The Israel Symphony Orchestra 2014 China Tour

Performance Date
November 8, 2014 Shanghai Oriental Art Centre (Shanghai)
November 9, 2014 Qingdao Grand Theatre (Qingdao)
November 10, 2014 Beihang Sunrise Concert Hall (Beijing)

The Israel Symphony Orchestra

The Israel Symphony Orchestra (ISO) was founded in 1988 by the mayor Meir Nitzan and the municipality of his city called Rishon LeZion. Since 1989 the ISO has also served with great success as the resident orchestra of the Israeli Opera. The current music director of the ISO is the British born James Judd.

ISO was awarded for the 1991 ACUM Prize. At the same time, the orchestra was the first to perform works by Richard Strauss, Alexander Zemlinsky and other composers in Isareal. The ISO has undertaken concert tours in European and South American, highlighted by performances at prestigious festivals, which all were well received by general public and press.

The ISO records regularly for radio and television channels. It boasts a series of CDs of live recordings, including Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, Richard Strauss’s Also sprach Zaratustra, Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, Mahler’s Symphony No.5, Mozart's Requiem and Israeli works like Oded Zehavi’s Israeli War Requiem and Menachem Wiesenberg’s cello concerto.

Conductor James Judd

Conductor James Judd's music directorships included the position as the Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestra National de Lille in France and he worked as the Music Director of the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra 14 groundbreaking years. During his eight years as the Music Director in New Zealand, Judd garnered acclaim for his recordings with the orchestra, including works by Copland, Bernstein, Vaughan Williams, Gershwin and many others. Currently he is the Music Director of the Israel Symphony Orchestra and the Israeli Opera.

As the conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic and the Israel Philharmonic, James Judd entranced in the splendid European concert halls including the Salzburg Mozarteum and Vienna’s Musikverein, and made guest appearances with such prestigious ensembles like the Vienna Symphony, Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig, Prague Symphony, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, the Monte Carlo Symphony Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Flemish Radio Orchestra, and the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg. In the Far East he works regularly with Tokyo's NHK Orchestra and the Seoul Philharmonic. He is in great demand with youth orchestras: he opened the last season with the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, and take all summer to cooperate with the Asian Youth Orchestra.


Scent Dance - He Xuntian Works’ Concert

On 8 Nov. 2014 Maestro James Judd and the Israel Symphony Orchestra will be invited to China to cooperate with Prof. HE Xuntian, a distinguished composer in China, in his works’ premiere Scent Dance – He Xuntian Works’ Concert in Shanghai Oriental Art Centre. This concert is a charity project. The whole revenue will be donated to the rehabilitation measures of the Dunhuang Mogao-Grottos in the end, which had been listed as one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1987.

In the premiere Prof. HE Xuntian will bring five pieces of his latest works. They are Whirling Udumbara II (string orchestra and he-drum), Sunyata Dance (clarinet and orchestra), Pipa Pattern (string orchestra and woodwinds), Clouds Rising into the Lotus Flowers (soprano and orchestra) and Rupa Dance (piano and orchestra). They all belong to Prof. He’s most wonderful and splendid works.

Composer He Xuntian

Xuntian He is a distinguished composer, creator of new musical languages, and professor at Shanghai Conservatory of Music. In 1981, he established the Three Periods Theory and the Theory of Musical Dimensions. In 1982, he developed the Renyilv Duyingfa Method of Musical Composition, one of the first compositional methods of the People's Republic of China. His CD albums Sister Drum and Voices from the Sky, were released in more than 80 countries with a total sales volume of several million copies. In 1996, He established a new Method of Musical Composition and one year later, he put forward the Theory of Interspace. In 2003, he composed Images in Sound, which he calls mankind's gift of primordial music to all species of the natural world. In 2008, he produced Ehe Chant that includes Freudian Pre-consciousness as a composition technique.

He received 15 international composition awards, including the Outstanding Musical Achievement Award of the International New Music Composer Competition USA 1989-1990. Moreover, he was awarded 13 national composition prizes, including the First Prize at the Third All-China Music Competition as well as a number of international and national honorary awards, including the 4th Mercedes-AMG National Spirit Achievers Award. His works have been premiered and performed globally by many leading orchestras and ensembles, including the BBC Symphony Orchestra and countless others.

Thousands of national and international news media and academic journals, like the New York Times, the Times Magazine, the Washington Post, The Times, BBC, ABC, CNN, NHK etc., have reviewed He’s works, composition techniques and ideas. His theories and works are believed to be groundbreaking and truly original music of his country. According to the New York Times, he “fulfilled the Chinese people’s dream to introduce their music to the world.”

Recommended Repertoire in Qingdao and Beijing

•Beethoven: Overture 'Leonore No 3' op 72b

•Yoav Shemesh: Running to return for Cantor and Shofar

•Verdi: Overture 'Nabucco'

--- Interval ---

•Brahms: Symphony No.2, op.73 in D major
I，Allegro non troppo
II，Adagio non troppo
III， Allegretto grazioso
IV， Allegro con spirit

•Johann Strauss Jr : Overture 'Die Fledermaus'