The Tianjin Juilliard Orchestra is embarking on its first ever China tour, presenting concerts at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing on Wednesday as part of the NCPA's Spring and Autumn Achievements showcase of performing arts from art institutions, and at the Hong Kong City Hall as part of the Hong Kong Generation Next Arts music festival on Nov 24. On Tuesday, it will present a pre-tour concert at the Tianjin Juilliard concert hall.

The Tianjin Juilliard Orchestra was established in September 2020, and soon after, plans for a tour began. The 2024-25 season marks the school's fifth anniversary. It is the first overseas campus of the New York-headquartered Juilliard School. The tour is part of the celebrations.

"We have been planning the tour for quite a while. We are eager to have our students go out and demonstrate their artistic talent, while presenting a successful teaching model to our peers. To me, the Tianjin Juilliard Orchestra is the best representation of our school's educational philosophy of 'focusing on collaborative musicianship'," says He Wei, the CEO and artistic director of the school.

The orchestra is made up of students from two graduating classes, meaning that every September, it experiences a major turnover, with around 50 percent of its members changing each year. As He says, it's an orchestra that never gets old. This tour is the orchestra's third concert of the 2024-25 season.

It has prepared a program that is musically rich and deep. It opens with the Rite of Passage by Zhou Tian, a demonstration of the orchestra's commitment to performing the works of contemporary Chinese composers. Viola professor Hanna Lee and cellist He Sihao will then join Max Bruch's Romance in F Major, Op 85, and Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op 33, the Russian composer's first composition for cello and orchestra, as an illustration of the high artistic level of the school's resident faculty.

The second half will include Paul Dukas' L'apprenti sorcier (The Sorcerer's Apprentice), Adagio from Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian's Spartacus, which is known for its lively rhythm and energy, and Russian composer Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio Espagnol, Op 34. These three classic pieces, with their varying styles and solo segments, provide a great challenge for the students, while also giving them the opportunity to demonstrate their talent.

"Indeed, the programs present a challenge, but the orchestra always enjoys that. The students want to push themselves by embracing different challenges and achieving growth," says Ken Lam, resident conductor of the orchestra and also conductor on the tour.

Lam says that a successful tour helps increase the visibility of students, faculty and the institution itself and is an opportunity for students to demonstrate their talent on a wider stage, potentially attracting attention from professional ensembles and artistic directors. The exposure to music during the tour helps students broaden their repertoire and explore different genres and styles, and encourages flexibility and adaptability as they must quickly adjust to different performance settings and demands.

South Korean violist Hanna Lee, who joined Tianjin Juilliard as a faculty member this September, says: "Collaborating with the students on performances is something that brings me great joy. Their sincerity and passion for music are truly moving. I started getting involved with the teaching and performance activities here in the spring, and we've had many opportunities to perform alongside students. The faculty is deeply involved in student rehearsals and performances, truly embodying the concept of teaching by example. In my 10 years of teaching, this has been a unique experience."

Taysia Petersen completed her undergraduate studies in the United States before coming to China to study. The 23-year-old is the principal oboist on the tour. Last year, she performed Richard Strauss' Serenade in E-flat Major, Op 7, with her wind faculty, and had the opportunity to closely observe the playing of her colleagues, and to gain firsthand performance experience, something, she says, she can't get in class.

"This will also be my first time participating in an orchestra tour. Performing in different cities and concert halls is a new experience for me, and Tianjin Juilliard has created many unprecedented opportunities for us," she adds.

According to Lam, it is a student orchestra but quite professional. He refers to it as "an orchestra in the early stages of a professional career". The Tianjin school has produced graduates who are highly sought-after by professional orchestras. Over the past few years, it has sent over 30 young musicians to Chinese and international orchestras, including the China NCPA Orchestra — the resident symphony orchestra of the NCPA — the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, and the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra.

The Tianjin school has a series of other important events to mark its fifth anniversary. In January, its annual Festival Connect will focus on one of the most revolutionary composers of the 20th century, French-born American composer Edgard Varese. The festival will invite percussion students from countries including Singapore and South Korea to perform the Chinese premiere of Varese's Ionization along with Tianjin Juilliard students. The groundbreaking composition presented unique ideas and problems for percussion orchestration when it was written. In February, the faculty will travel to New York to collaborate with colleagues on the New York campus for a faculty concert.

As a highlight of the fifth anniversary program, the school will also hold an orchestra forum during graduation season next May. Teachers and students from the world's leading music conservatories will gather in Tianjin to discuss topics related to classical music education, and form a student orchestra to rehearse and perform together.

"As a cooperative educational institution between China and the US, cultural exchange is embedded in the DNA of the school. We will host over 200 concerts this season, with numerous faculty and student performances. Almost every week, musicians and professors from around the world come to Tianjin to perform, or give master classes, bringing the best performances and educational resources here," says He. "With our tours, forums and other events, we hope to launch the school into a broader public sphere."