Vilde Frang

The Youth Music Culture the Greater Bay Area (YMCG) orchestra, led by Daniel Harding, one of the most sought-after conductors of the world today, made up of musicians from four ensembles in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) will perform a concert Jan. 30. The concert will feature Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang and Israeli violist Amihai Grosz as soloists.

YMCG, whose predecessor started in 2017 in Guangzhou as an effort to promote the exchange of global musicians, has been rebranded as a project involving orchestras from Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and Macao this year, with mainland conductor Yu Long as the chairman of its art committee and Harding as its artistic director. The event will feature concerts, lectures, and master classes between Jan. 20 and Feb. 1 in four GBA cities.

Amihai Grosz

The program for the Shenzhen concert will include Mozart’s “Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat Major, K. 364,” Dvo?ák’s fan favorite “Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, Op. 95,” also known as “From the New World,” as well as a new composition by Hong Kong musician Elliot Leung commissioned by the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra.

Leung is best known for his movie scores, including those for domestic blockbusters such as “The Battle at Lake Changjin” and “Operation Red Sea.” His “Symphony No. 1, The Metaverse,” premiered and recorded by the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra was also released by Sony Classical. His music has been praised by media as “audio-graphically visual” and “invigorating.”

Mozart’s “Sinfonia Concertante,” composed in 1779, is a 30-minute piece that bursts with the joy of exploring new instrumental sound combinations and possibilities. For many, this piece represents the grandest of Mozart’s violin concertos, surpassing the five official ones. At the same time, the viola is no second fiddle here. One unforgettable characteristic of this piece is the remarkable partnership and equality shared by both soloists and the searingly beautiful sound blend they create.

Daniel Harding

Dvo?ák’s “New World Symphony” was composed in 1893 while he was the director of the National Conservatory of Music of America from 1892 to 1895. It premiered in New York City in December 1893, and has since become one of the most popular of all symphonies.

Born in Oxford in 1975, Harding began his career while still a student at Cambridge University, assisting Sir Simon Rattle at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. In 1994 he made his professional debut with the CBSO (winning the Royal Philharmonic Society’s “Best Debut” award) and went on to assist Claudio Abbado at the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.

Harding is the musical and artistic director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He was the musical director of the Orchestre de Paris from 2016 to 2019, and principal guest conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra from 2007 to 2017. Having conducted the Mahler Chamber Orchestra for over 20 years, he was appointed as their conductor laureate.

Frang was unanimously awarded the Credit Suisse Young Artist Award in 2012, which earned her the opportunity to debut with the Vienna Philharmonic under Bernard Haitink at the Lucerne Festival.

Highlights among her recent and forthcoming solo engagements include performances with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, and Concertgebouw Orchestra, with conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Ivan Fischer and Zubin Mehta, among others.

She regularly appears at such festivals as Salzburg, Verbier, Lucerne, and London Proms. She plays the 1734 “Rode” Guarnerius, on loan by a European benefactor.

Grosz, who switched from violin to viola at 11, studied under David Chen at the Jerusalem Academy of Music, under Tabea Zimmermann at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin, and under Haim Taub at the Keshet Eilon Music Center. He received various scholarships and prizes early on, was a member of the Young Musicians Group of the Jerusalem Music Center, and played for many years in the Jerusalem Quartet.

He joined the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 2010 and is its first principal viola. He plays on a rare Gasparo de Salò viola, which is more down-to-earth, woodier than Vivaldi and Guaneri violas, and wonderfully rich in overtones.

Time: 8 p.m., Jan. 30

Tickets: 50-580 yuan

Venue: Shenzhen Concert Hall, Futian District (深圳音樂(lè)廳)

Metro: Line 3 or 4 to Children’s Palace Station (少年宮站), Exit D