China's top symphony orchestras join an Orchestral Marathon

Ever heard of an Orchestral Marathon?

It's a great way to give audience members an unusual experience of music appreciation but also test their endurance.

A total of nine of China's top symphony orchestras gathered at the Poly Theater in Beijing on Saturday, with each ensemble taking it in turns to perform for about 40 minutes of music.

Tan Lihua conducting the Beijing Symphony Orchestra, which is the third orchestra performing at Orchestral Marathon on Saturday, October 14, 2017 at Poly Theatre in Beijing. [Photo: China Plus]

The Orchestral Marathon was part of the ongoing Beijing Music Festival, which kicked off a week ago.

Program director of the Beijing Music Festival Tu Song explains:

"The Orchestral Marathon is a big highlight of the festival, which will also be unique in China. These symphony orchestras come from all over the country, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Qingdao and Kunming. We suggested the orchestras devise their shows according to local characteristics. And they agreed. For example, the Kunming Nie Er Symphony Orchestra are going to play two pieces featuring Yunnan's distinctive music style, including the Ashima Suites, adapted by composer Zou Ye from the theme music of the movie, Ashima."

Starting at 10 a.m. on Saturday, five orchestras, namely the Kunming Nie Er Symphony Orchestra, China Philharmonic Orchestra, Beijing Symphony Orchestra, China National Symphony Orchestra and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra played one after the other in the first half of the Orchestral Marathon.

An entire day of performances is inevitably challenging but also exciting for the audiences.

But what about the musicians? For some, it's a wonderful grand reunion.

Zeng Cheng is the first violin at the China Philharmonic Orchestra.

"It offers us a valuable chance for face-to-face communication within these two days during both our rehearsals and the formal show. We haven't met each other for quite a long time and only keep in touch via Wechat, and now we can stay and rehearse together for two days, which makes us feel quite excited, as if we were back on campus."

The Orchestral Marathon was not only a showcase for China's top orchestras and musicians but offered young musicians a valuable platform.

Young violinist Liu Ming was thrilled and also a bit nervous to perform at the Beijing Music Festival, as she's still a young college student.

She says she would love to join the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra:

"I'm just around 20. Few of my schoolmates are as lucky as I am to have such a valuable chance to perform onstage and with world-class musicians. I would strive to do my best in each of my performances."

The Orchestral Marathon in all showcased total of 28 classic pieces of music.

Tan Lihua is the conductor of the Beijing Symphony Orchestra, which was the third orchestra to play at the Marathon. Talking about the repertoire of the their forty-minute segment, Tan was confident it would satisfy the audience.

"Our concert at noon had to be relaxing for the audience and enable them to appreciate the beauty brought about by world classical music. Our opening piece is the 'Overture to the Queen of Spades' by the Austrian composer of light operas Franz von Suppé, which was played as the grand finale to the Vienna 2017 New Year's Day Concert."

The latter half of marathon started at five p.m. and ran through till 10 p.m. Symphony orchestras from Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Qingdao and a newly-formed Festive Orchestra made up of elite members of all nine orchestras gave shows successively.

An interesting fact about the festive orchestra is that musicians had to draw lots to see who would get the chance to perform.

According to Beijing Music Festival's organizers, the launch of this new Festive Orchestra aims to allow musicians to meet, share and learn from each other.

Tu Song also added that the Orchestral Marathon's unique program also marks the annual festival's 20th anniversary.