KLASSIKOM=Innovations in classical music

When conductor high school student Wu Jiayu stepped out of a Senza New Strings concert last night at Jazz at Lincoln Centre Shanghai, she had plenty to say. The evening was a full tribute programme dedicated to Charlie Parker, presented by saxophonist Charlie Wang and Senza New Strings led by violinist Chen Hongda. For Wang, the night carried a personal dimension: his English name was itself a nod...

The China National Symphony Orchestra (CNSO) marked its 70th anniversary this week with a groundbreaking ceremony at its longtime base in Beijing’s Heping Li district, launching the demolition and rebuilding of a headquarters the orchestra has long outgrown and which, according to those present, had become structurally unsafe. Six conductors with deep ties to the orchestra gathered for the occasio...

Renowned Chinese baritone and Dean of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Prof Liao Changyong, one of the foremost interpreters of art song in the world today, travelled to Hamburg in mid June with the SCM Chamber Orchestra for a concert at the Laeiszhalle on June 19th, conducted by Prof Clemens Malich. Joined by Hamburg-based musicians, among them students of the Hochschule für Musik und Theater...

He was born in Hamburg, grew up in its orchestras, and is weeks away from his graduation recital. But for violinist Ilya Altınçınar, a student at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg in the class of Professor Caroline Onimus, the concert at Laeiszhalle on June 19th offered something his conservatoire training hadn’t yet: the experience of sharing a stage with seasoned professionals from a...

Step inside Hamburg’s landmark Elbphilharmonie, renowned for its cutting-edge acoustics and its welcoming Plaza, where sweeping panoramic views reveal both the city’s historic waterfront and its industrial skyline. The Elbphilharmonie is celebrating its tenth anniversary this season, marking a decade as one of the world’s most influential concert halls. This is a public episode. If you would like...

Under the baton of Zhang Liang, the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra performed Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 last night at the Shanghai Oriental Art Centre. The audience observed more than four minutes of silence after the final chord, as captured in this amateur video. Given the notoriously overdeveloped clapping muscles of some concertgoers, that may have been the highest compliment both Mahler and the...

The Berlin Philharmonic has no shortage of signature events. The New Year’s Eve concert, the European Concert, the Easter Festival in Baden-Baden (now back to Salzburg), the summer Waldbühne open-air, these are among the most reliably sold-out dates in the orchestral calendar. But there is one event that is rarer than any of them, and unlike the others, entirely free: the Open Day. It doesn’t happ...

Every major music competition carries an open secret: the live broadcast shows you the performance, but it never shows you the deliberation. What happens in the jury room — how scores are tallied, what gets argued over, which compromises get struck before a name is announced — has long been the part of the process competitions guard most closely. Jurors sign NDA, media are barred from the room, an...

In this in-depth pre-concert interview conducted at the backstage of Laeiszhalle on June 19th, cellist and conductor Professor Clemens Malich of the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg reflects on a landmark evening that brings together Western and Chinese musical traditions on a single stage. The concert features baritone Liao Changyong and the Shanghai Conservatory of Music Chamber Orchestr...

Hamburg-based violinist Cian Neumann studies under private teacher Michael Holm and is currently completing a social year at a primary school. But on June 19, he steps into a very different kind of classroom: sharing the stage with elite Chinese instrumentalists for a program spanning Mahler, Vivaldi, and contemporary Chinese works. In this pre-concert conversation at Laeiszhalle, Cian speaks with...

Ljubica Bićanin, a 22-year-old viola student at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, joins Chinese soloists for a remarkable concert featuring works by Brahms, Mahler, and Ravel — alongside Chinese repertoire she’s performing for the very first time. In this brief pre-concert interview on June 19th in Hamburg, Ljubica shares her delight at collaborating with Chinese musicians, praising th...

In a memorable evening at Hamburg, renowned baritone Prof Liao Changyong delivered a spellbinding performance of Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen alongside Chinese classics, presented in a specially arranged chamber music setting. The concert, a testament to the long-standing artistic partnership between the music schools in Hamburg and Shanghai as well as the 40th anniversary of the twin-...

