The Juilliard Orchestra completed their first visit to China in 21 years on Sunday evening with a riveting performance at the new National Centre for the Performing Arts.

The Orchestra, part of the Juilliard School which made it's debut in 1905, featured 91 young musicians currently studying at the school, including of course a large smattering of Chinese prodigies returning to their homeland, including the increasingly famous 13 and 16 year old pianists Conrad Tao and Peng Peng, both of whom made up for their slighter builds with masterful enthusiasm.

The final evening saw an eclectic mix, commencing with two Chinese pieces, the sublime Hua Yanjun piece, "The Moon Reflected In The Second Spring", in which the melancholy aspect of the final clutches of winter's snows were ably conjured by the string section. Enter Peng Peng, to tackle the torrential classical beast that is Xian Xinghai's "Yellow River", and a crashing display of chords as the river tumbled down from the orchestra pit and across the near capacity audience. While perhaps lacking in some of the original's subtle mastery of sheer power, the four sections of the Concerto were more than adequately delivered, and naturally in front of a home crowd, wildly applauded.

A curiosity followed, a nod to one of the great Juilliard names, William Schumann's arrangement of the Charles Ives nose-thumb at the British Empire that is "Variations On America", a piece that lampoons the British national anthem to varying degrees of absurdity. Much more effective was a rousing version of Gershwin's "An American In Paris" which conjured up all the jauntiness, sheer bravado and jollity of 1930's American expatriates. How times have changed, as paranoia and resentfulness creep in. For America, it seems the past was much more fun - and the orchestra played the entire piece - ably conducted by the impressive figure of Ms. Zhang Xian, one of the few internationally acclaimed lady conductors - with aplomb. Gershwin would recognize much in his American ambrosian setting from these performers.

Finally, joined onstage by the Chinese Youth Orchestra, and again conducted by Zhang Xian, a rousing finale of Bizet's Farandole, from L'Arlessienne. The audience went home humming those spectacular pianissimo runs, and marveled at just how young some of the new classical Chinese talents, under the watchful tuition of one of the world's great music schools, can be.

As for the "Egg" - the sound was superb. A magnificent concert hall. Beijing can be proud.

-CE

Website for forthcoming concerts: http://www.chncpa.org/n16/index.html (Chinese only, English soon)