“The Oriental Symphony Orchestra (OSO) gave its inaugural concert Sunday night at the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. That makes OSO the 60th professional orchestra in mainland China and the 18th to have a season calendar,” writes Rudolph Tang at the China-based Klassikom blog on Monday (9/9). “OSO is billed as the first orchestra operated under a joint stock system…. The orchestra is formed by the state-owned China Oriental Performing Arts Group. Mr. Gu Xin, chairman of the group and an occasional conductor, is Music Director. The season kicks off in September and lasts till July 2014. According to the press release, OSO aims for market share, low ticket price and pop concerts with its specialty in dance and Chinese traditional music.… The ambition of OSO put OSOS at an awkward situation. Oriental Symphony Orchestra Shanghai was founded by pianist and conductor Xu Zhong and is affiliated to the Shanghai Oriental Art Centre. In recent years the orchestra has suffered from malfunction due to administrative negligence. We were just tipped that OSOS cancelled its 2013-14 season. At the same time, the orchestra affiliated to the Qinghai Song and Dance Company was disbanded this year due to financial woes.”
Posted September 9, 2013
