Pianist Bertrand Chamayou (from left), conductor Sakari Oramo and director of the BBC Symphony Orchestra Bill Chandler meet the media at Shanghai Oriental Art Center before the concert (right) on March 18.[Photo provided by Ye Chenliang/For China Daily]

The BBC Symphony Orchestra made a strong return to Shanghai after a two-decade hiatus with a sold-out concert at the Shanghai Oriental Art Center on March 18.

The British ensemble played under the baton of chief conductor Sakari Oramo, performing The Welcome Arrival of Rain by contemporary musician Judith Weir, the Saint-Saens' Piano Concerto featuring soloist Bertrand Chamayou, Mendelssohn's The Hebrides Overture, and the Firebird Suite by Stravinsky.

The concert eloquently substantiated director Bill Chandler's claim that the ensemble is capable of interpreting music of any style, and evoked memories of its first visit in 1981, playing in Shanghai's old town hall under the baton of Gennadi Rozhdestvensky.

The concert was also the first production of the 41st Shanghai Spring International Music Festival, one of the longest-running classical music events in China, which debuted in 1959.

While the festival started on Thursday and was scheduled to last until April 12, the organizing committee decided to extend the duration by 22 days to include more outstanding projects.

As the central force of the annual BBC Proms, one of the largest classical music festivals in the world, the BBC Symphony Orchestra has held fast to the mission "to bring music to everyone" since its founding in 1930. The Shanghai festival is also committed to sharing global music with the public.

This year, the festival will feature 68 productions: 59 concerts and nine dance shows with colorful events, such as a mini festival featuring the violin, including concerts, lectures, workshops, and an exhibition of precious instruments.

The opening performance took place at the AIA Grand Theatre on Thursday, with a grand gala concert celebrating the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army's Long March (1934-36), featuring musicians from all seven provinces that sit along the journey of the Long March. It was jointly performed by the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, the Shanghai Opera House chorus, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music's orchestra and chorus, and the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra, conducted by Zhang Guoyong.

Pianist Bertrand Chamayou (from left), conductor Sakari Oramo and director of the BBC Symphony Orchestra Bill Chandler meet the media at Shanghai Oriental Art Center before the concert (right) on March 18.[Photo provided by Ye Chenliang/For China Daily]

The festival has also witnessed enhanced collaboration between Chinese and international music institutions. This year, 21 productions will feature international communications.The closing production, Mozart's opera The Magic Flute, will be performed at the Shangyin Opera House from April 9 to 12. Jointly produced by the Shanghai Conservatory of Music (SHCM) and the University of Music Freiburg in Germany, the new production will be conducted by German musician Marius Stieghorst, with Liao Changyong, president of SHCM, as the artistic director."With participation from artists from home and abroad, as well as the students and staff of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, this new production of The Magic Flute will be performed in commemoration of the 270th birth anniversary of Mozart," Liao said at the conference for the upcoming Shanghai spring festival on March 18. "We hope the new opera will contribute to Shanghai's urban cultural construction, nurture musical talents, and cultivate audiences at the same time."Aside from the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Shanghai Oriental Art Center will host an additional two international orchestras during the festival, according to Luo Xueqin, deputy general manager of the center. The Budapest Festival Orchestra from Hungary, led by its founding director Ivan Fischer, will play on Tuesday, and the Orchestre de Paris from France will play two concerts on April 17 and 18, featuring conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen and violinist Renaud Capucon.Also, in celebration of the China-Brazil Year of Culture and the 40th anniversary of the Shanghai-Hamburg city friendship, the festival is planning a series of China-Brazil music dialogue events and China-Germany musical exchange performances.The spring festival also announced new partnerships with music events in three other cities: Harbin, Heilongjiang province; Chengdu, Sichuan province; and Shenzhen, Guangdong province. These partnerships facilitate exchange programs, jointly commission new compositions, and exchange of other musical resources.