On the evening of May 4, the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra’s US concert tour was staged at the Taicang Grand Theatre. The folk music performance, led by the famous conductor Wang Yongji, was magnificent.

The show began with the characteristically Chinese Prelude to the Celebration, which grabbed the audience’s attention with its alternation between a cheerful note and a melodious one. The playing of traditional Chinese musical instruments such as jinghu, liuqin, flute, pipa, guzheng, suona horn and erhu was also impressive.

Night Thoughts adopted some Jinghu-playing techniques while retaining the name of tunes in the Beijing Opera and it contains some Beijing-Opera flavor. There was also an alluring sheng solo performance of Wing-Spreading Phoenix and a captivating string quintet performance of Happy Evening with the clever use of the five string instruments. Classic tunes such as Ambushed from Ten Sides (pipa solo), Honghu Cappriccio (erhu solo) and Horse Racing (erhu solo) touched many souls and lingered in their memory.

Many of the audience members are fans of folk music. “I like Chinese folk music,” said a woman, “I’d been here once for a lecture about appreciating folk music, and came again tonight for a live concert by the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra.” “I’ve been learning to play traditional Chinese musical instruments at school, and I can play the clarinet,” said Fan Shunkan, a pupil from Experiment School, “I like Chinese folk music because it purifies the mind.”