Debra Li

THE Macao Orchestra conducted by Shao En will stage a concert on Friday night at the new Shenzhen Concert Hall.

The program will include Tchaikovsky’s prelude to “Romeo and Juliet,” Dvorak’s “Symphony No. 9 in E Minor,” also known as “From the New World.”

Li Xiuying, a Chinese soprano active on the international stage, will sing arias from “Madame Butterfly” as well as a number of Chinese and Italian songs.

“We first planned to perform a more familiar piece during the first half of the concert, but Shao wants it to be a highly skillful symphony that matches the new concert hall. So we chose ‘Romeo and Juliet,’” said Huang Guangqiang, vice director of the orchestra.

He also said that although they had performed “From the New World” many times, the staff members, whose average age is 30, were always passionate about each performance.

“We are not only tasting the flavor of the music, but we are creating it each time.”

With half the members from Asia and the other half from Europe, the Macao Orchestra is trying to stick to the musical concept of German and Austrian musicians.

“People value handmade products more than those made by machine. We are trying to do the same with music, to feel it from the heart and changing for the better,” Huang said.

Shao, who sets the standard, handpicked each musician for the orchestra.

Born in Tianjin, he began taking lessons on piano and violin at the ages of 4 and 5. By the time he was 18, he was working as a professional composer, pianist and percussionist in his hometown. He attended the China Central Conservatory of Music and on graduating was appointed the Second principal conductor of the Chinese Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra. He went to Britain in 1988 to further his studies at the Royal Northern College of Music on the Lord Rhodes Fellowship. The following year he won the 6th International Conductors Competition in Hungary which launched his career in the West.

He is currently also the artistic adviser to the China Philharmonic Orchestra in Beijing and artistic director of the Taipei Symphony Orchestra.