1. On March 29 the influential Polish composer and conductor Krzysztof Penderecki died aged 86. He was a principal guest conductor of the China Philharmonic Orchestra from 1998, and a concert will be held in his memory at the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing on Nov 22. It will feature Penderecki works including Symphony No 6, Chinese Poems, inspired by Chinese literature with German translation of eight poems from the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties. The soprano Zhang Liping and the baritone Yuan Chenye will perform with the orchestra, under the baton of Yu Long.
2. Two of the orchestra's chamber groups will perform at the Forbidden City Concert Hall on Dec 5. The violinist Xu Wenchao, the cellist Wang Siyi and the pianist He Ming will play Franz Schubert's Piano Trio No 2 in E-flat, D 929, Op 100. The violinists Li Henan and Yan Ke, the violist Li Yao and the cellist Zhang Ji will play Antonín Dvorak's String Quartet No 13, Op 106.
3. Ten of the orchestra's violinists will play 10 concertos composed by the Chinese musician Zou Ye at the Poly Theater on Dec 16. The pianist Zhang Haochen will perform Piano Concerto No 1 in B-flat Minor, Op 23 by Pyotr Tchaikovsky.
4. Concerts marking the 110th anniversary of Gustav Mahler's death.
Mahler's Symphony No 5 and Rueckert-Lieder, a song cycle for voice and orchestra or piano by Mahler, based on poems written by Friedrich Rueckert (1788-1866), will be performed at the Forbidden City Concert Hall on Jan 1. Works by the Chinese composer and pianist Ding Deshan (1911-1995), Five Folksong Arrangements, Op12 and A Collection of Poems from Western Yunnan, Op 22 will also be performed.
The orchestra, under the baton of Xia Xiaotang, will play Mahler's Symphony No 7 at the Forbidden City Concert Hall on Feb 28.
The orchestra, under the baton of Yu Long, will play Mahler's Symphony No 4 at the Forbidden City Concert Hall on March 20. The concert will also feature Chen Qigang's Instants d'un Opera De Pekin and Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor (arranged by Jean-Pierre Rampal for flute and orchestra).
The orchestra, under the baton of Huang Yi, will play Mahler's Symphony No 1 in D Major, known as Titan, at the Forbidden City Concert Hall on May 4.
5. The French composer Camille Saint-Saens died 100 years ago next year, and the orchestra will play his works Danse Macabre, Op 40, Piano Concerto No 5, Op 103 and Symphony No 3 In C Minor, Op 78, at the Forbidden City Concert Hall on April 18.
6. The season will close with a concert conducted by the pianist Yang Yang at the Forbidden City Concert Hall on June 12. The orchestra will perform the Yellow River Cantata by Xian Xinghai and Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra (Joie Eternelle) by Chen Qigang. The trumpet player Li Deqin and the chorus of the China National Opera House will also perform.
