I am packing for my “excellent adventure” from SFO to Shanghai later this week, thanks to a $560 “mistake” business class airfare that Hong Kong Airlines honored. It is on a brand-new Airbus A-350 aircraft, and I’m looking forward to that. One of the first adventures on my itinerary is a trip to Shanghai Symphony hall for a concert, fulfilling my classic music enjoyment:
福村芳一演绎周天《乐队协奏曲》
Yoshikazu Fukumura conducts Zhou Tian
I was able to reserve a great seat from home (A区6排22座580元), thanks to Stockton, the hotel concierge. The works of Zhou Tian (a Chinese-born American composer nominated for a 2018 Grammy award) and Tchaikovsky will be performed by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra under the baton of the excellent conductor Yoshikazu Fukumura.
Apart from conducting widely in Japan, the maestro has also given many acclaimed performances abroad with orchestras in Europe, Latin America and Asia.
As Asia’s oldest orchestra, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra brought Western classical music to China. “Today, it remains a world-class orchestra which attracts internationally renowned artists while it still retains its Chinese essence: the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra is a beacon of culture and arts for the city of Shanghai,” according to the orchestras website.
Shanghai Symphony Hall looks stunning. Designed by architects Isozaki Arata and Yasushisa Toyota, the hall opened its doors in 2014. The state-of-the-art concert facility offers excellent acoustics in both the 1200-seat concert hall and the smaller chamber music hall.