In Monday’s (5/6) Herald-Leader (Lexington, Kentucky), Beverly Fortune writes, “The University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra leaves Wednesday on a 12-day concert trip in China, with its last concert scheduled for the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. The centre, which is sometimes referred to as The Giant Egg, is a glass dome surrounded by a man-made lake. It got that nickname because it resembles an egg floating on water. The iconic building was frequently shown at night during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. ‘Only the great orchestras play there: the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra. This year we are the only student group playing there,’ said Rui Li, a Chinese doctoral student in music at UK. China Central Television will broadcast the concert. ‘It will reach one billion Chinese homes, so it really is a big deal for our students and the University of Kentucky,’ said conductor John Nardolillo. The 79 student-musicians will be accompanied by several UK faculty members. … The orchestra will play all American music including works by George Gershwin, Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein. They will perform Antonín Dvořák’s New World Symphony. The symphony was written by Dvořák, a Czech composer, while he was living in New York in 1890. … The orchestra will play in Shanghai, Yanzhou, Hangzhou, Tianjing and Beijing.”
Posted May 7, 2013
