The new Impromptu: Musical Musings with Friends series opens with a screening of Beethoven in Beijing, an insider-perspective documentary recalling the Philadelphia Orchestra’s historic tour to China in 1973, when classical music started to flourish in the country. The film shows the awakening in vivid stories from the people who lived it then, like the Chinese musicians who nervously greeted maestro Eugene Ormandy, and who live it today, like Oscar-winning composer Tan Dun, the orchestra’s current music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and renowned pianist Lang Lang.
The discussion that follows will feature the director of the film Jennifer Lin and maestro Lio Kuokman who served as Philadelphia Orchestra’s assistant conductor from 2014-2016. Hosted by Prof. Daniel Chua, they will recount this symbolic musical milestone 50 years ago and rethink the power of music in the modern world.
