Symphony orchestras typically perform works from the past. The world of symphony is made up of a lot of things - composers, the core symphonic repertoire, concert halls, classic recordings in history, etc. In a sense, going into the world of music is in many ways like visiting a museum. We reproduce artistic pinnacles that people reached in the past. But our mission is much more than just that. We are on a mission to keep the symphony, which is a fascinating art form, alive. That is why premieres, works by Chinese composers, and Western contemporary music that don't necessarily sound good have never been absent in our repertoire. We are going to give more attention to modern and contemporary music in the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons. We are not trying to answer what the zeitgeist of the current era is, but we ask questions and try to find clues in music. It was in such a context that the "Heralds of The Time" series was created. Since the 20th century, the development tendency of classical music has become unpredictable The openness and complexity of the music landscape have risen to unprecedented levels. It is difficult to find one piece of work, doctrine, or figure that can embody the zeitgeist of this era to the fullest extent. Globalization has boosted musical diversity. Whether music in this era is "right" or normal or not, it's a part of the world we are in now and will continue to shape the world in the future. Therefore, we delicately select a list of contemporary works together with our artist friends which may not be the most pleasant ones but can offer a glimpse into today's vibrant world. We'll hear Anton Webern, John Cage, György Ligeti, Toru Takemitsu, Arvo Pärt, and John Adams in this season and celebrate some other biggest names in the next season.

China is a glowing part of the world music map. Many traditional Chinese instruments can trace their history back to thousands of year, and have thus become a symbol of the ancient civilization. The chemistry between the unique beauty of Chinese instruments and the Western paradigm produces a sense of modernity. The "Sounds of China" series include concertos featuring zheng, pipa, guanzi, suona and dizi as solo instruments, as well as fusion chamber music featuring erhu, dizi, xiao, pipa and Western instruments. It will also be the grand gathering of soloists of Chinese traditional instruments: CHENG Haoru, JIANG Yang, HAN Lei, ZHANG Qianyuan and Dai Ya in the symphonic section, and LU Yiwen, ZHANG Weiliang and WU Man in the chamber music section. Dialogue between civilizations leads to the infinite expansion of the capacity of art. At the same time, people's sense of identity and boundaries are becoming stronger and clearer, which may also be a unique feature of this era.

Following the "Ten Years of Music Journey with LÜ Jia", we usher in a new decade of cooperation with Director LÜ Jia, which begins with Bruckner's 3rd, 7th, and 8th Symphony. This is the third year of our "The Bruckner Ciphers" Series. This series features both Bruckner's early works influenced by Wagner and later works with which Bruckner made his breakthrough after going through a self-denial phase. Without the leadership of Maestro LÜ Jia, we wouldn't have the audacity to make bold attempts to perform all these works in one season. Another new attempt of ours, quite different from Bruckner's style, is one of Ravel's most important works – an elegant, exotic symphonic suite written for the ballet Daphne and Chloe. As an Artist-in-Residence of the NCPA in the 2022-23 season, the soprano Hui He will present two concerts and one opera production with us, also as a celebration of her 25th Anniversary of International Opera Career. In addition to the premiere of Yao Chen's From the Vessel of Ancient Souls, which will be led by Maestro LÜ Jia, we will also give the world premieres of ZHAO Jiping's symphonic fairy tale The Story of Hua'er, HUANG Ruo's Butterfly Exhange and new works by LIANG Lei and HAO Weiya in our upcoming season.

The title "NCPAO in Chamber Plus" implies our willingness to break boundaries and explore more possibilities in music. In this season's "NCPAO in Chamber Plus" series will achieve significant growth. It will feature the most diverse arrangements and repertoire, including the sub-series"NCPAO in the City", for which we have been planning for a long time. Over the weekends at the end of this October, we will stage nine chamber concerts in the three venues of Lang Yuan (Vintage, Station and Park). In addition to the performances by LU Yiwen, ZHANG Weiliang, and WU Man, which combine traditional Chinese music with western and modern music, we will work with Xuefei Yang to showcase the vibrancy of Brazilian music, with the Shanghai Quartet and Han Xiaoguang to present A Triptych of Brass, Woods and Strings, with Wang Xiaoming to expose the audience to the German and Austrian classics, and with A Bu to explore the style of jazz and fusion.

There are a lot of familiar names in the third all-Chinese lineup: conductors as LI Xincao, LI Biao, ZHANG Guoyong, YANG Yang, TAN Dun, LIN Daye, SUN Yifan, LAI Jiajing, and Darrell Ang; pianists as LANG Lang, SUN Yingdi, and Haochen Zhang; violinists as WANG Zhijiong, HUANG Mengla, and WANG Xiaoming; cellist as Li-Wei Qin, and the Shanghai Quartet; hornist HAN Xiaoguang; guitarist Xuefei Yang; organist SHEN Fanxiu; pipa player WU Man; dizi soloist ZHANG Weiliang; singers as LEI Jia, WANG Hongwei, MENG Meng, HAN Peng, and ZHANG Yang. At the same time, there are also be some exciting new names: conductors as JING Huan, XU Zhong, YIN Jiongjie, and LIO Kuokman; pianists as Gina Alice, SHENG Yuan, A Bu, and SUN Yutong; violinist YU Xiang; erhu soloist LU Yiwen; pipa soloist JIANG Yang; guzheng soloist CHENG Haoru; suona soloist ZHANG Qianyuan, dizi soloist DAI Ya; and guanzi soloist HAN Lei. On top of having a vast array of maestros, there is also an incredibly group of young rising artists. Both the generations have joined forces, creating a scene where people could witness the bequest of enthusiasm and endless inspirations.

We have always been in the quest of the answer to the zeitgeist of our time. The upcoming season has encompassed the classic traditional repertoires to the sound of audacious creativity and innovation, whilst including the fusion of our traditional instruments and various cultures of numerous nations, as well as revealing the incandescent talent of the young artists. With all our might, we sincerely aspire to contribute spiritual nourishment as a result of our music season to this era.