Beijing Symphony Orchestra announces new head at Brahms concert

Pianist Zou Xiang (left) and conductor Xia Xiaotang at the concert in Beijing on Feb 22. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Conducted by Xia Xiaotang, the Beijing Symphony Orchestra staged a concert on Feb 22 at Beijing's National Center for the Performing Arts, featuring music by German composer Johannes Brahms.

Pianists Zou Xiang and Sun Yingdi played the Piano Concerto No 1 in D Minor, Op 15 and the Piano Concerto No 2 in B-flat Major, Op 83. The latter is separated by a gap of 22 years from the composer's first piano concerto.

Pianist Sun Yingdi plays Piano Concerto No 2 in B-flat Major, Op 83 by Brahms. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Sun, who is deputy director of the piano department at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, calls the composer's second piano concerto "one of his favorites".

Zou, who is a professor of the Central Conservatory of Music, played the composer's first piano concerto during the concert and says that his first experience of performing with a symphony orchestra was with the Beijing Symphony Orchestra when he was 16 years old.

The Beijing Symphony Orchestra also announced its new leader, Li Changjun, former director of the Beijing Chinese Orchestra.

Li Changjun, the new leader of Beijing Symphony Orchestra. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Beijing Symphony Orchestra staged a concert at the National Center for the Performing Arts on Feb 22. [Photo provided to China Daily]