Photo by Guo Jinbiao, People's Daily Online
On 13 March 2024, H.E. Ambassador Zheng Zeguang and Counselor Hua Mei, wife of Ambassador Zheng, were invited to attend the opening ceremony of the London leg of the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra's UK tour held at the Cadogan Hall. Guests from China and the UK, including Mr Ma Weihua, Chairman of the Shenzhen Vitalisation Symphony Development Foundation, Mr Wray Armstrong, Chairman of UK-China Business Leader Confederation Arts Committee, Lord Stephen Green, Chairman of Asia House, Lord James Sassoon, President of the China-Britain Business Council, Mr Fang Wenjian, Chairman of China Chamber of Commerce in the UK and General Manager of Bank of China London Branch, Mr Nie Bing, President of the Art Committee of the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, and Mr Luo Bin, Deputy Director of the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, attended the event.
In his remarks, Ambassador Zheng congratulated the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra on its debut tour in the UK, and expressed appreciation to the individuals and organisations from China and the UK for their support to this tour.
Introducing the major outcomes of the just-concluded Two Sessions in China, Ambassador Zheng noted the Two Sessions have highlighted that China will accelerate the development of new quality productive forces, advance sci-tech and industrial innovation, comprehensively deepen reform and opening up, and further expand cultural exchanges with foreign countries.
Ambassador Zheng stressed that China will stay the course of high-quality development, and advance the building of a strong country and national rejuvenation through the Chinese path to modernisation. This will surely generate more opportunities for practical cooperation and cultural and artistic exchanges between China and the UK. It is hoped that the cultural and artistic communities of both countries will enhance engagement and cooperation and inject new vitality into the friendship between the Chinese and British people.
The concert at Cardogan Hall was the second leg of the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra's tour of eight cities in the UK. Under the baton of Mr Lin Daye, the orchestra's music director, the orchestra collaborated with Chinese cellist Nie Jiapeng and British violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen to perform Tan Dun's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Chausson’s Poème, Saint-Saëns’ Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, as well as Respighi’s Pines of Rome and Fountains of Rome and other masterpieces from both Chinese and Western repertoire.
They received enthusiastic applause and cheers from the audience and returned to the stage to perform encores such as "Song of Ali Mountain", "Lift Your Veil", and "Auld Lang Syne", presenting the audience with a musical feast blending both Chinese and Western cultural elements.
