The OCV with Zubin Mehta successfully concludes the first tour of China by a Spanish orchestra

– Leading theaters in the Asian country have expressed interest in including opera productions from the Palau de les Arts in their programming.

– Maestro Mehta receives the highest praise from both the public and critics for his program featuring scores by Spanish composers and works by Johann Strauss

Valencia. The Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, with Zubin Mehta as musical director, has successfully completed the first major tour by a Spanish orchestra in China.

The resident company of the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía concluded its tour last Saturday in Beijing, before 2,200 spectators at the imposing NCPA, the National Centre for the Performing Arts of China, this journey which began on December 26 in the city of Xi'an.

Around 20,000 music lovers from the Asian country have witnessed the twelve concerts that Maestro Mehta has conducted in Xi'an, Tianjin, Canton, Changsha, Shanghai, Wuhan, Hangzhou and Beijing, where the OCV has performed in some of the most prestigious auditoriums on the continent.

The Chinese public has enthusiastically welcomed the double program with which the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana has performed in Asia, with special interest in the one that includes fragments of zarzuela and Spanish music as well as works by Johann Strauss that make up the usual repertoire of the famous Vienna New Year concert.

Mehta's presence at the helm of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (OCV) has been highlighted by the country's newspapers, such as the Hangzhou Weekly and the China Daily, as one of the cultural events of the year. The maestro from Mumbai, who was chosen for the fifth time by the Vienna Philharmonic to conduct the New Year's Concert in 2015, has won the applause of the Chinese public with sold-out performances at every concert, where he has even offered up to three encores, with Johann Strauss Sr.'s Radetzky March as the star piece.

The President of the Festival del Mediterrani has also had time during this tour to work with some of the country's orchestras, such as the Hangzhou Philharmonic, the resident ensemble of the Hangzhou Grand Theatre, one of the country's largest auditoriums, designed by Uruguayan architect Carlos Ott, who also designed the Opéra Bastille in Paris.

Interest in the productions of the Palau de les Arts

The OCV's first tour of China has also served to strengthen the Palau de les Arts' ties with the country's emerging opera houses. This collaboration began in 2010 when the Guangzhou Opera House chose the Valencian production of Puccini's Turandot to inaugurate its new auditorium designed by Zaha Hadid.

The Valencian arts center has presented its artistic credentials in China, which include its most celebrated and award-winning productions such as Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle staged by La Fura dels Baus or Puccini's Turandot . directed by Chinese filmmaker Chen Kaige. The list also includes Pier'Alli's production of Beethoven's Fidelio , conceived for the inauguration of the Palau de les Arts, as well as productions for the Valencian cultural center by renowned film directors such as Carlos Saura, with Bizet's Carmen , and Werner Herzog, with Wagner's Parsifal . The Palau de les Arts has also showcased its most recent successes, including Davide Livermore's productions of Puccini's La Bohème and Verdi's Otello .

Numerous national and international opera houses have rented opera productions from the Palau de les Arts in recent years, including the American companies Los Angeles Opera and the Houston Grand Opera, the Italian theaters Carlo Felice in Genoa, Massimo in Palermo and the Teatro Verdi in Trieste, as well as the Monte Carlo Opera and the Graz Opera in Austria.

Nationally, theaters such as the Maestranza in Seville, the Baluarte in Pamplona, the Calderón Theater in Valladolid, the Víctor Villegas Auditorium in Murcia and the Festivals of A Coruña and Peralada have included titles produced by the Palau de les Arts in their programming.