NEW YORK, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- The New York Philharmonic is to stage its annual concert honoring Lunar New Year at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday, featuring ping pong champions, violin, and percussion, as well as Chinese folk songs.
The philharmonic's annual celebration will be led by Chinese conductor Long Yu at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the David Geffen Hall, according to the program updates of the renowned symphony orchestra.
Tuesday's program will feature American classical music composer Andy Akiho's Ricochet, Concerto for Ping Pong, Violin, Percussion, and Orchestra. The soloists include violinist Elizabeth Zeltser, ping pong players Ariel Hsing and Michael Landers, the youngest-ever U.S. Women's Singles Champion and U.S. Men's Singles Champion, respectively, and percussionist David Cossin.
The most interesting part of the concerto will be how the U.S. ping pong talents are playing the small ball with the rhythmic precision of the other musicians. It is said the ping pong players are elevated at the back of the stage, like opera singers performing above an orchestra pit.
The program will also include Spring Festival Overture, a cheerful Chinese orchestral work composed by Li Huanzhi in 1950s, Beethoven's grand Choral Fantasy - reminiscent of his "Ode to Joy" - with 13-year-old pianist Serena Wang and the Farmers' Chorus of the Yunnan Province - farmers from the mountains of southern China, appearing outside China for the first time ever.
A free outdoor event will also be held at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at Lincoln Center's Josie Robertson Plaza, featuring the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company as well as public school students from the New York-based National Dance Institute, performing traditional dances.
The New York Philharmonic, which has welcomed the Lunar New Year with an annual celebration since 2012, is partnering with the China Central Academy of Fine Arts for 2018 Happy Chinese New Year: Fantastic Art China, a series of U.S.-China artistic Chinese New Year celebrations throughout New York City, including fireworks over the Hudson River and a festive lighting of the Empire State Building.
