From Jan 10 to Feb 25, the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) will present 19 concerts for the art lovers to celebrate the New Year. [Photo/ chncpa.org]

The National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) will present 19 concerts through Feb 25 for art lovers to celebrate the New Year. The series began Jan 10.

NCPA’s Spring Session programs never fail to embody artistic values and sensory pleasures. Under the baton of Chen Zuohuang, laureate conductor of the China NCPA Orchestra, two concerts will lead audience members to the everlasting charm of both classic European music and traditional Chinese folk music. Passages from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and music excerpts from the Chinese Ballet The Red Detachment of Women are on the show list.

The other 17 concerts also are must-sees. Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, along with the national opera The White-Haired Girl, will be showcased by the China National Opera House Symphony Orchestra. The latter one and another six concerts comprise a series of concerts on the theme of Melody in Memory. The China Film Orchestra and the China Broadcasting Chinese Orchestra will present music from classic movies like Forrest Gump and the TV version of A Dream in Red Mansions in the following four concerts. For lovers of hit songs, Fragrance of the Night (a renowned song by Li Xianglan, once banned and accused as “decadent sound” in mainland China and regained population in the 1990s thanks to Deng Lijun’s cover) and Just Like Your Tenderness (a 1979 hit by singer Tsai Chin) will remind of the unforgettable good old days.

The Beijing Wind Orchestra and the China National Symphony Orchestra also will present concerts, including Overture of Spring Festival and Yellow River. Even more noteworthy is that the Chinese People’s Armed Police Force Male Chorus and two art troupes from Guangdong and Shaanxi will give their blessing for the New Year through their distinctive concerts.