| Wiener Symphoniker Completed First China Tour with Conductor Simone Young |
Simone Young led the century-old Wiener Symphoniker on its first tour of China organized by Wu Promotion.
From May 28 to June 10, Simone Young, hailed as one of the best female conductors in history, led the century-old Wiener Symphoniker on its first tour of China organized by Wu Promotion. The orchestra performed in Taiwan, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, and other cities, where music fans were treated to the highest level of Austrian classical music.
Established in 1900, the Wiener Symphoniker is one of the most prestigious and historic symphony orchestras in Europe. Over the course of its 114-year history, the Chief Conductor of the orchestra has included legendary conductors like Wilhelm Furtwängler, Herbert von Karajan, Wolfgang Sawallisch, and Carlo Maria Giulini, and the orchestra has created countless memorable records and DVDs. The conductor of this tour, Simone Young, is the holder of multiple impressive records and is said to be the best female conductor in history. The 52-year-old conductor is the first female conductor to record the complete cycles of The Ring of the Nibelung by Wagner and she is also the only woman serving as Music Director in a world-renowned opera house. In addition, she conducted at the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympics.
On this tour, the Wiener Symphoniker performed classic Austrian and German pieces, including Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 (Eroica), Symphony No. 7, and Romance in F Major, and Johann Strauss’s The Gypsy Baron. Notably, the young violinist Mengla Huang, known as “Paganini of the East,” was invited to join the orchestra in the Beijing performance of Mendelssohn's famous Violin Concerto in E Minor.
All of the orchestra’s performances on this tour were received with standing ovations from the audience. According to one music fan, “The orchestra’s performance was at the same time highly expressive and subtle, sincere and elegant. While maintaining the balance of a traditional orchestral sound, they were able to inject fresh ideas into their performance. Bravo!” Brought back multiple times by the audiences’ prolonged applause, the orchestra returned to perform classic pieces by Strauss as encores, both to thank audiences and to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Richard Strauss’s birth. The audiences’ cheers and applause expressed their deep and sincere appreciation of this century-old orchestra. After the concerts, many audience members lingered for a long time outside the performers’ exit, waiting to take photos with and ask for autographs from the conductor and the musicians.
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