Young musicians engage in a dialogue with classic Mahler works in Beijing

Mahler Foundation Festival Orchestra, comprising young musicians from different European countries, is participating as the resident orchestra in the ongoing Beijing Music Festival.

Four concerts are presented during the festival, which, according to Zou Shuang, artistic director of the festival, crafted as a grand gathering for the exchange of young musicians from China and abroad.

Works by young composers such as Huang Ruo, Wang Ying, Sasha Scott, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Wang Feinan, Shen Yiwen, and Li Zhenyan will engage in a dialogue with the classic works of Mahler onstage.

Prominent young musicians, such as renowned Chinese sheng (free reed instrument) player Wu Wei, countertenor Liu Shen, pianist Ju Xiaofu, baritone Wang Yunpeng, and mezzo-soprano Han Yinpei also take the stage in these four concerts.

Zou says that the fourth concert, which will be held on Oct 15, will serve as the closing performance of this year's Beijing Music Festival, with the Mahler Foundation Festival Orchestra and China's New Classical Chamber Orchestra performing together. They will open the festival with Dvorak's Symphony No 9 in E minor From the New World.

Young conductor John Warner from the United Kingdom leads the Mahler Foundation Festival Orchestra through a century-long dialogue with Mahler's classic works, presenting new works from Chinese and foreign young composers born between the 1970s and 2000s.