China National Center for the Performing Arts Orchestra


The China National Center for the Performing Arts Orchestra is a Chinese orchestra based in Beijing. It is the resident orchestra of the National Center for the Performing Arts located in the Xicheng District of Beijing. The NCPA Orchestra and its related organization, the China NCPA Chorus, serve primarily as the resident musical ensembles of the NCPA, supporting opera and ballet productions at the theater.
The China NCPA Orchestra was founded in March 2010, with full funding from the Chinese government, three months after the China NCPA Chorus was founded. About 60 musicians were selected from a global pool of candidates with an average age of 27. For the six years since its establishment, the average age of the musicians has increased from 27 to 31, and the total number of musicians has been doubled. The NCPA Orchestra undertook its first North American tour in late 2014.
Chen Zuohuang was the founding music director of the orchestra, and now holds the title of conductor laureate. Since 2012, the orchestra's chief conductor has been Lü Jia. The orchestra's current assistant conductor is Yuan Ding.

Performances

In addition to performing core repertoire operas by European composers, including Turandot, Tosca, The Barber of Seville, Lohengrin, Aida, Otello, Nabucco, the NCPA Orchestra has accompanied most of its own productions of Chinese operas including The Chinese Orphan, Rickshaw Boy and Visitors on the Snow Mountain, The Long March, A Village Teacher, The Red Guards on Honghu Lake, The Dawns Here are Quiet, and Xi Shi.
Apart from performing the operatic and symphonic repertoire, the NCPA Orchestra together with the NCPA Chorus and other musical groups has been performing series of educational Weekend Matinee Concerts and salons at its home venue as well as in schools, hospitals, museums, and other communities.