A man who sets the tone

"I was very excited because the creative team behind the ballet gathered the top Chinese artists and my first collaboration with the company (in 1996) was very inspiring to me," says Zhang Yi, adding that, as a young conductor, he worked with composer Chen, conducting some of his contemporary music works, which allowed them to become friends.

The ballet piece, Raise the Red Lantern, proved to be a great success and since its premiere, it has been staged more than 400 times at home and abroad.

In 2002, upon finishing his studies in Germany, Zhang was appointed music director of the symphony orchestra of the National Ballet of China.

He worked with the company on its original ballet pieces, such as The Red Detachment of Women, The Crane Calling and Yimeng, as well as its renditions of Western classical ballet works, like Giselle and Don Quixote.

Zhang Yi also had a vision to have the symphony orchestra, which, performing in the orchestra pit, used to be ignored compared with other national symphony orchestras in China, be seen onstage.

The conductor has led the orchestra to perform across the country. After the National Centre for the Performing Arts was launched in 2007, the ensemble gave lots of concerts at the venue, which gradually gained it a large fan base. Since 2011, it has been giving a year-end concert at the NCPA, and what made Zhang Yi proud is that "it has expanded its repertories and not a single year-end concert had a program that repeated itself from the previous year", he says.

In 2015, Zhang Yi led the symphony orchestra to perform at Palais des Nations, the United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland, commemorating the 70th anniversary of the World Anti-Fascist War. It was the first time that the symphony orchestra had performed outside China.

Zhang Yi's 20th anniversary celebration is part of the National Ballet of China's "20-year" series, which celebrates dancers, choreographers and musicians of the company who have made outstanding contributions to its development.

"During the past 20 years, Zhang Yi has helped the symphony orchestra of the company move up to the next level. We move on together to the next 20 years," says Feng Ying, the artistic director of the company.