- Baritone Matthias Goerne is Artist in Residence
- The Orchestra celebrates its 145th anniversary and the 10th anniversary of Jaguar Shanghai Symphony Hall
- International soloists and conductors including Hilary Hahn, Daniel Harding, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Augustin Hadelich, Maxim Vengerov, Jaap van Zweden, Paavo Järvi, Wynton Marsalis and more
- Two world premieres by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Zhou Long and Elliot Leung
- Eleven concerts conducted by SSO’s Music Director Long Yu
The Shanghai Symphony Orchestra [SSO] and Music Director Long Yu today announce their 2024-2025 season at the Jaguar Shanghai Symphony Hall.
Artist in Residence – Matthias Goerne
German baritone Matthias Georne is the Orchestra’s Artist in Residence for the 2024-2025 season, performing two concerts. Goerne’s first performance as Artist in Residence is in the celebratory concert marking the SSO’s 145th anniversary, where he will perform the final movement of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, conducted by Long Yu [6 Sept]. Goerne performs another Mahler work – Rückert Lieder – later in the season [19 Apr].
World premieres
Shanghai Symphony Orchestra continues to commission and perform new music with two world premiere performances this season. The first is Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Zhou Long’s Nine Odes which is a concerto for Erhu and orchestra [2 Nov]. Jointly commissioned by SSO, Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra and the Beijing Music Festival Arts Foundation, the SSO will perform the world premiere with conductor Huang Yi and soloists Lu Yiwen (erhu) and Feng Tianshi (dizi). The second world premiere is Elliot Leung’s Chinese Kitchen, commissioned by SSO and conducted by the Orchestra’s Conductor in Residence Zhang Jiemin [23 Nov]. Leung is a 28 year-old composer who has written for a number of major films including Operation Red Sea and The Battle at Lake Changjin, and was featured in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list for The Arts in 2022.
Season highlights
The 2024-2025 season opens with a celebration of the SSO’s 145th anniversary, and the 10th anniversary of Jaguar Shanghai Symphony Hall. The concert features four conductors – Long Yu, Chen Xieyang, Cao Peng and Hou Runyu with soloists Hilary Hahn, Liwei Qin and Matthias Goerne, performing a programme that blends music from East and West together, celebrating composers such as Mahler, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Ma Sicong and Huang Yijun [6 Sept].
Following on from the celebratory concert, SSO Music Director Long Yu returns to conduct 7 further concerts in the season with leading soloists including the opening concert with Hilary Hahn [8 Sept] in addition to performances with Jean-Yves Thibaudet [1 Dec], Esther Yoo [22 Feb], Frank Huang [22 Mar], Frank Peter Zimmermann [15 May] and Gerhard Oppitz [6 Jun]. The closing concert of the season, conducted by Long Yu, features Augustin Hadelich performing Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D [26 Jun].
Other performances with Long Yu include a concert-performance of Verdi’s Rigoletto with soloists Leo Nucci, Jinxu Xiahou, Guanqun Yu, Wei Wu and Huiling Zhu with the Shanghai Opera House Chorus [9,11 Mar] and a collaboration with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra to perform Marsalis’s The Jungle – a symphony based on the cosmopolitan metropolis of New York City [26 Oct].
Shanghai Symphony Orchestra welcome a number of other leading international soloists and conductors this season, including Maxim Vengerov [28 Feb], Daniel Harding [22 Sept], Jaap van Zweden [19 Oct] Cui Linhan [28 Feb], Paavo Järvi [30 Mar], Julian Rachlin [3 May]. Kazem Abdullah conducts SSO and the Cape Town Opera Company in a semi-staged production of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, performed in Jaguar Shanghai Symphony Hall [8 Oct] and at the Beijing Music Festival [12-13 Oct].
2025 begins with SSO’s Shanghai Spring Festival Concert, led by conductor Liu Sha and pipa player Zhao Cong, with both the Shanghai Symphony and Beijing Chinese Orchestra, in a programme that celebrates Chinese composers [17 Jan].
Other highlights include an all-Italian programme to mark the 100th anniversary of the death of Puccini [15 Nov], a concert in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Ravel [25 Apr] and a Mozart Piano Concerto focus with pianist Li Jian and conductor Jong-Jie Yin [7 Dec]. SSO’s Assistant Conductor Zhang Lu conducts a Children’s Day Concert with narrator Zhang Guoyong, with a programme that includes Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf [1 Jun]. To mark the 130th anniversary of the birth of composer Aaron Avshalomov, SSO perform a special commemorative concert conducted by Avshalomov’s grandson – David Avshalomov [12 Sept].
Chamber series, Rush Hour Concerts and Music MAP
Shanghai Symphony Orchestra continues its chamber concert series, making use of its 400-seater Chamber Hall within Jaguar Shanghai Symphony Hall. Highlights include the Polaris Quartet performing works by Dvořák and Weber [14 Sep], the East Coast Quartet presenting Strauss’s Metamorphosen and Zhou Long’s Song of the Ch’in [8 Nov], pianist Jiaying Dingjoining the Melody Quartet for a concert of music by Brahms [27 Dec], and the Chinese premiere of Poulenc’s L’Invitation au Château [16 May].
SSO’s popular Rush Hour Concerts return, with 6 early evening hour-long concerts in the Chamber Hall. Also taking place in the Chamber Hall is the SSO’s Music Map lecture series, with lecturers sharing knowledge about topics such as the classical period, dance music and opera.
SSO Presents
Alongside the SSO’s performances, the Orchestra also welcomes international artists and ensembles to perform at the Jaguar Shanghai Symphony Hall. The 2024-25 season sees recitals by Sean Shibe, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Benjamin Grosvenor, Sir András Schiff, The King’s Singers and more. The 6th Shanghai Early Music Festival returns, with concerts by The Gesualdo Six and Tim Mead amongst others, and the Z+ Festival returns featuring performances by the Calidore Quartet and Ray Chen.