This year marks the 40th anniversary of American Ex-president Nixon’s visit to China and the issuing of China-US Shanghai Communiqué. From May 28 till June 3, National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) and 112-year-old Philadelphia Orchestra jointly sponsored a great event—Philadelphia Orchestra Music Week in NCPA. The famous master Charles Dutoit conducted two concerts of international quality by himself.

In this session, Philadelphia Orchestra presented a concert with distinctive parts: German-Austrian Symphony Night and Russian Symphonies. In the former part, the orchestra began with Don Juan by German musician Richard Strauss, followed by Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes by Carl Maria Von Weber by Hindemith and Symphny No. 7 by Beethoven. In the latter part, Chinese audience enjoyed Classical Symphony by Prokofiev and Symphony No. 5 by Shostakovich.

The Philadelphia Orchestra is crowned as world-class “Super Symphony Orchestra”. It writes immortal music legend with brilliant timbre over the centuries. The Philadelphia Orchestra has profound contact with China. As early as the World War II in the 1940s, it held a special fund-raising charity performance for China. In 1973, it became one of the first Western symphony orchestras making debut in China. From May 31 to June 2, NCPA will join hands with the Philadelphia Orchestra to launch 'unprecedented' Philadelphia Orchestra Week and organize a grand event of Sino-US cultural exchanges. Then top-class maestro Charles Dutoit will lead the baton of two symphonic concerts with international quality. The Orchestra will also achieve close cooperation with NCPA Orchestra to stage an exciting chamber music concert.