Keyboardist and song writer Shaonan “Trigger" Su performs music from his latest album at JZ Club in Shanghai with two award-winning guitarists and band members flown in straight from the United States. He offered a rendition of jazz standard All of Me as the encore. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit klassikom.s...

Endorsed by Wynton Marsalis, Texas born jazz diva Kate Kortum made her Asian debut last week by wrapping up the Asian tour performing with her trio at the Jazz at Lincoln Centre Shanghai. On the bill was music by Bill Evans, Nat King Cole and Bernstein etc. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit klassikom.substack.c...

Zhang Xiongguan, guitarist and professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, performs with his orchestra and guest pianist Sun Yingdi at the Shanghai Centre Theatre. The programme is a line-up of the Let Jazz Shine co-presented by JZ and Juce Culture & Media. The musicians played music inspired by Ravel and Shostakovich. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other sub...

Zhang Yi, music director of the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted SPO in a programme of Chinese and Western contempoaries including music by Penderecki starring horn player Zeng Yun, and in the second half, Guan Xia’s Symphony No. 2 “Hope”. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit klassikom.substack.com

On the evening of 2 June at 7:30pm, the He Luting Concert Hall of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music hosted Intangible Heritage of Shanghai , a concert of newly commissioned works for Chinese chamber ensemble. Using music to “map” Shanghai’s intangible cultural heritage, the programme featured ten newly composed works by ten composers, each inspired by a different element of the city’s local intan...

In his fourth visit to China, Ion Marin conducts the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra and encores Grigoraș Dinicu's Hora Staccato at the end of the programme. Ryan Wang offers two encores at the first half after performing Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2, the first of which is captured in the video. Shanghai Symphony HallMay 30, 2026 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this wi...

The Tide Opera House located in the Tide and Music Resort of Yanguan county of Jiaxing of Zhejiang province of China presented an all Tchaikovsky programme performed by the Mariinsky Orchestra under the baton of Valery Gergiev on the evening of May 19th. Formerlly Théâtre Éphémère and then Opéra des Nations in Geneva, the wooden structure of the theatre was purchased by Wu Promotion and now sits a...

Violinist Paloma So views the Verbier Festival as a “musical paradise,” a unique ecosystem where the world’s most elite artists, students, and fans converge to “take over” the town in a shared celebration of music. After first attending the Verbier Academy two years ago, So returned last year as a featured artist, finding that the festival’s true value lies in the profound sense of community and t...

Between 2013 and 2015, I saw the final three operas of Wagner’s Ring cycle at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, conducted by Yu Feng, then Preisident of the China National Opera, and directed by Wang Huquan produced by the China National Opera. Because every leading role was sung by Chinese artists, the production quickly became known as the legendary “all-Chinese cast” Ring....

Following her recent concert tour to Guangzhou and Beijing, violinist Paloma So is returning to the United States to continue her studies at Harvard University. While the transition from the concert hall to the classroom might seem like a leap, So views her Ivy League education as vital nutrition for her growth as a musician. Though she is an economics major, So’s academic interests are vast and v...

In a recent performance of Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 at the Xinghai Concert Hall with Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Charles Dutoit, soloist Paloma So appeared visibly captivated by the score, her expression reflecting an amusement and focus that mirrored the music's intricate joy. Described as truly "otherworldly," this concerto was originally conceived while the c...

After two months delay due to injury, Chopin Competition third prize winner Wang Zitong made her much anticipated recital debut at the Shanghai Oriental Art Centre to an almost full house. Filmed on May 4th, 2026. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit klassikom.substack.com

College student and English major Hu Yifan is a frequent guest of concerts, and an occasional stunt on opera stages playing muted roles like the little mermaid. Here's her take on the Jazz Spring lineup that featured six guitarists including expats Evgeny Pobozhiy and Ricardo Vogt. Accompanied by the big band named after Xu Zhihan, the programme paid tribute to jazz and guitar giants Wes Montgomer...