- The Orchestra will hold live concerts in four venues including its home, the Jaguar Shanghai Symphony Hall, welcoming a 50% capacity audience
- Three Shanghai Symphony Orchestra concerts will be filmed and streamed on the Orchestra’s Facebook page and Youtube channel later this month for international audiences
- In addition to the live events, the festival will feature daily streamed content which will include live, pre-recorded and archive materials
- The world premiere of Zhao Lin’s A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains performed by the League of China Orchestra’s MISA Festival Orchestra and Long Yu will be streamed for international viewers
The Shanghai Symphony Orchestra has today announced its return to the concert hall following months of lockdown due to the ongoing pandemic. The Orchestra is hosting its annual Music in the Summer Air [MISA] Festival from 20-30 July in a pared down programme that incorporates both live and streamed events. The Festival will see the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra perform live in front of an audience for the first time since 4 March 2022. Three concerts performed by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and the League of China Orchestra’s MISA Festival Orchestra will be streamed on the Orchestra’s Facebook page and Youtube channel later this month, including two concerts conducted by its Music Director Long Yu and one by its Conductor-in-Residence Zhang Jiemin.
Streamed concerts for international audiences
Three concerts in the MISA Festival programme will be streamed on Facebook and Youtube for international audiences. The first streamed concert will be the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra’s closing concert of the season and the opening concert of MISA. Music Director Long Yu will conduct a programme of Grieg’s Solveig’s Song and Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder with soloist Zhu Huiling followed by Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 [live in Shanghai 20 July, streamed online 21 July]. The second streamed concert sees the Orchestra’s Conductor-in-Residence Zhang Jiemin conduct a programme of Ponchielli, Verdi, Wagner and more featuring soprano soloist He Hui [live in Shanghai 26 July, streamed 28 July]. The final streamed concert is the MISA closing concert with Long Yu where the League of China Orchestra’s MISA Festival Orchestra will perform the world premiere of Zhao Lin’s A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains. The Orchestra will be joined by soloists including Lu Yiwen (Erhu), Han Yan (Pipa), Feng Tianshi (Dizi), Zhang Meng (Sheng) and Lei Jia (Chinese Soprano) [live 30 July, streamed online 4 August].
MISA plans for local audiences
In addition to the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra concerts, the MISA Festival programme includes main stage performances by the Harbin Symphony Orchestra with conductor Muhai Tang [21 July] and the China Philharmonic Orchestra with conductor Huang Yi [28 July]. The Chamber Hall within Jaguar Shanghai Symphony Hall will host chamber performances by the Neo-Classica Chamber Orchestra and Jin Yukuang [22 July], violinist Weigang Li [23 July], the cello ensemble of the China Philharmonic [24 July] and more. Due to reduced capacity in the Jaguar Shanghai Symphony Hall and Chamber Hall, the Orchestra is pleased to bring back its outdoor ‘Urban Music Lawn’ stage which will host a variety of open-air concerts throughout the Festival. As well as concerts, the stage will also show films including Romeo and Juliet with the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra performing the soundtrack live.
In addition to the live concerts, the Festival’s extensive education programme returns. Due to the recent lockdown, the education programme will be online this year. It will include live-streamed masterclasses with principal musicians from Shanghai Symphony Orchestra throughout the 10-day Festival.
The MISA Festival is now in its 13th year and before the pandemic used to see major international orchestras and performers travel to Shanghai to perform in the Festival. Although this is currently not possible, the Festival will be streaming archive concerts by orchestras including Hong Kong Philharmonic and Jaap van Zweden, New York Philharmonic with soloist Joshua Bell, and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for audiences to enjoy via the Orchestra’s WeChat channel and other local streaming platforms. MISA Radio is also being launched for the first time, which will include audio recordings from past MISA Festivals.