingzhi. The plot is based on the story The Orphan of Zhao ''The Orphan of Zhao'' is a Chinese play fro ...

(

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

: 赵氏孤儿), Rickshaw Boy (

: 骆驼祥子) and Visitors on the Snow Mountain (

: 冰山上的来客), The Long March (

: 长征), A Village Teacher (

: 山村女教师), The Red Guards on Honghu Lake (

: 洪湖赤卫队),

The Dawns Here are Quiet ''The Dawns Here Are Quiet'' (russian: А зори здесь тихие, A zori zdes tikhie) is a 1972 Soviet war drama directed by Stanislav Rostotsky based on Boris Vasilyev's novel of the same name. The film deals with antiwar themes and fo ...

(

: 这里的黎明静悄悄), and

Xi Shi Xi Shi (Hsi Shih; , ) was, according to legends, one of the renowned Four Beauties of ancient China. She was said to have lived during the end of the Spring and Autumn period in Zhuji, the capital of the ancient State of Yue. In traditional st ...

(

: 西施). Apart from performing the operatic and symphonic repertoire, the NCPA Orchestra together with the NCPA Chorus and other musical groups has been performing series of educational Weekend Matinee Concerts and salons at its home venue as well as in schools, hospitals, museums, and other communities.

References

External links

Chinese-language page on the members of the NCPA Orchestra

English-language page on the NCPA Orchestra conductors and musicians

National Center for the Performing Arts (Chinese-language page)

The NCPA Orchestra's Facebook page

The NCPA Orchestra's Weibo (Chinese)

ConcertoNet website review of 9 November 2014 concert, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
{{authority control China orchestras Musical groups established in 2010 National orchestras 2010 establishments in China