Beijing Symphony Orchestra's first concert in 2005 will be played at the Forbidden City Concert Hall tomorrow under the baton of its artistic director Tan Lihua.

The programme includes overtures from Wagner's opera "Rienzi" and Rossini's "William Tell," Beethoven's 8th Symphony in F Major and Gershwin's "An American in Paris."

The programme suggests a delightful and relaxed air, one which is very different from previous season starts by the orchestra, which have tended to feature heavy works such as Staravinsky's "Rite of Spring" and Mahler's 9th Symphony.

"Those big pieces not only display an orchestra's artistic quality, but help improve the performing level," said conductor Tan who has launched the orchestra's formal performing season since 1998.

"Beijing Symphony Orchestra has played a number of difficult works and gained much experience from its regular concerts in the last seven seasons. Now I can say with confidence that the orchestra has made great progress and has the ability to play many difficult pieces from different times," he concluded.

"We now want to try some works with a variety of characteristics in the second half of the April/May season."

Beethoven's 8th Symphony is his funniest and a noted jovial tribute to the man who invented the metronome. With a comic reference to the then-new device for musicians to keep time, and a satirically over-dramatic ending, the work shows another side of the great composer.

"An American in Paris" is Gershwin's most cohesive, extended orchestral work which debuted in 1928. Inspired by Gershwin's time in the French capital, it is in the form of an extended tone poem and evokes the sights and energy of 1920s' Paris. The whole piece in fact, is an imaginative marvel, with surprises around every corner.

The overture of "Rienzi," is regarded as an eloquent and beautiful musical narrative of the whole opera. While the brilliant "William Tell Overture," with its thunderstorm, its Swiss "Ranz de Vaches," and its trumpet calls, is a familiar and widely appreciated number of concert-goers the world over.

The touch of humor and lightness featured in Beethoven's 8th Symphony and the "William Tell Overture" is technically highly demanding and requires a special sense to perform.

"The big serious works test an orchestra's technique as well as the performance level of the entire orchestra, while the delightful and pleasant pieces demand wit and wisdom," said Tan.

Concerts for the rest of the orchestra's season will feature more light, gay and lyrical works, such as Fabio Vacchi's "Notturno Concertante" during the March 19 concert under the baton of Italian Stefano Mazzoleni and Alexander Arutiunian's "Trumpet Concerto in A-flat major," featuring Soloist Gabor Boldoczki at the May 14 concert.

(China Daily March 4, 2005)