Suzhou Chinese Orchestra

The Suzhou Chinese Orchestra is a professional ensemble co-founded by the Suzhou government and Suzhou New District with the aim to promote Chinese culture by integrating traditional music into orchestra performances and reinterpreting and expressing this music through the symphonic format.

In 2019, Suzhou Chinese orchestra will open its own home, the Suzhou Chinese Orchestra Concert Hall, as the orchestra’s permanent residence.

The orchestra is currently composed of 90 outstanding musicians, as well as some excellent graduates of top conservatories in China.

The repertoire of the orchestra consists of a collection of traditional classics, new adaptations of traditional programs, national- and regional-style music, works with oriental or occidental themes, commissioned pieces as well as classical works.

The Suzhou Chinese Orchestra has inherited and is constantly carrying forward the Chinese traditional music, actively promoting and spreading it throughout China. It has developed the Suzhou and Jiangnan music, supporting, exploring and reinventing the musical traditions included in the lists of intangible cultural heritage. It is actively working on music exchange by participating in competitions at home and abroad, as well as giving significant performances to enhance the traditional music culture.

The Suzhou Chinese Orchestra’s season consists of various concerts, including small ensemble performances, workshops and masterclasses, combining its role of a local social unifier and the one of an orchestra performing in the national and international music market.

Artistic Director & Chief Conductor: Pang Kapang

Pang Kapang, a first-class conductor, has been Artistic Director & Chief Conductor of the Suzhou Chinese Orchestra since June 2017.

Pang Kapang graduated from the Conducting Department of the Central Conservatory of Music and achieved the master's degree in 1992. In 1996, he became the only young conductor in Asia to win the 35th Kirill Kondrashin International Conductor’s Master Class. In 1997, he joined the International Conductors’ Master Class (Kiev, Ukraine). In 1998, he succeeded the Chief Conductor of the China Broadcasting Chinese Orchestra. In 2005, Pang Kapang launched the music season system of the China Radio Chinese Orchestra and created a beginning for the "music season" system of national music in Mainland China.

After successfully conducting the "Grand Chinese New Year Concert" in Goldener Saal of Wiener Musikverein in 2000, he has been continuously conducting there for 13 years, arousing great sensational effect and making great contribution in the promotion of Chinese music into the world. He successively led delegations to Switzerland, Germany, and USA to hold Chinese national symphony concerts and was invited to conduct in Japan, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macao, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, and Austria.

In 2013, he traveled to University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna to study European operas, receiving his diploma of Opera Conducting in 2015. On his tutor, Prof. Konrad Leitner’ words: "Mr. Pang Kapang has an extraordinary talent, a high degree of exquisiteness and delicate music sense, which all help his conducting art approach perfection."

Pang Kapang learned both from China and the Western society and has been actively involved in the exploration and practice of Chinese national symphony music. He has been actively exploring and practicing Chinese national opera and orchestra music. He conducted the Chinese opera Wilderness in the First Chinese Opera Festival and was praised for conducting the Italian opera The Lady of the Camellias (La Traviata) in the Second Chinese Opera Festival.

Program: “The Chinese Music with Suzhou Charm”