The Great Chinese New Year Concert 2014
The idea was intriguing from the first moment on. It was born in Vienna, when the present owner of Wu Promotion Co Ltd Beijing studied in Vienny and had the idea to supply a Chinese New Year Concert with Chinese instruments - similar to the concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra for the New Year and in the same concert hall, the Golden Hall of the Musikverein.
This idea found enthusiastic response in the Vienna public scene and was supported by the former Mayor of Vienna, Zilk, and the Austrian State President, Klestil. 1998 the first concert could be arranged as "Into the Year of the Tiger". Since then, the concert ist no longer avoidable in the world of music in Europe, and it has spread even into North Africa, and today it is a far reaching highly valued performance with many fans of the Chinese Music.
2014 is the "Year of the Horse". When Buddha once realized how badly mankind treated the earth, he called for the animals to establish a new ruling on earth. But only twelve followed his call. They are installed as rulers in a permanent circle since then, each animal with its properties governing the development of the world. This year it is the horse. Its characteristics, good and bad, are said to have influence on the progress of the world. And the characteristics are impatience, intelligence, speed, partnership, openness, tolerance, curiosity, culture, and a fast running mind, running sometimes into chaotic organization.
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The Tour 2026
The Great Chinese New Year Concert 2014 performs this year in Europe in the following venues:
14.Feb 2026: Brussels (BOZAR)
17.Feb 2026: Hamburg (Elbphilharmonie)
20.Feb 2026: Stuhr (Gut Varrel)
22.Feb 2026: Düsseldorf (Tonhalle)
24.Feb 2026: Tirol (Tiroler Festspielhaus)
26.Feb 2026: Wien (Wiener Konzerthaus)
27.Feb 2026: Budapest (Müpa)
The Orchestra
Every year, Wu Promotion Co Ltd, Beijing, the production company for the concert, selects one of the leading Chinese orchestras for the tour. in 2026, the Chinese Orchestra Wuxi is performing the concert. This orchestra belongs to the most wanted orchestras in China and is on tour with the Grand Chinese New Year Concert already for the first time. The orchestra preserves, collects, composes and arranges traditional Chinese music in the typical Southern sound of China, heart-going and sweet, melodious and strong. It must be known that the South of China is one of the oldest cultural areas in China.
The Conductor
Sun Peng is a prominent conductor of the new generation, and Recipient of First Prize at the inaugural Chinese Music Conducting Competition and the Best Performance of a Hong Kong Composition Award (2011). He currently serves as Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Wuxi Chinese Orchestra, Resident Guest Conductor of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, and Associate Professor of Conducting and Master’s Supervisor at Shenyang Conservatory of Music, appointed under its talent recruitment program.
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The Artists
The orchestra brings along own soloists in the tour to demonstrate the typical sound of single instruments and also of singing. In the tour 2014 there will be a Guzheng soloist and - for the first time in a tour of this concert - a song from a Chinese opera, which has high reputation in China and which is heartbreaking in content and performance. All of these musicians are master of their instrument or voice with overwhelming international experience, and they are awarded many times for their aptness.
The Guzheng soloist Su Chang started her musical education at the age of six years. Meanwhile she plays with the most renowned orchestras of the world, 2010 in Sydney with the YouTube orchestra and in New York with the New York Philharmonic orchestra in the première of the Guzhang concerto "Identity", and 2012 she performed under the Oscar Prize winner Tan Dun the première of his own compositions.
More information is found on China Music.
The Music
Chinese traditional music - even if it appears in modern contemporary compositions and arrangments, is always program music and tells a story. For European audience, such story is not always understandable immediately, because often the background and the history connections are not known. A well known moderator will be with the orchestra in the German performances.
The music is traditional Chinese music, played on traditional Chinese instruments, such like the Erhu, the Pipa, the Bamboo fluit, the Guzheng, and lots of percussion. The orchestra consists in this concert of 76 musicians on stage, a really large performance. More information is found on China Music.
The program
The program contains old traditional music, partly in modern arrangements, as well as contemporary music for traditional orchestras. The conductor himself is a well-known composer and arranger in China, has written many pieces for orchestra and composed film musics.