This is the fifth consecutive year that the young Suzhou National Orchestra has come to Shanghai. In the first four years, it has performed ten performances. Cheng Congwu, the head of Suzhou National Orchestra, found that a group of "Su fans" were taking shape, and the attendance rate was getting higher and higher. The audience was mainly young people, and the applause at the curtain call was getting more and more enthusiastic. "It is the openness and inclusiveness of Shanghai that encourage the orchestra to become more determined on the path of innovation and exploration of the modernization and symphony of Chinese folk music."

On November 13 and 14, the Suzhou National Orchestra performed two consecutive performances in Shanghai, one night in the Oriental Art Center, the other night in the Shanghai Symphony Concert Hall, under the guidance of the Publicity Department of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, "Praise the New Era, Strive for a New Journey", sponsored by the Shanghai International Art Festival Center, China - The World of Performing Arts · National Excellent Stage Art Works Exhibition.

On the evening of November 13, the Suzhou National Orchestra performed Bao Yuankai's "Charm of the Yellow River" at the Shanghai Oriental Art Center, which was a large-scale orchestral suite composed and first performed by the composer in 1991. With the popular Chinese folk songs as the theme, the work demonstrates the landscape, customs and customs of China through western musical instruments, and has been widely spread at home and abroad since its birth. In 2021, Bao Yuankai adapted the Chinese orchestral version of "The Charm of the Yellow River", and the world premiere was performed by the Suzhou National Orchestra. At the end of the same year, he met Shanghai audiences and was highly praised.

This year, the orchestra brought the new version of "Yanhuang Style" to Shanghai for the second time. After careful polishing, Yanhuang Style shows the national customs and humanistic feelings in a more authentic folk music language through six suites, including Yanzhao Story, Yunling Sketch, Loess Sorrow and Joy, Bashu Mountain Song, Jiangnan Rain, and Taihang Spring and Autumn.

On the evening of November 14, at the "Wu Yue Spring and Autumn Festival" concert, Suzhou National Orchestra brought three classical works of national orchestral music, including "Festival Overture", "Ancient Sophora Tree Seeking its Roots", "The Great Wall Capricciously", as well as "Difficulty and Brilliance" by Jiang Ying, the composer, and "Wu Yue Spring and Autumn Festival" by Li Binyang.

Zhu Changyao, erhu player and chairman of Jiangsu Provincial Musicians Association, played the solo of "Random Thoughts on the Great Wall". Zhu Changyao told the reporter that in May 1982, Min Huifen, a famous erhu player, performed the "Great Wall Capriccio" for the first time in the "Spring of Shanghai", which coincided with the 40th anniversary of its debut this year.

"Before the Great Wall Capriccio, there was no concerto for erhu, so we erhu people were very excited about this work. We hope to commemorate Min Huifen, the erhu player, and Liu Wenjin, the composer, today, to inherit this classic work." Zhu Changyao said.

Suzhou National Orchestra was born in 2017. How can such a young national orchestra stand firm and make its brand recognition?

Peng Jiapeng, art director of Suzhou National Orchestra, did not like national music when conducting folk music from symphony "crossover" at first, and even "looked down upon" a little. But with the deepening of understanding, he found more and more personality, potential and space of national instruments. "I have always had a dream to build a Chinese orchestra in my imagination, draw on the experience of western symphony orchestras, follow international standards, but create a different Chinese voice."

In recent years, the orchestra has set foot in 22 cities in 12 European countries and toured in the United States, South Korea, Japan and other countries. Last August, Suzhou National Orchestra won the "International Symphony Orchestra Award" of the Austrian Music Theatre in 2021, and Peng Jiapeng won the "International Music Culture Achievement Award" of the Austrian Music Theatre in 2021.

Zhu Changyao introduced that, from the perspective of works, the Suzhou National Orchestra "walks on two legs". On the one hand, it inherits the local operas, folk songs and bamboo in Jiangnan, and has accumulated more than 200 small and medium-sized national instrumental music works, and performs about 100 medium-sized concerts every year. On the other hand, well-known composers of the commission have created a number of folk music works that are both grounded and standard, both Chinese style and international perspective.

In December, the Suzhou National Orchestra will also participate in the "Symphony of the Times - Invited Performance of National Excellent Orchestras" in Shanghai, perform two large-scale concerts, "Symphony of Elegant Wind" and "Ode to Rivers, Lakes and Seas", and meet Shanghai audiences again.