Orchestras

Beijing boasts an active concert music life. The greatest variety of music performance is perhaps to be found in the conservatories. Outside of the conservatories, locally-based chamber music groups are nearly unheard of, despite some attempts to promote this kind of activity.

Independent groups and presenters are only just beginning to make their presence felt, and remain an intriguing wild card in looking to the future. A fairly regular (and growing) influx of touring musicians and ensembles from abroad adds to the mix of concerts -- preferred venues include the National Center for the Performing Arts, the Forbidden City Concert Hall, the Central Conservatory of Music, and the Peking University Centenary Hall. There are at least six youth orchestras in Beijing consisting of non-professional track students. The Public School 101 is generally seen to be the best.

There is also an ever-growing multiplicity of private training schools, overwhelmingly dedicated to piano lessons for children. The Beijing Symphony Orchestra has been slowly built over the last fifteen years, which is supervised by the Beijing Cultural Bureau. In recent years, they have toured Europe twice. In 2007, a CD was released on the EMI label. China National Synphony Orchestra and Chorus is the oldest orchestra in Beijing, representing the Ministry of Culture. They just celebrated a 50th anniversary. As the ensemble with the closest ties to the national government, they are often called upon to represent China locally and abroad. 

China Philharmonic Orchestra was founded from a split with China Central Television's Broadcasting Symphony in 2000 using a combination of foreign and local support. It still relies on that entity for partial funding. Founded in 1952, Shanghai National Music Orchestra is a very famous large-scale national music arts performing group, including an 80–person national music brand, a vocal group and an academic creation & research group. The Orchestra specializes in playing folk music of the southern region of the Yangtze River, as well as Guangdong music, Zhejiang music, wind and percussion music, as well as the national music of foreign countries. Many of its works have won prizes in national instrumental competitions. Its recordings are popular in the domestic and international markets. 

The Shanghai Symphony Orchestra got its name in 1956. Its predecessor the Shanghai Public Orchestra was first established in 1879. Since 1975, besides domestic performances, the Orchestra has also held concerts abroad. 

Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1957, which is one of the earliest professional symphony orchestras founded in the PRC. It started the “Music Season” in 1997 to stride forward into a professional direction. In only a few years, Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra rise from a local symphony orchestra to a high status in China.