Violinist finds home in Harbin orchestra

At the end of 2018, Lee got the news that the Harbin Symphony Orchestra was recruiting and immediately applied.

In February 2019, he received a notice for an audition in Harbin. Lee stood out and joined the orchestra in June.

"It was a quite unique experience for me living in temperatures below — 30 C in the winter for the first time," he said. "However, the enthusiasm from the audiences at the concert hall was enough to melt the extreme coldness."

What surprised him even more was the city's musical heritage — a century-old symphony orchestra, high-level music academies, frequent international performances, unique performance venues, as well as artistic masters like conductor Tang Muhai, who is also the musical director of the orchestra.

"I also have the chance to perform quite differently from the past," he said. "Our performances include folk songs, ballads and even Peking Opera and yangbanxi (a series of revolution-themed modern Peking Opera), which I had never performed in Taiwan."

To understand the content of the performance, he would listen repeatedly before the rehearsal and watch relevant movies.

Lee has also toured with the orchestra, visiting Beijing, the provinces of Hebei, Guangdong, Liaoning, Zhejiang and Shandong. The orchestra has also played in Austria, Japan and Russia.

In June 2023, together with three local musicians, Lee founded his own chamber music ensemble named Ink.

"Ink is black, representing that our music performance group is from Heilongjiang," he said. "I hope our team can travel across the country and promote Harbin via music."

"I also hope there will be more young people from Taiwan who come to Harbin to develop their careers," he added.

zhouhuiying@chinadaily.com.cn