The Berliner Philharmoniker begins its 10-day residence in Shanghai this week from Monday to next Tuesday. The prestigious orchestra from Germany will join hands with Chinese pianist Yuja Wang to present 11 concerts, including four symphonic performances, and a series of educational projects around the city.

This is the first time the 142-year-old German symphony will hold a residency program in China. More than 6,000 tickets for four symphony concerts sold out within five minutes in April, when ticket sales kicked off, according to the China Shanghai International Arts Festival, host of the program. The festival also revealed that more than 40 percent of the ticket buyers were not from Shanghai, but 21 other provinces and cities across China and abroad.

This is the fourth time the Berliner Philharmoniker will perform in Shanghai and its sixth visit to China. Andrea Zietzschmann, general manager of the Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation, is impressed with China's excitement for the orchestra and the growing public enthusiasm for classical music, especially among young audiences. She says that a series of outstanding musicians have come from China, such as Yuja Wang and Lang Lang, and the orchestra received its first Chinese musician in the 2019/20 season. Thirty-year-old Mei Diyang is the first viola principal of the company from China.

"We really want to create an impact in China," Zietzschmann tells China Daily on Monday.

In contrast to the usual tour schedule when the company would stay no more than 2 days in a city, the residency allows it to present "a whole showcase of the Berliner Philharmoniker and what we do at home". She says: "We are not only bringing four symphonic concerts and a wide repertoire with our music director Kirill Petrenko, but we will also perform seven chamber concerts and a lot of educational activities.

"The whole idea and aim is to get to know the people of Shanghai better, to create friendship, to have a good exchange, and to give an idea of what the orchestra is like in different aspects."

These concerts and public events will take members of the German orchestra to "theaters, school campuses, cultural landmarks and other popular locations in Shanghai," says Li Ming, president of the center for the arts festival. "From the most dedicated music lovers to ordinary folks, from professional instrumentalists to young music students, everyone in the city will have the opportunity to encounter the musicians during their stay."

On the first concert on Wednesday, the Berliner Philharmoniker performed under the baton of Petrenko, chief conductor and artistic director of the company since the 2019/20 season, at the Shanghai Grand Theatre, the same repertoire as its end-of-season concert at Waldbuhne in Berlin on June 22, a grand outdoor event attended by more than 22,000 spectators.

Chinese pianist Yuja Wang has collaborated with the Berliner Philharmoniker often and played Sergei Prokofiev's Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No 1 in D major at the concert. On Saturday Wang will join the company again to play Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 4 in G major.

The unique sound of the Berliner Philharmoniker has been built over many decades and many generations of artists in cooperation with the music directors, according to Noah Bendix-Balgley, the first concertmaster of the company.

In the Berlin Philharmonic, there's a great tradition of individual creativity and thinking about the orchestra as a sort of chamber music, he tells China Daily. "There's so much personality and individual brilliance among the members and we try to bring that together."

At concerts, instead of performing exactly what is prepared, musicians are ready to reach beyond that and take risks, he says, "and that's something that I enjoy about the orchestra".

"Counting myself, musicians with the Berliner Philharmoniker come from 32 countries and regions," Mei, the first principal viola player and the first Chinese musician of the Berliner Philharmoniker, tells China Daily. "Through my two music seasons with the company, I have gained more understanding that music is an art without borders… we have all come together to serve the music … I am not so naive as to believe that my joining will bring any immediate change to the sound of our company. There are more than 100 of us and we must work as one. I need to know when to show my individuality and lead my section but mostly I need to learn when to support and let others shine."

Aside from the four symphony and seven chamber ensemble concerts, the company will hold master classes, play in a range of nonconventional venues and engage with the community. On Friday, Mei and several colleagues are set to go to suburban Shanghai's Lingang area and play a chamber concert at Dishui Lake Theater.

Educational programs have always been a priority for the Berliner Philharmoniker since Simon Rattle took up the position of music director (2002-18), according to Zietzschmann. "We want to have a big outreach and help as many people as possible get acquainted with classical music," she says. "In Berlin, we have a program for babies a couple of months old to elderly people. Since we are doing a resident program in Shanghai, we have the time to do more than play symphony concerts."

Not everybody can come to those concerts, Bendix-Balgley says. "So we must engage with the community and music lovers around the city, in different settings than the concert hall.

"It's meaningful to have a musical exchange with people here, which is meaningful to build the relationship and have some sort of impact on the next generation of musicians and music lovers," he says.

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