Animated by music

Walt Disney and China National Center for the Performing Arts Orchestra presents a classic cartoon fusion. Chen Nan reports.

Fusing classical music with Disney cartoons is a sure-fire recipe for a hit. Since Walt Disney started touring such a production, in 2007, it has cooperated with 35 symphony orchestras and been to nine countries.

Authorized by the Walt Disney company, China National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) Orchestra will perform the concert for the first time in the mainland and it's called Magical Music of Disney: Around the World with Disney in Beijing.

Led by conductor Chen Zuohuang, the orchestra, founded in spring 2010, will perform classic Disney soundtracks, including songs from The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Lion King and Pirates of the Caribbean.

With a big screen playing a judicious mix of original animated scenes, stills and pre-production sketches, the conductor will introduce background information such as the composers and the back stories behind the animations before performing with the orchestra.

The orchestra features more than 80 instruments and a band playing modern instruments such as electronic guitar and bass.

Carol Choi, vice-president of theatrical productions and live entertainment at Walt Disney, says more than 70,000 people have seen the production.

"Music has always been as important to Walt Disney as the visuals," she says. "The music itself can be a subject of the concert."

The idea of combining classical music with Disney's orchestral arrangements was inspired by Fantasia, released in 1940. Fantasia 2000, a new version, reprises the classic images and music.

"Some of the musical choices were quite ambitious then, such as Beethoven and Tchaikovsky, and the combination was intended to be visualized, either in the imagination or in the actual theater," Choi says.

She also points out that for most Chinese fans, Disney is about cartoons but its musical productions sourced from different countries and reflecting various cultures have become classics.